Are people who say "my bass never goes out of tune" crazy?

[xgsjx]

Tighten up the machineheads. Mine have a screw in the top for this.
I had one string going out of tune occasionally, tightened the head up & haven't had to touch it since.

[Dandelion]

I had a bass which went out of tune very quickly, making it ideal for jazz.

[Cat Burrito]

I get mine professionally set up which helps massively. Subsequently I find mine will hit all the green lights when tuning even after a couple of gigs or rehearsals. My former mandolin player never had his kit looked at and was always plagued with tuning problems onstage. I made him get it properly set up and what a difference. Obviously if you know how to do a good setup yourself fair play but I'm happy to pay a professional as the results speak for themselves.

[quote name='gjones' timestamp='1377813883' post='2192411']
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]

Oh yeah, and all this too

[BigRedX]

Depends on the bass. None of my three Gus basses ever go out of tune unless the machine heads get knocked while putting it in or taking it out of the gig bag. The Warwick Star bass I bought recent seems much less stable as regards tuning.

[Samashton12]

My thunderbirds been in tune for months

[BobVbass]

My Lakland goes out of tune whenever I change the strings on it - about once every 10 years or so.....

[Thunderbird]

I would think that every guitar or bass would go slighty out of tune sometimes due to the nature of how tuners work , but I could be wrong. I just give my bass the slightest little tweak every now and then

[JTUK]

[quote name='wateroftyne' timestamp='1377811506' post='2192360']
Yip. Unless the tuners have been knocked.
[/quote]

Agree.

Strings can run out of life, as far as I am concerned which is then the time to bin them.. but that will take a long time.
Otherwise a good tuner will hold the strings unless knocked.

[steve-bbb]

yes i am crazy and basses often stay in tune

an old status i used to have never went even slightly out of tune it was awesome - the beat up old matrix i have now has slightly slack tuners and actually goes more out of tune than my squier affinity - TRB has gotohs too iirc and that is also very stable

[cheddatom]

It depends on the instrument really. I have 1 guitar and 2 basses that stay in tune for ages. The rest of them all tend to slip out of tune fairly regularly.

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377848912' post='2192591']
yes i am crazy and basses often stay in tune

an old status i used to have never went even slightly out of tune it was awesome - the beat up old matrix i have now has slightly slack tuners and actually goes more out of tune than my squier affinity - TRB has gotohs too iirc and that is also very stable
[/quote]

You shouldn't be having any tuning issues with the Status, they're normally completely stable. You can probably tighten the small philips screws that fix the turny bit to the stem of the tuner and it should solve that problem and give them a firmer action and less likely to get knocked out of tune.

[discreet]

Occasionally the band sounds like there's a tuning issue so I'll check it then, but it's usually the guitarist's fault.

[merlin]

Tune mine befor the start,then check befor the start of the next sets,mostly its in tune,but the ride in the van always leaves it flat .Strap lock came off a couple of weeks ago.just as I spun around,bass up in the air,across the stage,landed,very loud sound,quess what......





.totally out of tune hehe sorry

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='Fat Rich' timestamp='1377849498' post='2192596']
You shouldn't be having any tuning issues with the Status, they're normally completely stable. You can probably tighten the small philips screws that fix the turny bit to the stem of the tuner and it should solve that problem and give them a firmer action and less likely to get knocked out of tune.
[/quote]

tried that thanks Rich but didnt seem to make a lot of difference - are you at the SE bassbash? i will bring it along an dyou can hit it with a hammer

[gafbass02]

Sorry, mate my fenders are another story of 'set 'n forget'. I always check it through the night, but they just rarely seem to loose their tuning at all.

[Phil Adams]

How accurate are modern electronic tuners anyway?? Do they vary?? Do they suffer from hot or cold??

[jezzaboy]

My P and Yamaha usually stay in tune very well, just the occasional tweak but my Mustang needs a bit more attention.

[Count Bassy]

Struggling to understand this a bit. However good the bass, however tight the tuners, surely the ambient temperature will affect the strings directly?
(All my basses stay pretty well in tune when kept at home).

I did a physics degree, but I can't be arsed to work out what effect say a 20 Celsius change would have on a steel string.

[Count Bassy]

[quote name='Phil Adams' timestamp='1377859409' post='2192822']
How accurate are modern electronic tuners anyway?? Do they vary?? Do they suffer from hot or cold??
[/quote]

I have a Fender pedal tuner, an old Korg AT-12 , and a tuner in my Tascam GTR1. The Marshall and the GTR1 always disagree by a bit (not actually audible, but shows up when you swap tuners).

[Norris]

I've never had a problem with any of my basses needing tuning except in extremes of temperature & humidity. As long as the strings are bedded in properly when you change them they can go for weeks with out tuning.

...and by bedding in I mean grab hold of the string and give it a darn good wiggle with around 1" deflection, which evens out the tension in the machine head wrappings, string trees, nut, etc. Don't be afraid of breaking the string, as if it's gonna let go then now is the time to do it rather than at a gig.

[paul_5]

Mine's never in tune, mind you, it [i]is[/i] fretless...

Edited August 30, 2013 by paul_5

[Fat Rich]

[quote name='steve-bbb' timestamp='1377858889' post='2192807']
tried that thanks Rich but didnt seem to make a lot of difference - are you at the SE bassbash? i will bring it along an dyou can hit it with a hammer
[/quote]

Sure, I'll have a look. Maybe they need an extra nylon washer in each. I'll see if I've got some kicking about the place.


[quote name='Count Bassy' timestamp='1377861036' post='2192853']
Struggling to understand this a bit. However good the bass, however tight the tuners, surely the ambient temperature will affect the strings directly?
(All my basses stay pretty well in tune when kept at home).

I did a physics degree, but I can't be arsed to work out what effect say a 20 Celsius change would have on a steel string.
[/quote]

I agree, metal strings will always expand in higher temperatures and lose tension (probably ). But the truss rod would also expand, seems unlikely that they'll all cancel out perfectly and the bass stay in tune.

Edited August 30, 2013 by Fat Rich

[Geek99]

[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]
Mine too - stiff new kluson tuners and a stable jap maple neck.

[charic]

All my basses stay in tune well too.

My first bass was a peavey millenium bxp... I used to tune it to Drop D, put it in the gig bag and when I pulled it out it would be perfectly in tune in standard....

[GregBass]

All my basses stay in tune so well that I never bother to check the tuning. How I laugh at the trouble the guitarists in my band have trying to make their instruments sound good with mine!