New Petrucci 6-string. Some questions.

[Damoonrulz#1]

Hello everybody,

I just purchased my guitar and have some questions on it. Mainly regarding the tremolo and the bridge setup. I realize that it has a floating bridge design, but is there a way to set it up so that when you tune to drop D all of the other strings don't go out of tune. I spent like 5 mins in front of my tuner today trying to get into perfect tune. Does everybody else have this problem or is my setup bad? Also I have read most people saying that their Petrucci guitars stay in tune when the use the bar, but mine seems to go out of tune very quickly. Is there anything I can do?

Thanks for the help in advance.

 

[jeffrey]

1. Drop -D: Block it off or get some sort of a tremsetter.

2. Going out of tune: Make sure the strings aren't dragging in the nut (Big Bend's Nut Sauce works well for me), also make sure they aren't touching the fingerboard between the nut and tuning keys, mine were and EB took care of it (call Customer Service if it is). Lastly, old strings go out of tune a lot (for me at least). Keep'em fresh.

Congrats on the guitar and welcome to the forum.

 

[Damoonrulz#1]

How did they fix the issue of the strings hitting the fret board after the nut? It looks like both of my E strings are touching. That nut juice sounds terrible but ill give it a try.

 

[jeffrey]

They had to recut the nut, cut the rosewood down a bit and refinish the headstock.

Perfect since then. I recommend calling CS for that.

Nut Sauce really just looks like Vaseline (probably all it is), but it does seem to make a difference for me.

 

[ivanmihaljevic]

Nut Sauce is a very good recommendation.
Try setting up your guitar with Ernie Ball RPS strings. I seriously doubt you'll have problems staying in tune with those strings.
As far as tuning down to drop D - it's normal when you release the tension of one string that the other strings go sharp because the tremolo springs pull them back.

 

[puppyonacid]

Nut sauce is fab. When I got mine one of the strings was catching slightly at the nut. The nut sauce sorted that. It is still a floating unit so latering the pitch of one string from where you tune to will make the other strings shapr like ivanmihaljevic said. Also, my guitar was finished in Jan 06. One of the strings has worn a groove behind the nut but........it hasnt ever caused me a problem. If it ain't broke, why fix it?