# Tuning - I am as dumb as I thought I was



## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

So here we go. Since I got this Strat and started using a DAW through my interface, I have noticed that when I pluck a string to tune, they go sharp, I tune down to 0.0 and then when I let go or let it ring a bit, they go flat and I repeat the process. At first, I just assumed this was part of having access to a highly accurate tuner. Made sense to me that strings vibrating would move around a little bit in and out. Then as time went on and I tuned more guitars with this thing, I noticed it was localized to my strat only. Hmmm... this seems odd to me. I have been trying to figure out this mystery for a while now. It happens when I was tuning, setting intonation, tuning..... and that about covers it. Funny thing is it never happened on the high E string. Just the bottom 5. That was a mystery. Maybe its because it is thinner??

Well tonight I finally figured it out and this is the real kicker where we get to see how dumb I really am... I usually end up strumming strings with my thumb while tuning just given the ergonomics of it all and what have you. I have never seen this as a problem. Well, the problem presents itself in a terribly obvious way when you have a floating tremolo. The slight pressure I was placing on the string directly below the string I was tuning by resting my thumb on it was enough to move the trem and pull it out of tune. 

Yup folks, mystery solved. Now we need to sort out how I have made it this far in life.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

It seems the only logical thing to do is remove your thumbs. Problem solved.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Verne said:


> It seems the only logical thing to do is remove your thumbs. Problem solved.


You know I had thought about it. Then I realized that if I just removed them from the strings I could could keep them.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

Brunz said:


> You know I had thought about it. Then I realized that if I just removed them from the strings I could could keep them.


You do make a good argument.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

I honestly cannot tell you how this has pained me. I have been chasing this annoyance for some time now and to realize that I was the culprit all along. I haven't ever owned a guitar with a trem, lord knows there isn't one on my acoustic and my S.copy is a hard tail. 
It is the little things in life that keep us guessing


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## FatStrat2 (Apr 7, 2021)

^ So true. I was going along w/ your story thinking "Yup, warped or noodle neck" 'cuz it's happened to me - and then the kicker. You lucked out.

This is one of the reasons I just lock back the trem when recording unless it's absolutely called for. Just don't want a 'variable tuned' guitar - and I'm not fond of Floyds.


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

FatStrat2 said:


> ^ So true. I was going along w/ your story thinking "Yup, warped or noodle neck" 'cuz it's happened to me - and then the kicker. You lucked out.
> 
> This is one of the reasons I just lock back the trem when recording unless it's absolutely called for. Just don't want a 'variable tuned' guitar - and I'm not fond of Floyds.


I'm probably gonna deck and block mine, I don't know what they are for anyway lol


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## DaddyDog (Apr 21, 2017)

In my last effort to enjoy a strat, I found the pressure of my palm muting was activating the trem. Same idea?


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## Mark Brown (Jan 4, 2022)

Same idea, but much dumber on my part. Everything that exerts pressure on that floating trem will alter its position, I just never managed to understand how little will set it off. It isn't like I was yanking on strings, just resting my thumb on them.


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## Verne (Dec 29, 2018)

This is why I've always done my strats with a pick while the guitar is laying flat. If the trem isn't slammed to the body, you can't even breathe near it else you detune with the trem. As you well know now.


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