Is “tune once and done” a myth?

[Alathea]

With my grover LP’s and stringing with the back wrap and hook technique it stays in tune perfectly.

Back wrap and hook? Is that like, "bend around, then opposite, then wind"?

 

[Jim Connelly]

I see on various forums people mention tuning their guitar and it staying in tune for weeks or month. Comments like, “I just tune it once and never have to tune it again until I change the strings.” I’m thinking these people don’t have a Snark or tuner pedal to check, and they just think the guitar is in tune. I have a 2020 Standard 50s Gibson Les Paul. I find that after every 4 or 5 songs, even if the guitar sounds ok, I’ll check the tuning with a Snark, and at least 1 usually 2 will need a slight adjustment. Same on my Strat and Tele. Is this tune-once-and-done a myth?

I have top shelf Gibsons and they all go out of tune. Sometimes I will take a guitar out of it's case and it will appear to be in tune and then when I put a snark on it,every string is out of tune a similar amount making the guitar appear to be in tune but it's not. I love my Snarks. They taught me how little to turn a tuning key to make my guitar so in tune that it puts a big smile on my face every time I play a first position chord and it's perfectly in tune. None of my guitars would do that when I was young. Totally awesome.

 

[Freddy G]

I rarely tune my guitars when I'm at home, just to pick them up and practice or noodle. But then they all live in my shop which is tightly controlled for temp and humidity. If I'm recording, I will touch up strings that can go out by a cent or two due to the heat from my hands. But that's "under the microscope" stuff. Because in that situation I might tune a guitar to be sweet for the specific part I'm playing...
When I go to a band rehearsal for example, yeah the first thing I have to do is tune the guitar. The environment is different, then as we play it starts getting warmer in the room so I have to check tuning maybe every half hour.

On Les Pauls, most tuning instability comes from the ass-end hardware. Remove the strings and grab hold of the bridge....you can easily shift and move it around. What do you think that does? On Les Pauls I have and have done for clients with locking hardware (Faber for example) the tuning stability is remarkable. Of course that is also when the nut is cut properly, and machine heads are good quality and tight etc.

 

[Jeckery]

Ignores another handful of other factors...

- actual tuning of the guitar

- play style (attack/vibrato/bend strength)

- environmental stability (temp/humiditty)

Yes, specially (maybe in some environments more than others) that last one. Even with locking tuners, etc. if it gets appreciably warmer, colder, more humid, less, etc. that guitar is going to be out of tune. Different material (metal tuners, wood guitar) expand and contract different amounts. I’ve tuned guitars, left on a stand, and gone back a few days later and it’s often a good deal lower in pitch. I live in a place that varies a lot even throughout one day sometimes.

 

[cigblues]

I find that tuning before playing, then after helps. And during if I hear it. Necks move. Tuners can slip, and I make mistakes. And I play Jr's and telecasters, so I have to hear it the best I can and go from there. Its all subjective and up to each individual how they feel is best. I do feel that I can learn from everyone, and it bothers me about as much as stealing from BB. King EC, Page etc. that I do steal other folk's ideas.

 

[Jim Connelly]

All of my electrics have very good tuning stability such that out of my main 7 electrics, which includes playing at least one or two every day, maybe only one would need a small tuning tweak within in a given week. But that is for guitars after the strings have been broken in a bit (not just installed/stretched). Additionally, I am a heavy handed player that also uses lots of vibrato and finger slides. But ... my guitars get strung properly with good-quality strings, along with using string lube at the nut and bridge. My guitars are also spoiled and rarely leave the temperature and humidity-controlled room that they are stored in.

I also have a very good ear for hearing when my guitar is out of tune. Because of that, I am very picky about my guitars being in tune such that all of my guitars also have perfect intonation (nothing is worse than an improperly intonated guitar). Sometimes when a guitar will sound out of tune, I will check it and the guitar will be perfectly in tune ... meaning then that I was improperly fingering some chord such that one string was being slightly bent.

Yes! People don't get that. It's not that hard to say hey when I play this chord I need to stop pressing so hard on the fret. Some people.

 

[Prostheta]

It's not a myth, but it's not a fact either. Some people's idea of "in tune" is broader than most.

 

[uhsteven]

My Gibson LP and my Fender Tele can both fluctuate some, but I had a Squier Affinity Tele that never went out of tune. Sold it… I don’t need something possessed in my house.

 

[RedSkwirrell]

I see on various forums people mention tuning their guitar and it staying in tune for weeks or month. Comments like, “I just tune it once and never have to tune it again until I change the strings.” I’m thinking these people don’t have a Snark or tuner pedal to check, and they just think the guitar is in tune. I have a 2020 Standard 50s Gibson Les Paul. I find that after every 4 or 5 songs, even if the guitar sounds ok, I’ll check the tuning with a Snark, and at least 1 usually 2 will need a slight adjustment. Same on my Strat and Tele. Is this tune-once-and-done a myth?

