Tuning issues with Majesty - does a Majesty without floating bridge exist?

[Eivind]

Hi all

I own a music man Majesty (this one!), and I absolutely adore the guitar. It's everything I could wish for, and all the other guitars I've owned up until this one has had some degree of "fight" in them. As in, it has always felt like some aspect of the guitar has been reluctant to be played the way I want it to. Not this one however, it's so so easily played.. So it's great. It's fantastic.

However, I live in a country where humidity and temperature changes very often, and I have a small apartment with natural ventilation (as in no A/C, I have to keep my windows open). I may have 23c/75 fahrenheit one day, and 10/50 fahrenheit very shortly after. Needless to say, I have trouble with the tuning of all of my instruments.

To me it feels like the floating bridge compounds these problems. I get that it is a great addition to the guitar, but I feel so saddened I spend maybe 60% of my time with this guitar simply tuning it. I find myself dreaming for a version of this guitar without a floating bridge... I don't know if that is a possibility, but I would absolutely love it.. This is kinda tough, I've been dreaming for a music man guitar like this for 10 years, and now that I have it I am super excited but also a bit troubled by this.

It took a long while for me to be able to afford one, and I could not test it in the store as these are ordered guitars only. They do not keep them in store as the market for these guitars (new) consist of very few people. Luckily I had tested a Petrucci signature 6-7 years before, so I knew roughly what to expect and was hoping for them to have only improved since then (they had ).

Now that I have one, I don't find my self as willing to take a chance on a new guitar, as I feel this guitar has so perfectly nailed what a fretboard / neck should feel like, and it has amazing sound. However I also need to do something, I can let this tuning issue erode all my fun with this fantastic instrument.

Do you guys think theres a chance EB may have a demo guitar or something similar to the majesty that has a fixed bridge? If that's not the case, what do you think is the closest I can get to a majesty that has a fixed bridge? The idea of changing guitar is so incredibly sad for me as I absolutely love this one, but these tuning issues persist and they take a lot of joy out of playing guitar for me, especially as I try to record my own first EP these days. I likely won't change to an entirely different guitar, but I figured this was worth a shot. I'm very excited to hear any and all options.

Best regards,
Eivind

 

[beej]

Hi there-

First off, congrats on getting a guitar that fits you so well.

In terms of weather fluctuation, some guitars are more sensitive than others. Any temperature change is going to throw the strings out of tune, regardless of the bridge. Funny, I have two guitars with floating bridges and find that they're actually less sensitive to temp changes than my fixed bridge guitars. Probably because the strings allow the tension to even out.

If the bridge is really an issue for you, I'd just look at some way to block it. There are commercially available solutions (Tremol-no, various tremolo stoppers, etc.), or you can simply use a wood block in the trem cavity to prevent the block from moving. (I've done this for years, it works great, and costs almost nothing.)

But again, even if you fix the trem, you're still going to get tuning issues due to temperature changes. The upside is that it's quicker to tune with a fixed or decked (down-only) bridge.

Good luck.

 

[Vadauco]

I live in a country where humidity and temperature changes very often, and I have a small apartment with natural ventilation (as in no A/C, I have to keep my windows open). I may have 23c/75 fahrenheit one day, and 10/50 fahrenheit very shortly after. Needless to say, I have trouble with the tuning of all of my instruments.

When temperature goes up/down, strings and springs expand/shrink.

If you notice that all strings go out of tune when temperature changes, one trick is: instead of tuning the strings individually, tighten/loosen the springs in the back, to move all strings at once. Then only minor string tunings would be needed.

It works for some guitars, it's worth a shot.

 

[Eivind]

Thanks, will try your suggestions.