• This kind of thing is know to happen with Gibsons, and I'm guessing the problem is at the nut. Other than the graphite trick, you could also consider investing in a different nut, that might resolve it.


    But as others suggested, a good idea to take it to an experienced luthier and ask him to give you the skinny on what's going on with that G string.

  • Why are you adjusting the truss rod? Is it related to your tuning issue or is your action fluctuating? I'm just trying to understand if they are related/unrelated issues.


    Regarding the tuning issue, I concur with others about it being a nut issue. I'm a total Gibson guy, but I'll be the first to admit that the headstock design they used (and almost everybody else used pre-Fender) was a design flaw. The lack of straight string pull potentially causes nut binding. You need much more wiggle room in the slot than with straight-pull headstock designs. The reason the PRS guys don't have this issue is the straight string pull. Same for Strats and Teles.


    I currently own about 60 guitars with many more in the past, and only the offset string pulls ever gave me problems. I had to recut or replace the nut on almost all of them. Lube helps, but it isn't sufficient in most cases. Factory nut slots are almost always too deep, too narrow, and too high. In fact, the easiest way to make a guitar play better from the factory is to cut the slot to be planar to the rest of the frets. I have NO idea why even some good luthiers treat a nut different from a zero fret in terms of height.


    My quick guide to solving tuning problems:

    • It's not your tuners. Really, it's not your tuners, move along.
    • It's not your saddle or bridge unless you are using a non-integrated trem or have a long distance between bridge and tailpiece. In those cases, you either need the strings to slide well over the saddles or have a bridge that can rock easily back and forth.
    • It's probably your nut. Even if you believe that 1 and/or 2 do apply to your guitar, your nut is still probably contributing to your problem.

    I hate emojis, but I hate being misunderstood more. :)

  • I can say i really do feel for Ant because of the SAME experience. I got some fixes tho.


    Imagine (your lucky you cant BTW) your a left handed player, i walked into a big music store in Brisbane and said i finally saved up for ever and wanna buy a brand new Les Paul Standard,(like Ant i am getting old LOL) the guy said guess what? Not only do you have to pay more than right handers but Gibson did not make ANY left handed models this year so you need last years model dont panic we have one in stock.


    So i pay nearly 4 grand, i get home and the Fing thing does not stay in tune, G string nadda....i then find its not only the NUT but the way the angles of the D and G string go after the nut that helps cause this problem, PRS GUITARS ARE AWARE OF THIS ISSUE AND SPECIFICALLY MAKE IT SO THE D AND G STING ANGLES ARE STRAIGHT (from the nut)


    Go look at a PRS guitar head stock and compare it to a Gibson one , see the angles ?
    Dont tell me that Gibson are not aware of this problem, because i think that's 100% BULLSHIT. :)
    Do they fix it?


    NO.


    Now Ant and i have ONLY 2 choices, one the best fixes is HERE

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    The other is to get an ever tune bridge.
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    I think the best option is to TRY the cheap easy nut version (first video) then my brother like me guess what?


    We got say F it...and get the ever tune...if i do it YOU have to :P:D
    Or BOTH our assess need to save up for a PRS


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • okay i searched for a Gibson with an ever tune on , the first MYTH that comes with the ever tune nay sayers
    is intonation and string bending.


    Guess what ?intonation is FINE and you can still bend. :rolleyes:
    Watch Chappers and Bea do it (9 min mark)

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    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • hey @ashtweth thanks for the useful links, very interesting. I have a few questions as I am not a native english speaker and it's hard to follow the vids.
    if I understand well, the guy on vid #1 uses a string-shaped-weird-file to file in the nut with angle to the locker, right? that's quick & cool but you need the special tool.
    the evertune bridge looks awesome (well sounds awesome cause it looks awful but sound comes first right?) but that's a heavy mod... let's see how I can manage the first one
    cheers

  • Yes correct! And this can often be the QUICK AND CHEAP fix for this problem, i have found a few more that did the filing of the nut trick, I think i will try that FIRST before getting an ever tune. Now also d'addario make a lubricant for the strings, dont forget after you file the nut use a lube to make sure its perfect.


    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • Love this thread as I'm a LP junkie!
    The only advice I would give is find a tech in your area that knows what they are doing. Have a 1986 LP standard will all original hardware and I play it daily. The guy I take my guitar to has this setup perfectly. I bend a lot in my playing and occasionally I do have to tune a bit but no issues in general.
    Have a Charvel from the 80's, with Kahler that would go completely out of tune once I used the tremelo. Everyone told me F Kahler.... get a Floyd Rose. I was so frustrated with the guitar I let it sit and never played it for years. A few years ago I stumbled across a video on youtube of a kid playing his Charvel and how no matter what he did with the tremelo it never went out of tune.
    I took the Charvel to a tech that specializes in Kahlers and now I can dive bomb, hammer away and pull back without breaking a string or going out of tune, and now love playing that guitar.


    My point is, find someone that know what they are doing to get you setup properly for your style of playing. It's all about the setup and fine tuning.

