why doesnt my stang stay in tune

deadhead90

I can never seem to get my jag to stay in tune. Any suggestions?

Cymastar

Ship it to me, I'll take a look. 😉

Fran

Presuming you do all the obvious stuff like stretch your new strings in and string it up properly!? Are you using the trem a lot and is it set to a floating position?

Cymastar

Is it set up and intonated correctly?

tragictravisty

aside from the standard fender things, the parts unique to the stang which would cause tuning issues are the trem and bridge. the main problem for most guys is the bridge, make sure its returning to the same position w/trem use.

harrison

i assume hes talking about a jagstang? and i hate to fall into the age old debate of the mustang trem but i personally can never get my mustang to stay in tune with the trem unlocked. the jag/jazz trems i have played do seem to stay in tune better.

Fran

harrison said: i assume hes talking about a jagstang? and i hate to fall into the age old debate of the mustang trem but i personally can never get my mustang to stay in tune with the trem unlocked. the jag/jazz trems i have played do seem to stay in tune better.

I agree with that. I've set up hundreds of guitars and tried all the usual stuff like graphite in the nut, lubing the string trees etc but the G string never stayed in tune. Its no big loss because i dont use trems often anyway (other than Floyd Rose), but i know people like Mad-Mike have had success with it.

The problem with these threads is they are'nt very specific and its difficult to help. We all know how idiosyncratic the bridges are on a lot of these Fenders and there is a list of 'process of elimination' tasks to perform to get things right.

Cymastar

At Best Buy, they had a recent MIJ Mustang and I freaking tweaked the vibrato as hard as possible and it wouldn't de-tune. Which is so weird because all the other ones I've played (except for a vintage one) went out of tune if you BREATHED on them. But yeah, nice surprise 😀 there.

harrison

if you are looking to use the trem here is mad-mikes walk through on how he set up his js trem

viewtopic.php?t=14552

if you just want the tuning stable and could care less about the trem here is a guide on locking the trem down, making it a hardtail

viewtopic.php?f=3&t=10754&p=309513&hilit=lock+mustang+trem#p309513

and cymastar, they have mustangs at best buy? wtf, when did that happen

Cymastar

The Best Buy near me has a little Guitar Center-like section at the back. Complete with drums (electronic and otherwise) guitars, basses, pedals, amps, etc.

harrison

i need to go check out my best buy!

kidwaJstang

Best Buy bought Guitar Center sometime in the middle of last year and are currently doing a test run at various stores to see if a mini-Guitar Center section would be profitable. If it is, they plan on putting them in pretty much every Best Buy. If you go on the Best Buy website, they already have a section for musical instruments already set up.

I haven't been to my local GC since the buy out, but something tells me that the days of haggling with the clerks and managers for a better deal could be a thing of the past....

harrison

kid w/ a Jstang said: Best Buy bought Guitar Center sometime in the middle of last year and are currently doing a test run at various stores to see if a mini-Guitar Center section would be profitable. If it is, they plan on putting them in pretty much every Best Buy. If you go on the Best Buy website, they already have a section for musical instruments already set up.
I haven't been to my local GC since the buy out, but something tells me that the days of haggling with the clerks and managers for a better deal could be a thing of the past....

personally i use guitar center just to try out instruments and see whats out there, then i go home to my local music store and they can get me a lower price on it if they ordered it in. so haggle or no haggle im still going to get a lower price 😁

Aug

The days of haggling ARE over. As are the discounts. I loathe GC. As for the tuning issue, the most overlooked aspect is the nut. Nut binding is the most likely culprit. If you prefer 11s, have a tech cut the nut for 12s.

tragictravisty

Aug said: The days of haggling ARE over. As are the discounts. I loathe GC. As for the tuning issue, the most overlooked aspect is the nut. Nut binding is the most likely culprit. If you prefer 11s, have a tech cut the nut for 12s.

very true, when you dive or pull up enough for it to change the tension behind the nut, if it doesnt go back, youll go out of tune. when this happens though, dont retune, bending the strings, or doing dives/pull ups w/the trem should get you back in tune.

Cymastar

@ Aug: You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Get a bunch of used guitars and NoHo guitars. Start and eShop, or a shop in your garage. See if you can turn a profit.

Aug

Cymastar said: @ Aug: You must be the change you wish to see in the world. Get a bunch of used guitars and NoHo guitars. Start and eShop, or a shop in your garage. See if you can turn a profit.

Been there, done that, got the t-shirt *and* wore it out. Which reminds me:

NOHO GUITARS MISCONCEPTIONS

1. We are not a big company. In fact, all my builds happen on a 4' x 15' balcony in a 3rd story apartment.

2. We are not geared for manufacturing. All my builds are done one at a time, by hand.

3. We are interested in designing guitars, not building them. For now, random builds helps us to afford more materials/tools for designing.

4. Despite popular belief, I do *NOT* build guitars with a beer in hand. Well, not anymore, anyway... 😆

5. Owning a Noho Guitar will get you laid. Well, no, *that* is actually true... 😁

NathanStang75

I have a Jag-Stang that stays pretty much in tune all way through a gig but for a slight tweak here and there save for the last song of the night when it gets some serious trem abuse.

My supersonic had a similar problem which has been rectified by adding tension with extra springs to hold the bridge down and graphite on the nut.

Mad-Mike

I keep watching the vibrato threads to figure out more stuff on the Stang trem to figure out why some have problems and others don't, or if it's really that small.

On the subject of Guitar Center, I'm appalled by the way they sell stuff, by the way they treat the merchandise (their jags get more attention from me than the tech department, and considering how little I go in there, that's saying something). The last time I was in there it was like throwing a kitty in a 20 foot pool with 6 hungry angry chow dogs, there was more swaying and wheeling and dealing going on that I've ever seen. I understand the economy is bad and the point is to sell, but when you spend 20 minutes trying to tell me I NEED to buy a Telecaster that would already be redaundant in my collection, no way.

I would not mind starting a guitar store of my own, geared towards offsets and "Avant-Garde" guitar tastes or so a friend put it. Instead of a store with 20,000 strats, I'd rather have 20,000 Jags/Jazzies/Stangs.

jacksonjackass

Mad-Mike said: I would not mind starting a guitar store of my own, geared towards offsets and "Avant-Garde" guitar tastes or so a friend put it. Instead of a store with 20,000 strats, I'd rather have 20,000 Jags/Jazzies/Stangs.

That would be the best guitar shop in the world 😎

What about warmoth jagstangs?