Tuning without fear of breaking the strings

karaokeman

Hi all,

I just got my acoustic guitar back today from K&B in Maynooth.

I recently broke a few of the strings and had to get it sent in to be repaired.

Today I was tuning my guitar with the new strings and I've been having a lot of trouble tuning the E and G strings.

I've stopped tuning for now because every time I try I hear a squeek in the metal head. I keep thinking that if I don't do this right I will break another string, so at the moment I've left it at that.

Has anyone got any tips on how I can avoid this and maybe tune it right without breaking the strings?

I have an electric tuner just in case anyone suggests.

Thanks,

Karaokeman

Ravelleman

Is the guitar strung properly? There are lots of useful guides for this on youtube.

-Chris-

I'd maybe start by tuning it to Eb, to see if it plays ok and holds tune.

Once you're confident with that, you can tune it up.
If it's not acting properly at Eb, then there are probably issues that need looking at (ranging from problems with the guitar/tuners, to whether you've strung it properly like Ravelleman says).

feylya

Where do the string break? The tuning peg, the nut or the bridge?

Demeyes

I'd check and see if you have a badly cut nut. Sometimes strings catch and make a ping when they release at the nut, that might be the squeaking you are hearing. I'd also make sure you are stringing it up well, ideally you want tidy windings around the tuning peg and not a load of overlaps, that can cause problems and string breakages.
Also, what gauge are you using? It's possible if you are using really heavy gauge strings and you have cheap tuners then you might run into some problems.

brownacid

Strech the strings out, tune it to teh point that you hear the creaking sound then fret the string at the 12th fret and pull teh string away from the body gentley. Do this at a few points up and down the fingerboard and the string should be nice stretched out. Should tune up with no fear of the new strings breaking unless theres any of the previous problems mentioned. Also doing this should eliminate most of the slippage of teh tunings that happens with new strings until they get broken in. It is essentially the same principle as this but without the whammy bar.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=O0Oyc6slYRc&feature=player_embedded

karaokeman

Hi all,

Sorry for the late response.

My strings break at the tuning peg and recently I've improved at tuning the guitar without breaking strings.

I did however break a G string and had to replace it with a new one. That G string is currently tuned at Eb and the B string below it is tuned to G#.

I want to have all my strings tuned to standard tuning. Every other string is fine, low E tuned to low E, A tuned to A,D tuned to D, high E tuned to high E. The G string and the B string are the only two I need to sort out.

Did you do what brownacid suggested? Stretch the strings? Should be no problem after that

karaokeman

Deleted User wrote: »

Did you do what brownacid suggested? Stretch the strings? Should be no problem after that

I am trying to figure it out now.

Sorry I'm very new to this, never knew about stretching strings beforehand.

I have tuned the B string to B so the new G string is the only one untuned.

I will post here when I have it tuned.

feylya

Check the nut on the B and G slots and see if there's any sharp burrs in them. Also, try getting a bit of pencil graphite into the slots (just rub a pencil in them a couple of times). This will lubricate the slots.

karaokeman

Success:).

All strings tuned and now able to freely practice, thanks for all the help guys/gals:D