Can't tune it (Page 1 of 2)

replace the strings first and then try it may need a truss rod adjustment if its a fixed bridge theres not much you can do there but I think the new strings will help a lot if that dont solve the issue take it to a music store and get it checked out

I had planned on having new strings put on his guitar, the ones on it are in bad shape, I told him that might be part of the problem.

How can I tell on my korg meter if I'm an octave high or low? The green light comes on in the middle as it should when I tried to tune it.

  Cam

OK Thanks Russel and Bensonp, I'm just gonna take it and have it restrung and looked at, thanks for your advice.

Can

Have you tuned it by ear to your own guitar ? The most likely problem is that you have tuned an octave below where you need to be. Listen to your own guitar, that will tell you if its an octave out.

The Korg will not show the octave. It's stupid, it knows an A or a C etc , but not which one !

Whwn you say the tuner says it's in tune but it's not, what do you mean? It's too low or high, or is it that the chords don't sound right?

Hey Cam - I agree with StranSongs - Try tuning it by ear with your own acoustic. The A/E aspect should not have any effect. Don't plug it in, tune it acoustically. Have your nephew or wife pluck your in-tune guitar and match the tuning with your nephews. If you get them matched and the nephews guit still sounds like crap, it's the strings. Really old strings will sound like crap even when in tune.

Yup. If the open strings are in tune, but the fretted notes are not, there is an intonation problem - the strings are either too long (flat when fretted) or too short (sharp when fretted). On an Ovation/Applause, this would require a truss rod adjustment to fix as the bridge is not adjustable IIRC.

Good Luck!

If the guitar is in tune on all the open strings and not in tune when fretted it is a intonation problem ie. old strings,truss rod or bridge or all three, on standard head stocks the tuning pegs are wrapped counter clockwise on the E A D strings and clockwise on the G B E accept a fender type setup where all the strings go counter clockwise and even if they were wrapped in the wrong direction this would not cause the guitar to be out of tune when fretted if it is in tune open Change the strings

Hi Upyerkilt, I've used standard tuners on my bass and they actually manage very well even though that is several octaves below standard. You need a real advanced tuner like the Boss TU2 to intelligently say what you are tuning, the rest just resolve the main note.

If you are ever bored around the house you can try clipping your contact tuner to household objects. This is how I know my electric toothbrush is in C!

RH, on my first guitar course someone turned up with their guitar perfectly in tune but one octave too high. Strings were incredibly tight but being a beginner they didn't know how they should feel. Aferall there's all that talk of developing callouses and finger strength!

It may be possible to tune a guitar one octave higher then standard pitch but the string tension would be so great the strings would snap in a very short time or the neck would, first it would sound like a capo on the 12th fret and since there is 40lbs of pressure at normal tuning that would double and I dont think I would wish to be around it when it explodes

I use a Intelli Chromatic Tuner IMT-500 that does a great job and I find consistently that as I tune each string right on the mark then go back and double check the first (top) string I tuned is always out of tune so I go back over and double check all strings and then triple check them untill all read in tune.

Seems that on my guitar as I work my way down the strings tightening each next string can throw the string you just tuned out of tune slightly.
Triple check it and see if that is the problem.

What rstauffe said!

When tuning I always use the 12th fret harmonic to get the open strings spot on!