Stratocasters can be very frustrating...
1. Tune the string
2. Stretch the string by pulling it upwards away from the fingerboard, between the nut and bridge (at the 12th fret is the most convenient place to grab the string)
3. Especially if new, each time you stretch it, the string will come back a little flat. Less and less so until stretching no longer makes the string go flat.
4. Now you know your string is properly stretched.
5. Now bend the string behind the nut (in-between the nut and the tuners on the headstock) - like country players do.
If it comes black sharp - the string is binding at the nut - and you need a guitar tech...
Comments
Or apply some nut sauce.
Lubricants are useful, but they don't compensate for a badly cut nut.
Any reason it wouldn't work for other types of guitars like a Les Paul?
As someone who's obsessed by behind the nut bends and does it much too often can I say the type of string tree can also bind the string even if the nuts good ... especially the older fender type on the B and E strings
This is why my guitars don't have string trees
The break angle is however, relevant in that it improves the tone of the string.
Winding the string a number of times such that it 'takes off' from the lowest possible point on the tuner post, is pretty much as good as a staggered tuner - on a hard tail.
On a tremolo equipped guitar, every time you depress the tremolo arm, the windings around the tuner posts loosen, and then tighten again, sometimes in a different place. It's interesting to consider that when we stretch new strings, a lot of what we're doing is actually tightening the windings around the tuner posts.
A staggered tuner allows fewer turns around the post - so reduces the loosening - tightening phenomenon. Even more so a locking tuner.
On a 6 in-line headstock however, the tuner posts for the 1st and 2nd strings are so far away from the nut, that staggering the tuner posts, really doesn't increase the break angle of the strings across the nut.
Leo Fender himself realised this, and when he devised the head stock for MusicMan guitars he created the 4 + 2 tuner figuration, which brough the tuner posts for 1st and 2nd strings much closer to the nut and afforded a much better break angle.
Quite annoyed about that since I paid quite a bit to have the nuts made for those especially.
I had a set of proper StewMac nut files as well, kind of wish I never sold them now!
(formerly customkits)
- one string binds in the nut
- you depress the trem arm, that string comes back sharp
- the higher tension on that string pulls the tremolo forward
- that flattens the pitch of the other strings
- so other strings go out of tune as well.
Tuning-wise - that can be a real mess...
I found a simple solution - on my guitar, the other five nut slots were cut nicely, so it was reasonable to assume that the fundamental shape of the A string nut slot was satisfactory, but that there were some rough bits in the slot, promoting friction.
- Take a small piece of 800 grit sandpaper / wet and dry
- Place it in the nut slot under the string (business side downwards towards the nut)
- The string presses the sandpaper into the nut slot
- You then move the sandpaper towards the tuner posts (i.e. in the direction of the nut slot)
- The string tension provides the downward pressure on the nut slot
- If you do this 5 or 6 times, it'll swipe out a little bit of nut material, and the nut slot gradually gets smoother (I had to do it a bit more)
- And on my guitar, the tendency of the A string to 'bind' reduced significantly to a point where with the help of a little graphite lubrication of the nut slot, the guitar now stays in tune.
If the slots are badly cut, you need a luthier...
Works great on the wound strings...
Always wondered if I should be cleaning the nut out when I change strings, seems like there's potential for dirt to cause friction.
Have to admit I'm quite surprised and bummed that a couple of my guitars fail this test despite having paid for someone to install and cut the nuts. I've used the guy before for other things and he's done such a good job, it really is surprising if he's not done these properly.
Might be a silly question but is it actually a problem for guitars without a trem? Obviously on a Strat if you use the trem bar it can cause the string to move in the same direction as this test but without a trem is there any way the string can move that way?
So yes, a badly cut nut slot on a Telecaster or Les Paul will make the guitar go out of tune...