Guitar advice (tuning and bridge)

Lukin_oz

I got 2 questions for anyone who could help me.... firstly, I own a SG special and the strings (the G in particlar) go out of tune really easy. Is there any way I can make the tuning heads maintain the strings tune and tightness without replacing them? Secondly, I also own a Les Pau type guitar and the strings break pretty often. Ive found it often happens at the bridge near the pickups... what I want to know is can I file the points on the bridge down so the strings dont break as often?

Any help would be appreciated... cheers!

MissYouAllDay

funny you should bring this up since I "tried" to buy an SG today.

The stock tuners on an SG are apparently horrible. Go get some nice locking tuners and that should fix alot of the out of tune problem.

As for the snapping of strings. Paco suggested that gibsons have razor sharp bridges. He said get a graphite bridge to replace it or something like that. I'm sure he'll add his 2 cents and fix up anything I am miss quoting

who's_pearljam?

1. The g strings are always the tough ones. There is a good way to wind the strings on the tuning peg that keeps them from slipping. Hard to explain, but it self locks. I learned that years ago from a guitar tech. I saw it written once on the taylor guitar website. I'll see if I can find a link and post it. That may help. If not, then you can go for some nice tuners. Good locking tuners are great to have.
You can find them to fit the same holes that are already there in the headstock.


2. The bridge saddles probably are a bit worn , so you might be able to file and polish the saddles for a smoother path. Those bridges are notorious for breaking strings there because the bend is so sharp there. Try different strings, too, if that doesn't help. Everyone here, including me, doesn't seem to like Ernie Balls. hey always broke on me. I use DR or Boomers mostly. Like missyouallday says, The graphite saddles are great. I use them all the time, but try smoothing the saddles and strings first if you don't want to fork out the 35 bucks or so.

Cheers!

who's_pearljam?

This is a link to the taylor website. There is a link on this page "do's and don'ts about stringing your guitar" that shows how to lock the strings on.

http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/reference/techsheets.html

Other good info on that page, too.
Cheers!

Lukin_oz

Thanks for the advice... got a gig on Sunday and the last time I played a gig the les paul broke strings and the other needed retuning every song... so Im frantically trying to get them back in tip top shape before Sunday...