thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Slightly tongue in cheek, but I've read one or two postings in the for sale forum recently were vendors claim that their instrument "stays in tune for months" or something similar. I've had a quite a few different basses and some never leave my house for weeks or months and I am quite sure they never stay in tune. Just playing the thing knocks it out of tune a bit after all. Is this "first to see will buy" talk, or is there some magic around that I'm missing? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
AntLockyer Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My Aria never goes out of tune. Everything else moves a little when they get taken somewhere or the temperature changes a lot. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My P stays in tune for months. I check it before every gig, but sometimes I wonder why I bother. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 So you're saying that you plug it into a chromatic tuner with flashing lights and it's bang-on in the middle always? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wateroftyne Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Yip. Unless the tuners have been knocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Wow - so what is it about me then. Leave any bass for 24 hours and it's a bit out of tune. Usually the whole thing has gone a bit flat or a bit sharp. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
iconic Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Most of mine seem to be fine, maybe mearest tweak and i always check before playing....my headless hohner really doesnt go out of tune and ive had it 6 months a very, very stable bass Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 It's probably Scotland. The cold and the damp Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TimR Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Mine was tuned at the factory by experts. I'm not messing with it. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
deanovw Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I tune my bass every week whether it needs it or not! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ziphoblat Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 The only time mine get tuned is at rehearsals or gigs; I check on my TC Polytune to make sure, nearly every time it'll be perfect, even if the last time I checked was a couple of weeks ago and it's been played constantly since. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ian Savage Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I've cut the elephant ears off my tuners so that they don't get knocked. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 Ok - I'm crying now Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
borisbrain Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I have a MIM Jazz that, um, never goes out of tune. I also have a CIJ P bass which never seems to stay in tune for more than 5 minutes... BB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nottswarwick Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 I check whenever I'm gigging, and usually it needs a tweak. It's not you. But compared to guitars, they are stable. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 29, 2013 Author Share Posted August 29, 2013 I get to learn a lot of covers so I'm possibly more sensitive. It all goes horribly wrong if I'm not in tune with the record I'm learning. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
LukeFRC Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 [quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1377812049' post='2192370'] It's probably Scotland. The cold and the damp [/quote] i lived in bargeddie for a bit a few years ago and most my basses were fine. The surprise with my bitsa jazz is that it doesn't keep tune like the JV or warwick do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gjones Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 If you carry your bass in a hard case, never change your strings and have decades of accumulated gunk clogging up the gears of the machineheads (like my 30 year old P/J) your bass will very rarely go out of tune. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ghosts Over Japan Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My old Musicman sub stayed in tune forever, I always checked but it was very rare I'd ever have to tune it, the Sandberg I've just traded could stay in very long periods of time as well! I've had a fair share of basses that lasted about 20 minutes of play before being slightly out of tune though. Cai Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cybertect Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1377811260' post='2192352'] My P stays in tune for months. I check it before every gig, but sometimes I wonder why I bother. [/quote] Likewise with my Musicman Sabre (I'm afraid for the OP). Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
barkin Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My '82 Westone Thunder, except if it's got newish strings on it, stays perfectly in tune. Shame it's so heavy that I hardly use it these days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 [quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1377811260' post='2192352'] I check it before every gig, but sometimes I wonder why I bother. [/quote] Same here. My main 'go to' bass stays in tune for months at a time despite getting used most days. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Muzz Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 Yup, you could play baseball with my Dingwall and it'd still be in tune after four innings. Ditto my old BB3000. A couple of the others tend to wander very slightly over a period of weeks, but not by much. Don't think I could live with a bass which went out of tune as much as some on here seem to do. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cloudburst Posted August 29, 2013 Share Posted August 29, 2013 My Steinies (as expected) stay in tune. However, more surprisingly, my Jazz rarely needs tuned. Probably because the strings are quite stable, now that they are 39 years old. CB Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
thepurpleblob Posted August 30, 2013 Author Share Posted August 30, 2013 Hmmm... it doesn't really trouble me. I always have a tuner in the signal chain, so the first thing I do is to check the tuning. If I go to a gig, I try to get the bass on a stand out of it's case quite quickly. By the time we gig it will need a bit of a tweak. This is any bass I have ever owned, which is quite a reasonable sample size now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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