Kevin Bond Rhoads will not stay in tune

[bucketbrian45]

I just got it not too long ago and since I got it, it will not stay in tune at all. Some strings go up in pitch and the g and high e go way below pitch. I put lube on the nut and it still does it. The guitar came with 9s but I put 11s if that makes a difference but I did the same thing to my RR24M and it never goes out of tune. When I tune it up I don't hear and pinging or anything coming from the nut. Any help or advice would be appreciated, I am going to restring it today and try different method of wrapping around the tuning peg to see if it makes a difference. Sometimes I think its the bridge because sometimes the ball ends go in crooked and when it happened the first time the guitars tuning was worse, so I loosend the strings and re aligned them so they wouldnt be crooked. it helped but still it goes out of tune. I am including pics of the bridge and how I wrap the strings around the peg.

[Rich#6]

did you give the strings time to stretch? All new strings will go out of time for a short time.

[bucketbrian45]

Yup its been over a week since I restrung it.

[ibanez1357]

Check the bridge saddles, I find those cause a huge percentage of tuning problems with all my guitars plus you said you changed the string guages which means they could be to wide for the saddle slots and that would cause tuning problems.

[krautstyle]

you went form 9 to 11 w no set up and intonation? increased tension in your heavier strings will wack your intonation/setup out.

[bucketbrian45]

I did the intonation and it almost seems like it was set up for 11s, the 9s looked like they were too small for the saddle and nut.

[toddstaples]

Just eyeballing it, but the "d" string looking like its probably out of intonation.

[bucketbrian45]

Just eyeballing it, but the "d" string looking like its probably out of intonation.

well thats what the tuner said I should have it at.

[Krymson86]

I would have to think that it probably requires a setup/intonation and possibly a slight truss rod adjustment. Switching from 9s to 11s would definitely warrant some adjustment.

It's a bit odd for a fixed bridge guitar to go wildly out of tune like that after normal use.

[bucketbrian45]

I would have to think that it probably requires a setup/intonation and possibly a slight truss rod adjustment. Switching from 9s to 11s would definitely warrant some adjustment.

It's a bit odd for a fixed bridge guitar to go wildly out of tune like that after normal use.

The only thing I dont know how to do is adjust is the neck. I intonated the guitar already. I know I put 11s but I tuned it down to D standard.

[toejam]

Yup its been over a week since I restrung it.

Doesn't matter. You need to stretch your strings once you put them on. Tune up to pitch, then bend/pull your strings off the board to pull them out of tune, retune, restretch, retune until they don't go out.

[potatohead]

^That will help if it's going out of tune flat, and I agree it usually takes two to three times of running up and down the string stretching it out between your thumb and fingers before it'll stretch out.

OP, it looks as if you're stringing them on the tuning pegs just fine. I would guess this is a stretching issue as a fixed bridge is pretty hard to mess up. Maybe try tuning the guitar to E overnight, then dump it back down to D the next day. Let is sit for an hour or so and check the neck adjustment. From there you can set intonation (which looks out from the pics, but if it's correct, it's correct).

[bucketbrian45]

^That will help if it's going out of tune flat, and I agree it usually takes two to three times of running up and down the string stretching it out between your thumb and fingers before it'll stretch out.

OP, it looks as if you're stringing them on the tuning pegs just fine. I would guess this is a stretching issue as a fixed bridge is pretty hard to mess up. Maybe try tuning the guitar to E overnight, then dump it back down to D the next day. Let is sit for an hour or so and check the neck adjustment. From there you can set intonation (which looks out from the pics, but if it's correct, it's correct).

I am going to re string it tonight and try this and see what happens, and I am going to check the intonation again. thanks everybody for all the advice.

[bucketbrian45]

Doesn't matter. You need to stretch your strings once you put them on. Tune up to pitch, then bend/pull your strings off the board to pull them out of tune, retune, restretch, retune until they don't go out.

I did what you said and it worked the guitars tuning is stable as hell. Thanks a lot man.

[toejam]

Cool. Glad you got it sorted out!