I started playing in 1973 and have a pretty good ear.
I have two Std's.
My 1990 needs constant tuning.
My 2010 Ltd, which has "robot" tuning capability stays 'in' for hours of playing.
Oh, the irony.

 

[hisasahisasaki]

It's a myth.

No matter how much you lock the strings with Floyd Rose etc., as long as the neck is made of wood, the temperature and humidity will affect it and it will out of tune. Especially on the stage where the lights turn on and off.
I record guitars and basses at work every day, I often need to check tunings, especially in ensembles with digital synthesizers.
I haven't tried it, but a guitar with EverTune might be fine.

Even in a classical piano concert, the piano tuner tunes the piano at least twice.

 

[Adinol]

Did you know that a tuning fork does not stay perfectly in tune? Here we don't have to define what it means to be "in tune" like we might actually need to agree on a definition for a guitar. An A-440 tuning fork should vibrate at 440 Hz, but does it always?

The resonant frequency of a tuning fork will vary depending on the temperature. To better understand it let's take it to the extremes. If you heat it up until the metal is molten red does it still vibrate at the same frequency? What about if you dip it in liquid nitrogen?

Here is how you calculate the resonant frequency of a rod.

l = length of the rod
A - area of the cross section of the rod
p - density of the material (measured in kilograms per cubic meter)

All of these three parameters change when temperature changes. The length and diameter (which affects the area) change due to thermal expansion and contraction of the material. That's just physics.

The density also changes when it expands, because the weight is the same, but the volume is different.

When you tune a string you increase or decrease the tension and like a rubber band when you increase the tension (by lengthening the string) you a decreasing the diameter.

A string is a long a thin metal rod. So, all that physics applies to a guitar string.

Now you also put into the mix the fact that the wood of the long neck is changing in it's environment and the neck angle, relief, etc... all that is not exactly stable.

Here is what it all means. This is all just physics that no one can dispute.

So, it would be reasonable to come to the conclusion that, yes, it's a myth.

Hence the fine tuners on a Floyd Rose.

 

[Jimmy The Snake]

I have found once a set of strings breaks in things stay in “ear” easily. A change in the weather will knock them out a bit. When checked with a Snark, they all stay within a tick or two of in tune. My PRSs are super solid and my Les Paul does well. Big thing is use of Nut Sauce to lube the nut where D & G cause so many problems. Find a brand and gauge of strings you like, set up that brand, and stick with them too.

 

[MW110]

If it wou be a myth, I were a mythbuster!

 

[Danelectro]

I'm in Ohio where the temperatures and humidity vary quite a bit. In the winter the furnace is running and in the summer the air conditioner is on, so the house is dry and wood shrinks. In the spring and fall its more humid which causes wood to grow. I have put tuned guitars into the case during winter and then not gotten them out again until springtime and I've found that tuning can go as much as a 1/2 step sharp due to the change in humidity.

I recall as a teen at a concert watching the stage crew setting up before the show. There were a half dozen or so guitars in a road case on the side of the stage. The guitar tech spent about ten minutes tuning the guitars and then about 15 minutes later he came back and tuned them all again. I laughed to my girlfriend that he just tuned them 15 minutes ago, nobody has touched them, and now he's doing it again. A guy next to me commented that the guitars will go out of tune from the rising humidity caused by the large number of people in the hall. I was just beginning to play guitar at the time and I didn't even own a tuner, so I never had a clue that kind of thing happened.

 

[diesel99]

I've never had a guitar that stayed in tune for weeks at a time. Even with new strings. But that's just me.

 

[Sct13]

the scary part is these people cant tell thier guitar is out of tune....

 

[Zeegler]

Definitely not a myth. I have LP style guitars that stay in tune throughout a 3 hour practice, and will be in tune after sitting on the stand for 2 months. My Gibson Les Paul Standard isn't one of them.

 

[MichaelAndrew3435]

I'd say mostly myth, but I've played mostly Gibson's during my time. The 3rd string on EVERY Gibson I've ever owned was a little tricky to get in tune for long periods of time, especially if you do alternate/down tuning. I'm also one of those people who constantly tunes their guitar after every couple of songs. Anybody who says their guitar (especially a Gibson) is in perfect tuning all the time either can't tell they're slightly out of tune, or doesn't care about getting it just right.

 

[dancsgrv]

A lot depends on the environmental stability of the room your guitar is in. Mine can stay in tune for days sometimes but I have a large window that can let in a lot of sunlight and change the environment pretty drastically which the necks react to. Even then, like someone else said, the guitar will usually sound in tune with itself because all the strings moved the same amount. But when i play to a track, it will sound off.

 

[DBDM]

I have had this question many times and never asked. Thanks for answering. I tune mine every time I pick them up. I own several brands spanning styles from archtop to acoustic to LP to unmentionalble competing brands. From my perspective it is not harder to tune than it is to check tuning. Many times my guitars ARE in tune after being in the case. Sometimes (inexplicably) they are WAY out of tune. I agree with the other posters that I think it depends on what "in tune" means.