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

[Lfalex v1.1]

Everything I own needs to be tuned when I pick it up. The EUB, the Vigier, Status, Warwicks, everything.
Never out by much, but I always tune up before I play.
Even if it's just to remind the machine heads what they're there for..

[Dave Vader]

In the recent massive heat wave (July, remember that?) all my gear was in my studio (which is a shed) it got insanely hot in there, and everything went utterly out of tune and haywire except my old battered P copy, which was still in when I took it to play at a festival at the end of July (it had been sitting in a gigbag for 2 months before that) and my EUB, which just laughed at me, and told me to stop checking its tuning. Which also had a month or two off sitting in a gig bag in the heat.
I fully expect my old telecaster to be the same if I pull it out of the case any time soon.

[discreet]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1377972822' post='2194302']
...my EUB, which just laughed at me, and told me to stop checking its tuning...
[/quote]

Did it tell you to stop bloody taking acid as well..?

Edited August 31, 2013 by discreet

[Dave Vader]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1377972900' post='2194304']
Did it tell you to stop bloody taking acid as well..?
[/quote]

No, it suggested I hadn't had enough yet.

[discreet]

[quote name='Dave Vader' timestamp='1378116544' post='2195817']
No, it suggested I hadn't had enough yet.
[/quote]

Away go the daffodils... bang! Lamp post. I'm my mum with a teapot on my head. Is it April? I hope it's April...
I keep tripping over these frogs... there are fish in the toilet bowl... wibble.

Edited September 2, 2013 by discreet

[Ant]

my CIJ fender p keeps its tune for ages and so does my shuker jetking look a like, but my old fender japan jazz neck loses it's tune if you just look at it funny.

gotoh reverse tuners on the Precision & hipshot something or others on the shuker, both feel infinitely superior to the ones on the jazz.

[40hz]

My MIM Jazz (maple board) never goes out of tune, constantly surprises me at the start of every band practice that no adjustment is needed!

[40hz]

Thread resurrection!

[PaulWarning]

occasionally I'll have to tune my MIA P if it's a humid atmosphere or cold but I have to adjust every string the same, sometimes I forget at practice then remember half way through the night and find it's been out of tune, has anybody noticed? have they hell.

[arthurhenry]

Just taken my old Washburn down from the top of the wardrobe after nine years. In tune.

[BILL POSTERS]

My BC301 never goes out of tune, Took my old early 70s Eros Jazz out of its case after about 5 years recently and it was in tune.

My USA P and my Mexican one, usually go a bit sharp if the get cold though, but Inever tune either of em during a gig.

[spacey]

I brought a Rickenbacker down from the loft that had been there years, yep, stillbang in tune.

[Dr.Dave]

I change strings every time celebrity juice is actually funny - ie not very often. When I do I give them a real good stretch , I'm talking bass on my lap being bounced up and down by the strings one at a time. After that I have very few problems other than the E string key often gets turned in the gig bag. Of my 3 gigging bases the old Fender (with replacement Schaller M3s) stays in tune forever. The newer Jap Fender ( with replacement keys because I don't like the original reverse tuners) sometimes needs the tiniest of tweaks but the Stingray seems far more sensitive to temperature and is often uniformly sharp or flat right across the 4 strings. The strings are Rotosound 45s and 50s on the Ray. My shell likes are so buggered I can't rely on them so I depend on my tuner which usually tells me I'm bang on even though my ears say different. I used to like playing fretless but these last couple of years... no chance.

[darren]

My American P stays in tune remarkably well. I sometimes wonder why I check it. It's really well set up (manchester guitar tech) and I move it around in a hard case. I guess that helps.

[Geek99]

My bass doc built P is always in tune. My jap jazz used to wander a bit. I do think the quality and tension of the machine heads has a lot to do with this question

[steve-bbb]

[quote name='thepurpleblob' timestamp='1377810977' post='2192344']
Just playing the thing knocks it out of tune a bit after all.
[/quote]

what are you playing it with? a tennis racquet?

[molan]

I like tuning my basses - I check the tuning several times during rehearsals every week.

Gives me something to do while the guitarists are discussing whether they should really be playing a C# Major 7th diminished in the bridge or just knocking out whopping great power chord at full volume to drown out the vocals. . .

[BILL POSTERS]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1401783415' post='2466695']
My bass doc built P is always in tune. My jap jazz used to wander a bit. I do think the quality and tension of the machine heads has a lot to do with this question
[/quote]

Machines are really badly worn with loads of play in the on my old mim P, still stays in tune. Usually have to tweek the truss rod after a spell of wet weather though, I always thought that was just a Fender thing and somethin to do with the wood.

[Geek99]

I know that the US models with graphite rods hold tune better. I imagine wood in teh neck has something to do with it too; more rigid wood might give less to temprature changes.

The basses I've had with tired tuners always wandered out of tune. The Sperzel tuners on my BD Precision are very tight and old well. Just my $0.02

[jazzyvee]

I have neck through basses and i find although that design is supposed to be sensitive to temperature changes, it is the 4 string bass that tends to move more so than the others, but only by a minuscule bit and probably because it hangs on the wall whilst the others are always stored in their cases. Usually if the others loose tuning it is due to tuner pegs being knocked when I'm taking them out of the case to play.

[darren]

[quote name='Geek99' timestamp='1401783415' post='2466695']
My bass doc built P is always in tune. My jap jazz used to wander a bit. I do think the quality and tension of the machine heads has a lot to do with this question
[/quote]

My Japanese made P wanders a bit too

[Thunderbird]

I would think that due to the nature of design any guitar will go out of tune a little? I think as rightly pointed out the machine heads need to be in good condition and I think it also has a lot to do with the quality of strings and also on how well they were put on the bass in the 1st place I used to have D'addario steels on one of my basses and that always seemed to go out of tune I thought it may have had something to do with the strings slipping so I swapped them out for my normal brand and the bass held tune really well

[Count Bassy]

I always find that mine go flat in the warm, and sharp if it's cold, but generally stays in tune with itself unless I knock a tuner somehow. I've always put it down to the strings being metal and thus expanding/contracting.

[Clarky]

Try playing a double bass with gut strings. Overnight they can go sharp or flat a whole tone just based on temperature/humidity changes and sometimes they won't even last a whole tune before going out

[skej21]

I can take any of my basses off the stand or out of the case and they're always pretty much bang on. I always check with a tuner that they are correct when playing live for obvious reasons but even then, 99% of the time they're in.

Edited June 4, 2014 by skej21