He was sitting in his car, waiting for our store to open. He’d “had it” with his Gretsch not staying in tune and wasn’t going to put up with it any more.
After setting the guitar on the counter he slapped three plastic bags down –
- ABR bridge with roller saddles
- Nut with roller guides
- Gotoh locking tuners
Well, that’ll certainly fix it – right???
Chase asked the customer, “Are you properly stretching your strings when they’re new?”.
How to Properly Stretch Guitar Strings
“Of course!”, the customer replied, then he demo’d the “official way” to stretch strings on a Gretsch, by pulling up on one string at a time in the pickup area.
I was passing by, on my way to make that first cup of morning coffee, which I so desperately needed, but I just couldn’t pass this up. I’ve been through this countless times with customers..
I pulled out my tuner and strummed the low-E. It was E2 + 20c (a bit sharp). Using my thumb and fingers, I stretched the string evenly from saddle to nut, then strummed the string again: D2 + 5c It had dropped more than two half-tones with just one round of stretching!
Roller Saddle
I told the customer we’d be happy to install his roller gear, and it sure was cool and all. But it would not solve his tuning issues. Further, we’d either have to set his action a bit higher or his bends were going to bomb out because he hadn’t paid attention to the bridge radius. His new one was a 14″ while his fretboard was 12″.
Roller Nut
The roller nut didn’t allow individual slot height adjustments, so it also would present issues – slight issues, but “issues” just the same.
But worse – strings will rest on the top of each roller, which is along the axis at their center. But guitar fret spacing is calculated from the inside edge (fretboard side) of a nut.
The difference? Strings will now rest about 1/16″ further back, meaning intonation is going to be off up and down the fretboard! The only fixes:
Pull all frets, fill all slots and reslot & refret based on the new scale length, or..
Shave off 1/16″ of the fretboard and move the nut a bit forward, making the unfinished shelf behind the nut stand out, or..
Throw those goll-darn roller thangs in the trash!
Gotoh Tuners
But those Gotohs? Heck yeah! They won’t do a thing for tuning stability, but they’re gonna feel awesome when you’re tuning!
A quick check uncovered a few problems with his setup, so he opted for a setup and installing the Gotohs. The roller stuff? Well, it’s headed back to Amazon.
