Music Man Majesty tuning issues

[Capt994]

I've had my Majesty for a while now and absolutely love everything about it except one thing...tuning stability. I will start off saying I don't have much experience with tremelo systems. These issues started occuring before I even used the tremelo bar. Ok, when I first noticed this issue, I contacted customer support and explained the issue and they responded with "we recommend Big Bends Nut Sauce in the nut and bridge." So, I ordered some and applied it on my next string change. It definitely helped some, but the problem still persists. If I use the tremelo bar, even moderately, it goes out of tune even worse. My Majesty came with RPS 10's and that's all I've ever used when restringing...exact same size and brand. My bridge is flush with the guitar and perfectly parallel. When I restring, I line the tuner hole up with the incoming string and pull the string through snug, then tighten the locking tuner, tune the string and cut off the excess string. When I'm done tuning, the string doesn't even have a full wrap around the tuner, which seems to be the universal opinion on how to do it correctly. Like I said before, I don't have a lot of experience with tremelos, but I did have a couple of questions:
1) When stretching the strings on a floating system, do you guys block the trem? I did and the reason I ask is because if its not blocked, when you stretch the strings the tremelo will slightly move freely, which seems like the string stetching won't get 100% of the benefit of being stretched. I did a lot of reading (trying to educate myself on this issue), but didn't see many people saying they blocked the trem while string stretching.

2) When you notice your guitar out of tune is there a particular order to tuning? Some people say low E string first, then high E next, then A string, etc. Other people say tune the string thats off most first and the that usually helps bring everything else together. Lots of different opinions on tuning order, so I really wonder if it matters.

Sorry this post is rather long. I just wanted to share my issue and how I'm going about trying to narrow down the solution. I do really love this guitar, but this tuning problem has really bummed me out. Since its still under warranty, Ernie Ball has also offered to look at this issue themselves, but then I would have to ship the guitar across country and be without a guitar for probably a couple of weeks. The very thought of not having a guitar that long would completely stress me out, so that would be an absolute last option. I am taking the guitar to a local luthier this weekend and see if he can fix it. I've read lots of posts and articles on this issue, but just can't figure it out. Even though I'm taking it to a luthier, I would still appreciate any input you guys may have. A sincere thanks!

 

[mikeller]

How you are stringing up the the guitar (less tan full wrap) is how I do it, and perfectly fine. I do not block the trem when stretching, and normally pull the string up and down, side to side a few times, re-tune and stretch, push down and up on the trem arm and re-tune again, etc until it comes back in tune. Unless I have a need to do a deep clean, I change strings one at a time from the Low E up, stretching and tuning as I go.

Final tune, at least my method, is strings 1 4 2 5 6 or something like that and repeat til in tune. With big bends a little bit goes a long way and I think excess can deaden the ring of the string as well as accumulating junk in the nut slots. I tend to prefer a small drop of Tri-Flow lubricant applied with the needle bottle, and put a small drop in each of the nut slots and on each saddle, dabbing off the excess.

Again, this is just my approach, I am no expert, but this works well for me.

 

[tbonesullivan]

Do the tuning issues persist more than a week after the strings were installed? As with all floating tremolo systems, they need to get into equilibrium, which can be a pain in the butt, as tuning one string up makes the others go down. You've gotta keep tuning and tuning until it reaches the mid point. After that happens though, it should be quite stable, unless the strings are binding at the nut, or the bridge.

 

[Capt994]

How you are stringing up the the guitar (less tan full wrap) is how I do it, and perfectly fine. I do not block the trem when stretching, and normally pull the string up and down, side to side a few times, re-tune and stretch, push down and up on the trem arm and re-tune again, etc until it comes back in tune. Unless I have a need to do a deep clean, I change strings one at a time from the Low E up, stretching and tuning as I go.

Final tune, at least my method, is strings 1 4 2 5 6 or something like that and repeat til in tune. With big bends a little bit goes a long way and I think excess can deaden the ring of the string as well as accumulating junk in the nut slots. I tend to prefer a small drop of Tri-Flow lubricant applied with the needle bottle, and put a small drop in each of the nut slots and on each saddle, dabbing off the excess.

Again, this is just my approach, I am no expert, but this works well for me.

Yes, less than a full wrap. When I stretch strings, I push down on the string with my thumb while simultaneously pulling up with my index, middle and ring fingers and I do this all along the fretboard. I always stretch, tune, stretch re-tune multiple times. I also change strings one at a time. However, I haven't used the trem bar to help during the stretching process. I will give that a shot in the future. I will keep the Tri-Flow lubricant in mind. I only used Big Bends Nut Sauce because of Ernie Ball's customer service recommended it. Thank you very much for the reply.

 

[Capt994]

Do the tuning issues persist more than a week after the strings were installed? As with all floating tremolo systems, they need to get into equilibrium, which can be a pain in the butt, as tuning one string up makes the others go down. You've gotta keep tuning and tuning until it reaches the mid point. After that happens though, it should be quite stable, unless the strings are binding at the nut, or the bridge.

Unfortunately, the tuning issues have persisted after a week of the string change. I've probably owned 15+ guitars over the last 30 years and never had a tuning problem before. Well, I'm taking it to a luthier tomorrow and see what he can do. Even with this issue, I have a hard time putting this guitar down...so fun to play! Thanks for the reply!

 

[Phrankenstrat]

I bought a half dozen sets of the RPS because they were recommended for these guitars. They absolutely will NOT stay in tune on my LIII. Went back to my Rev Willy's and zero issues. Even the regular EB's hold tune, at least for me, way better than the RPS.

 

[Claude H. Smoot]

I had tuning issues since i had gotten my EBMM JP7. I finally removed the bridge and measured the trem post heights and they were actually off by 2/64 of an inch. I made them equal and set everything back up according to the sites setup advice, now its as steady as anything i have. Stranger Things i guess.

 

[thejone]

Hi. Don't worry. It will get better soon. The reason for your tuning instabilities is propably the guitar itself. Two of my three majesties were very unstable. The neck needed almost daily readjustments. Over time this issue resolved almost completly. I never had these issues with the Monarchy Series guitar. Propably EBMM did some improvements. So just readjust every day and you'll be good. I wrote here about that ossue a while a ago before. Regards J