Help..my G String's Too Tight...

[unclej]

now that i have your attention.

a customer just brought me a prs with a problem that sparked a debate between my business partner and me. the problem is that after playing for fifteen or twenty minutes the g string goes sharp by about a quater note. it did it with 10's on it and he recently changed to 9's and it still does it. the trem has four springs on it which makes it very stable. the guitar is set up beautifully and is intoned properly. the only thing i can think of is that the g string is binding somehow in the nut slot. so here's the debate:

my partner says that if you bend a string sharp while playing and it binds in the nut while still bent it will stay sharp when you release it. that makes no sense to me because i see it like a piece of rope..when you pull extra rope through a slot and then it binds and you release it it will be floppy or flat..

so most importantly, what can cause a string to go sharp while playing and which theory on string bending and binding do you feel is correct?

[mledbetter]

You're right.. Bending would make it go flat.. You stretch the string, the nut binds and keeps it in the lengthened state, but the tension goes away so you have flat.

The nut could be binding in a way that it lets the string go one way, but not like to come back the other.. so say you do a vibrato, the string slips back toward the post just a tad, you let off, it binds and you're sharp.

[sirkentesquire]

I don't want to say your friend is crazy, so I won't.

You are correct, a string bent sharp will be flat when released if it sticks in the nut slot. What WILL make it go sharp is using the tremolo, which allows the string to move backwards in the nut, causing it to be sharp if it sticks when the tremolo is brought back down.

If you switched it to 9's and it still is going sharp, either the nut was shaped quite lousy to begin with or it's a problem at the saddle end, which is often a difficulty as well, but I'm not familiar with PRS tremolos.

Anyway, good luck getting it sorted out.

[unclej]

that's what's got me confused..he doesn't use the trem at all..doesn't even have a bar on it..he does do a lot of bending but that's it. so i'm going to graphite the nut slot and the saddle, dismantle the g tuner and check it out and then blame it on gremlins.

[marksound]

This is a long shot, but does the guy pull the guitar out of the case, give it a quick tune, then start playing? There might be some shifting of the wood as it acclimates to the room temperature or the playing position.

Like I say, it's a long shot but you never cain't tell.

[unclej]

that's possible..i didn't ask him that specifically but it would be unusual that it would only effect the g string..and he uses a tuner so he's pretty specific about which string and how much it goes sharp..my partner played on it for about five minutes bending it a lot and made it go sharp so i know the customer's not completely crazy..we'll see...

by the way, i forgot about the tuners..they're a locking tuner but odd..there's a cam on each post with a slot along the side..you lay the string into the slot, push the cam until it's tight, tighten a small thumb screw on top and then tune. but again, i don't see how that not working right could make the string go sharp..just additional info in case anyone else has had the same experience.

[westhemann]

if you pull a bend on one string(say the high e for example) on a guitar with a floating trem,it slightly loosens all of the other strings,and if the g string is the one with the poorly cut slot,that will be the only string which does not return to "zero" when you release the bend on the high e...therefore the g with the poorly cut slot will remain slightly sharp.

solution=round the slot out better and rub graphite in it

[unclej]

thanks wes...that's the first one that makes sense..i wouldn't have thought that the trem was moving with four springs on it but it wouldn't take much movement to sharpen it a quarter note..i'll let you know if that solves it..

[westhemann]

i wouldn't have thought that the trem was moving with four springs on it but it wouldn't take much movement to sharpen it a quarter note

of course it will move.hit the low e and pull a higher string to a full bend without sounding it(the higher string).you will hear the low e drop in pitch.

does not matter how many springs you have either,because you only have enough tension to counter the string pull anyway,you just unscrew the trem claw to achive the same pull that you could get with three springs if the claw was screwed in further,if you see what i mean.

[unclej]

i went ahead and cranked the trem screws down a bit to add some tension, smoothed out the bottom of the nut slot and applied graphite..i couldn't make it go sharp again and will wail on it some more in the morning but i feel like it's ok now. thanks for the help.

[GregP]

If the customer doesn't ever use the trem, you could even consider blocking it completely. I wonder if a Tremol-No would fit on it?

Greg