The Electra Forums

I recently have come to posses an Electra MPC X330 from a friend who knows nothing about guitars. When I got it, there weren't any strings on it and there were and still are significant problems with the guitar's electronics. So, I strung it and gave it a decent set-up, and its really bad at staying in tune right now.

What is the best solution to this problem? As far as I know, all the parts are original. I rubbed the grooves on the bridge with some graphite a little while ago and it helped a little bit, but the problem still exists. Are the tuners not any good or anything like that? Thanks a lot for any help.

I would try some lube on the Nut before changing out the tuners. There's a couple products on the market, including some stuff called 'Nut Sauce' which personally I've never tried, but with a name like that... The nut may need to be tweaked after 30 years also, although I've heard horror stories about people taking the nut down too much.

I think people jump to changing out Tuners too often, and really they don't slip that much, unless they've been subjected to a unfortunate smack. We've seen enough of these guitars with the original tuners to conclude that they can hold up to the test of time.

At the risk of insulting you, the way the strings are wound around the tuner (hopefully cleanly) would probably have more to do with a tuning or slipping issue than the tuners themselves. Also, new strings should be liberally 'Stretched' after being put on before seriously playing them. I heard that Eddie Van Halen used to boil his strings, but I don't know if that's an Urban Legend or not. I stretch the bajesus out of my strings before I take them to practice or performing, pull them up from the nut putting tension on the tuner and winding, mine will usually slip the first two or three times I do that. Best of luck, tell us how it behaves, Mike.

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If it's been stored without string tension for ages the neck could need a tweak as well?! X189 made a point a while ago about the nuts on Electras being part of their sound , so I'd be a bit careful about playing about with it in any major fashion.

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"... and on the eighth day, God created New Zealanders.

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On many tuners the tension is controled by the small screws in center of the peg which attaches it to the shaft. If it is loose you can get slippage.

... but don't over-tighten them; you don't want to strip them out!

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues

Has been mentioned before but the best thing to do when restringing is to stretch the junk out of them. Tune them to pitch and then grab the string and stretch by grabbing with two fingers and leverage with your palm. Tune back to pitch then repeat. You'll notice that the string drop pitch less and less with each stretching. when the pitch change is minimal, you are done. Tune up and let it ROCK! Be careful when stretching the higher B and E strings though. I have broken them a couple times with my overzealous stretching!

Tightning the pegs is a good thing to look into as well but as was mentioned, you do not want to overtighten and strip things out or you will be looking to replace the machine heads! I have several Guitars over 20 years old and have NEVER seen the need to replace wore out machine heads!

Another thing to check out though is when the guitar is unstrung, check for play on the string shaft and the security of the machine head on the guitar. a loose nut and anchor screw could cause movement and thus unintended pitch change with agressive playing, bending, shredding, Etc.

I don't remember ever having any tuning issues on my X330 or X340 guitars, although early on after purchasing I replaced the stop tailpiece on each one with a Gibson TP-6 tailpiece with fine tuners:
http://www.heritageguitar.com/TP-6.jpg or http://www.music123.com/Gibson-Tailpiec ... 1.Music123

Here's a Schaller version:

http://www.schaller-guitarparts.de/hp13 ... e04aXY7bf1

There are several of these that are similar that are available and are an easy modification; as I recall I also had to utilize the Gibson studs and anchor inserts that came with the TP-6; Adding something like this might work along with tightening those screws ...... remember that even if the regular tuners are slipping that adding a tailpiece with fine tuners isn't going to help at all; it might even make it worse; I usually just change the strings, tune up and fine tune with the TP-6 when necessary, and start playing - without any excessive string stretching; but to each his own, so do what you think is best. The TP-6 seems to keep everything in tune most of the time, with very little adjustment. Even if I don't play one for 2 - 3 weeks or so, when I take it out of the case it is usually still in tune or very close.

Pics on the first link listed in my signature:

RCSBlues

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RCSBlues