  • Said what I would have said.


    I am also wondering why the OP SEEMS to be adjusting the truss rod for tuning, or at least, quite often. You adjust the truss rod to set proper relief. If your guitar is seeing a lot of climate changes, all the time, cold to hot, humid to not, then YOU might have to tweak it. But generally, you only adjust it when the season changes, or similar, as humidity levels can change the relief, temp changes can, etc.

  • G string issue will probably be the nut slot is too high. Needs to be cut so it won't bind and as deep as can go without completely buggering up the action. No deeper than height of first fret. Or you could try an earvana nut.

  • The earvana nut sounds great, what you said is exactly how others have been getting some ley way by filling down the nut.
    I would rather try the earvana nut FIRST before the ever tune



    Ash

    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • You would not catch me ever putting an earvana nut on any of my Les Pauls and I would never recommend it to anyone either. Have a good tech adjust the slots in your current nut or put on a new one made from bone, tusq or corian. But, stay away from the earvana.


    My Les Paul's all have the nylon nut and stay in tune perfectly fine. A good setup, with new strings that have been properly wound and you should have no issues. It never surprises me to see people with the strings wound incorrectly and then complain about tuning issues.


    The Les Paul has been around since the 50's, it's worked fine for thousands of people without needing to go to a different style of nut.


    Bah! Just my .02cents, lol.

  • I've done a couple of Earvanas. They only work when the slots are cut too high, like on many factory setups. When cut planar to the frets, they actually make your open string sharp. The forward shift of the nut makes the open string sharp to match the sharpness of the lower frets from too much tension when fretting the lower frets due to a high nut. Then the intonation is adjusted to compensate for this unnecessary sharpness. It's the absolute wrong way to correct for 1st to 5th fret sharpness IMHO. Think about guitars with zero-frets. They intonate perfectly to even temperament. You need to install an Earvana incorrectly for it to work correctly. And when done so, your action on the lower frets will be worse than nescessary.


    The Gibson headstock design is more problematic compared to straight string pull designs (Fender, PRS), but like drog said, it's easily fixed. Martin uses the same principle and just made their 2 millionth guitar. There must be literally millions of guitars out there with angled string pulls without any tuning issues. Gibson just sucks as a company these days and doesn't bother to take the time to do a proper nut slotting. This is inexcusabable, especially since they own Plek machines that can do the proper angled/tapered cuts.

    I hate emojis, but I hate being misunderstood more. :)

  • I'm not sure this method is the best
    http://www.gibson.com/News-Lif…Way-To-String-An-Axe.aspx
    (zztop Zack Wild use that)
    Here are some that look promising

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    +
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    Have a beer and don't sneer. -CJ. Two non powered Kempers -Two mission stereo FRFR Cabs - Ditto X4 -TC electronic Mimiq.

  • I prefer the second method, the string being trapped has always seemed a good idea to me.



    I use D'addario friction remover / lube, I like the tiny applicators supplied, my g string has never been better LOL :D



    P.

  • There is a simple solution.
    Don't buy today's Gibson.
    Buy Gibson alike guitars, there are many on the market, most of them did sort it out tuning issues, terrible ballance and weight problems, among the whole lot of another Gibson guitar design problems.
    They don't use cheap parts and worthless wood, components.
    Starting with say Tokai, stays in tune, lighter then Gibson, and cheaper a lot.
    By all means and blind test better than original.
    On the more expensive side, there is Tom Anderson Bulldog, the most perfect LP like guitar ever made.
    By all means, by blind test, today's Gibsons should costs £100 max comparing to supremacy of Tom Anderson Bulldog design.
    If Les Paul is alive, he will change his design to be more like a Bulldog.


    I know it hurts, but that's it.
    Les Paul do not deserve today's Gibson management, they all should be fired, before they completely destroy his legendary brand name.
    Shame!

    1988 Branko Radulovic Hand Made Strat in Macedonia (SFRJ)

    2006 Steve Vai vwh moded with SS frets and Sustainac 2006 (Japan)

    2008 Fender YJM , moded (USA)

    2010 Tom Andersons Drop Top 2010 (made in California)

    2017 Charvel GG sig Caramelised Ash (USA)

    2022 Gibson ES 335 2011 Custom Shop Cherry of course ( Memphis)

    Edited 5 times, last by Rescator ().

  • I recently inquired a bit about best LP copies and Bacchus came on top on the list. I'd love to get a duke master (P90s). Bulldog and tokai are top notch as well. MIJ is the big thing now


    However, I bought my LP in a music shop as 10 years from now I was unable to get a guitar without trying it. I tried many in music shops and they all had huge differences. The one I bought is heavy, not perfectly balanced and does not stay in tune (need to investigate this more) but hell it has a good luthery, it sounds awesome unplugged. New PUs and here I am


    Cheers

  • I own ten Gibson guitars including four Les Paul's, some made within the last couple of years. Guess what!?!?!
    Not a single issue with any of them.


    Some people just love to hate on Gibson, but it's always the uninformed.