Official Luthiers Forum!

When I play I use DADGAD tuning quite a bit but notice that it gets out of tune rather quickly (I use a capo also). Is there a way I should be setting up the guitar to keep this in tune longer? Is it a tuner problem? In case you are wondering, they are santa cruz tuners (the nickel, not the gold). Its only this guitar so I am thinking there is some prolem somewhere.

I play DADGad a fair bit (great Davy Graham fan), and now find that it is beneficial to have a dedicated guitar set up and tuned to DADGad all the time using balanced string sets rather than the standard tuning sets. Change guitars rather than tuning.

Does it only go out of tune in the altered strings? Is the nut, nice and slick so that the strings are not binding and then slipping when retuning? That would be my first thought.

Colin

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I don't believe in anything, I simply make use of a set of reasonable working hypotheses.

Frank,

DADGAD is a difficult tuning to get in tune and keep in tune (particularly the A on the second string). In order to work out if it is the tuning or the guitar perhaps I can ask you a few questions:

What is the scale length of the guitar?

What are the gauges of the six strings you have on?

How new are the strings?

Are all of the strings going out of tune or just certain ones?

What happens when you tune this guitar to EADGBE? Does it still go out of tune easily?

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010