Tuning heads

Tuning heads

I have two three bass's

1- Squirer P bass with Grover's
2-Washburn AB10 acoustic
3-Cort Curbow.

1&2 seem to stay in tune if I leave it overnight
3 seems to go a little out of tune

Now the Curbow is made of plastic body and fretboard wooden
neck

The tuners on the Curbow are a nice blue patina like the rest
of the aluminum hardware and I dig the way they look..

Do you think I would benefit getting new tuners on the Curbow
as far as easier tuning and staying in tune?
Any brands that are inexpensive but high quality you can
recommend. I only have $200 in the curbow.

Thanks in advance
peace
dawg

Re: Tuning heads

On May 2, 12:43 pm, "We Can Do It" <Ca...@motivation . com > wrote:
> I have two three bass's
>
> 1- Squirer P bass with Grover's
> 2-Washburn AB10 acoustic
> 3-Cort Curbow.
>
> 1&2 seem to stay in tune if I leave it overnight
> 3 seems to go a little out of tune
>
> Now the Curbow is made of plastic body and fretboard wooden
> neck
>
> The tuners on the Curbow are a nice blue patina like the rest
> of the aluminum hardware and I dig the way they look..
>
> Do you think I would benefit getting new tuners on the Curbow
> as far as easier tuning and staying in tune?
> Any brands that are inexpensive but high quality you can
> recommend. I only have $200 in the curbow.
>
> Thanks in advance
> peace
> dawg


I don't know the Cort bass, but a "little out of tune" overnight
doesn't seem to me to be a "problem" at all. Natural occurance, easily
remedied. Tune up. Takes seconds. Plus there's no guarantee that
changing the tuners (especially for inexpensive ones) would keep it in
tune. Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes out?
BW

Re: Tuning heads

> I don't know the Cort bass, but a "little out of tune" overnight
> doesn't seem to me to be a "problem" at all. Natural occurance, easily
> remedied. Tune up. Takes seconds. Plus there's no guarantee that
> changing the tuners (especially for inexpensive ones) would keep it in
> tune. Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes out?

That would be a problem to me, Barry. If it happens every night, then
something's wrong. First thing would be the tuners, there are only so
many possibilities, and none of them are as likely as the tuners.
Strings could be stretching, neck could be bowing, saddles could be
moving, tailpiece could be slowly dislodging itself from the body --
none of those would happen night after night. Bad tuners would.

None of my basses go out of tune -- except for the bi-annual season
change and neck-bowing, which we're right in the middle of here. All my
strings were sharp last night, but that'll stop when the humidity gets
high and stays high until fall.

Re: Tuning heads

Brian Running <brunning@XXameritechXX . net > wrote:
>> I don't know the Cort bass, but a "little out of tune" overnight
>> doesn't seem to me to be a "problem" at all. Natural occurance,
>> easily remedied. Tune up. Takes seconds. Plus there's no guarantee
>> that changing the tuners (especially for inexpensive ones) would
>> keep it in tune. Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason
>> it goes out?
>
> That would be a problem to me, Barry. If it happens every night, then
> something's wrong. First thing would be the tuners, there are only so
> many possibilities, and none of them are as likely as the tuners.
> Strings could be stretching, neck could be bowing, saddles could be
> moving, tailpiece could be slowly dislodging itself from the body --
> none of those would happen night after night. Bad tuners would.
>
> None of my basses go out of tune -- except for the bi-annual season
> change and neck-bowing, which we're right in the middle of here. All
> my strings were sharp last night, but that'll stop when the humidity
> gets high and stays high until fall.

Depending on the neck materials and construction, such behavior can
result from temperature/humidity changes. In fact, that would be my
first suspect. Specifically, the fretboard and the neck would can have
different thermal expansion coefficients, which means they expand or
contract at different rates with temperature changes, which builds in a
change in the amount of flex in the neck. I have several guitars that
do this, but other guitars and my bass don't, and it's not the tuners.
How do I know that? Because, depending upon the circumstances, they
creep *upward* in pitch. A bad tuner will *always* creep downward.

Re: Tuning heads


"BW" <barrybassist@yahoo . com > wrote in message
news:4c58f7c6-3184-4bf3-bcfc-

Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes
out?
> BW

No I do not. I was just asking here in case someone with a
Cort curbow chimes in and tells me it has something to do with
the Luthite or Ebonite or something like that.

I am not taking the scientific method here but I believe that
it starts sharp and after I play the bass for five minutes it
goes a little flat. The E string is affected the most and is
the hardest to tune.

