Guitar tightening blocks?!
Question: On my guitar which is a Fender strat copy (squier) there are adjustable blocks which guide where the end of the string disappears into the guitar body.
What is their purpose, if the tuning pegs take the tension what do these blocks do, and should they sit in a particular positon. My 'B' string (second thinnest) doesn't sound quite right, yet the electronic tuner reckons it is. (maybe i'm tone deaf)
thanks
Answers: On my guitar which is a Fender strat copy (squier) there are adjustable blocks which guide where the end of the string disappears into the guitar body.
What is their purpose, if the tuning pegs take the tension what do these blocks do, and should they sit in a particular positon. My 'B' string (second thinnest) doesn't sound quite right, yet the electronic tuner reckons it is. (maybe i'm tone deaf)
thanks
"Jeff N" has got it right. They are called the string saddles and are use to intonate your guitar. You need them basically for two reasons - 1) Tuning a guitar to EADGBE is a bit of a compromise that sort of works but doesn't quite and 2) the mass of the strings themselves minutely affects their length when fretted. The saddles help compensate for this.
Intonate is just a fancy expression for a bit of advanced tuning by the way
.
The other thing that they can do is help adjust the string height - that's what the two little allen bolts are for.
Do what JeffN says and your guitar will sound sweet.
My advice about the electronic tuner is use it yes but also try and train your ear. I also think that elecronic tuners work better if you tune using a 12th fret harmonic - they seem to react with a little more stability that way.
One other tip I was given about tuning Stratocasters (that seems to work for me) is tune from the middle outwards. What I mean is start with the G, then the D, then the B and keep working outwards until you run out of strings to tune.
One last thing that can affect tuning is the way you wind the strings around the tuning pegs. I always have the least amount of string possible, one or two winds. A little bit of graphite from a soft pencil rubbed onto the saddles and string nut will also help to stop the strings sticking and dropping out of tune when you use the whammy bar.
Hope that helps.
try adjusting their position,they maybe loose
these are for fine tuning your axe- hit the string open- note its tuning on your tuner then do it again on the 12th. fret- any difference and you should move the fine adjustment you are talking about back and forth until they give you the same reading on your tuner. Then its in perfect tune. Time consuming but do it for each string until you reach perfect balance between open string and 12th. fret. Then you sound great- happy playing!