Nuts! Guitar Tuning Troubles

There are few things worse for guitar players than a guitar that won’t hold its tuning. It makes chords warbled mess and throws off all your cool string bends in your solos. The good news is that these tuning woes can be gotten rid of, and that axe that wouldn’t hold its tuning for a song can be good enough for a show.

In my experience, the majority of tuning stability problems stems from the nut. The nut is on the headstock end of your guitar, and is typically made of plastic; it has the six slots which hold your strings in place before you loop them through your tuners. Strings tend to get caught in the nut slots; you should notice a “ping” sound from the strings if this happens. That “ping” noise is the tension being released by the string as it manages to free itself from the nut slot. Unfortunately, sometimes the problem remains hidden until you strike a chord with enough force that the string “pings” back out of tune.

The simplest solution is to grab a pencil (I use a mechanical one because I find it easier) and basically rub the lead bit into the nut slots. The graphite from the pencil lead acts as a lubricant, letting the string slide better through the nut slot. This is great because it doesn’t require any physical modifications to your guitar, and it’s invisible once the strings are on. Just rub that pencil in the slots each time you change strings and tuning stability should return.

If that does not solve it, then the nut slot may be too narrow and could require filing. Before you go hacking away at your nut, see if you can change string gauges.

The majority of production guitars use 9-42, 9-46, or 10-46 string gauges on your guitar (the first number being the gauge of the high E string and the second number for the low E string). If you have changed to a larger string gauge, the thicker string may have too tight a fit in the nut slot made for the thinner strings. In this case, a nut filing would be needed; if you don’t know what you’re doing, then I suggest taking it to a professional who does, as a poor filing job could result in more problems. A proper setup should be done if you’re making a significant change in string size.

Problems such as these are even more apparent on guitars with tremolos, as the radical changes in string tension gives plenty of opportunity for strings catch on the nut.

A problem I’ve seen on a couple of occasions (but very rare) is the nut not being glued on properly. I played a friend’s guitar once and the nut would slide around if you hit a chord with too much force or bent the strings too far, resulting in a completely out-of-tune mess. If you can push the nut around, then glue it back in its place (it’s obvious, but I shall repeat that if you don’t know what you’re doing, take your guitar to someone who does).

In more extreme cases, you can replace the nut with one manufactured from better materials than plastic, including (surprise!) graphite. There are others, as bone, tusq, and even brass, each with their own tonal properties.

Hopefully, these tips will help many guitar players solve their tuning problems. Just remember, a happy guitar player is one who has well-maintained nuts. Cheers!