So just to check I went over put the bass on the tuner and
dead nuts on. Play sleepy time time on it for a few minutes
and dead nuts on. WTFO Maybe it is me who is a little off.

peace
dawg

Re: Tuning heads

We Can Do It <CanDo@motivation . com > wrote:
> "BW" <barrybassist@yahoo . com > wrote in message
> news:4c58f7c6-3184-4bf3-bcfc-
>
> Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes
> out?
>> BW
>
> No I do not. I was just asking here in case someone with a
> Cort curbow chimes in and tells me it has something to do with
> the Luthite or Ebonite or something like that.
>
> I am not taking the scientific method here but I believe that
> it starts sharp and after I play the bass for five minutes it
> goes a little flat. The E string is affected the most and is
> the hardest to tune.
>
> So just to check I went over put the bass on the tuner and
> dead nuts on. Play sleepy time time on it for a few minutes
> and dead nuts on. WTFO Maybe it is me who is a little off.
>
> peace
> dawg

It's conceivable that it's the neck flexing a bit under the stress
caused by temperature changes. As I said in another post, I have
several guitars that do that.

Your hands are warming up the neck slightly over the first few minutes
as you play. For that reason, I always play for a few minutes before
doing the final tuning. If I then put the guitar away and then check it
several hours later, it can go either sharp or flat (which I suppose
depends on how the temperature has changed). If it's your tuners, I'd
argue that it would always go flat over time.

Re: Tuning heads


"RichL" <rpleavitt@yahoo . com > wrote in message
news:ubLSj.62$Fv.54@trnddc03...
> We Can Do It <CanDo@motivation . com > wrote:
>> "BW" <barrybassist@yahoo . com > wrote in message
>> news:4c58f7c6-3184-4bf3-bcfc-
>>
>> Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes
>> out?
>>> BW
>>
>> No I do not. I was just asking here in case someone with a
>> Cort curbow chimes in and tells me it has something to do
>> with
>> the Luthite or Ebonite or something like that.
>>
>> I am not taking the scientific method here but I believe
>> that
>> it starts sharp and after I play the bass for five minutes
>> it
>> goes a little flat. The E string is affected the most and
>> is
>> the hardest to tune.
>>
>> So just to check I went over put the bass on the tuner and
>> dead nuts on. Play sleepy time time on it for a few minutes
>> and dead nuts on. WTFO Maybe it is me who is a little off.
>>
>> peace
>> dawg
>
> It's conceivable that it's the neck flexing a bit under the
> stress
> caused by temperature changes. As I said in another post, I
> have
> several guitars that do that.
>
> Your hands are warming up the neck slightly over the first
> few minutes
> as you play. For that reason, I always play for a few
> minutes before
> doing the final tuning. If I then put the guitar away and
> then check it
> several hours later, it can go either sharp or flat (which I
> suppose
> depends on how the temperature has changed). If it's your
> tuners, I'd
> argue that it would always go flat over time.


----- Original Message -----
From: "RichL" <rpleavitt@yahoo . com >
Newsgroups: alt.guitar.bass
Sent: Friday, May 02, 2008 4:53 PM
Subject: Re: Tuning heads


> We Can Do It <CanDo@motivation . com > wrote:
>> "BW" <barrybassist@yahoo . com > wrote in message
>> news:4c58f7c6-3184-4bf3-bcfc-
>>
>> Do you know for sure that the tuners are the reason it goes
>> out?
>>> BW
>>
>> No I do not. I was just asking here in case someone with a
>> Cort curbow chimes in and tells me it has something to do
>> with
>> the Luthite or Ebonite or something like that.
>>
>> I am not taking the scientific method here but I believe
>> that
>> it starts sharp and after I play the bass for five minutes
>> it
>> goes a little flat. The E string is affected the most and
>> is
>> the hardest to tune.
>>
>> So just to check I went over put the bass on the tuner and
>> dead nuts on. Play sleepy time time on it for a few minutes
>> and dead nuts on. WTFO Maybe it is me who is a little off.
>>
>> peace
>> dawg
>
> It's conceivable that it's the neck flexing a bit under the
> stress
> caused by temperature changes. As I said in another post, I
> have
> several guitars that do that.
>
> Your hands are warming up the neck slightly over the first
> few minutes
> as you play. For that reason, I always play for a few
> minutes before
> doing the final tuning. If I then put the guitar away and
> then check it
> several hours later, it can go either sharp or flat (which I
> suppose
> depends on how the temperature has changed). If it's your
> tuners, I'd
> argue that it would always go flat over time.
>

That makes total sense. I will observe with that in mind.
Being an engineer I should have thought of that. The neck is
constructed like a bifrucated thermostat element after all.
Thanks

peace
dawg
>
>

Re: Tuning heads

We Can Do It wrote:
> The tuners on the Curbow are a nice blue patina like the rest of the
> aluminum hardware and I dig the way they look..

I don't have any problem with mine. I own a Curbow 5. Of course, when
I start to play, if I tune it using a strobe tuner, it is often sharp a
bit (nothing I can hear). After 5 minutes of playing, it is dead on
pitch.

I'd say keep the tuners unless you are 100% certain that it is the
source of the problem.

--
Frederic Gelinas