Going out of tune unevenly

[Strabo]

I have noticed that mandolin strings go out of tune unevenly, and I wonder why.

My 1922 Gibson A with Thomastik strings goes out of tune rarely, and then only when there is a significant change in ambient temperature or humidity.

My 1930s Stradolin has Elixir strings and it frequently goes out of tune. Usually the G and D strings are more off-pitch than the A and E strings.

My questions are:

1. Why would the Stradolin/Elixir combo change pitch more readily than the Gibson/Thomastik?

2. Why would the lower-pitch strings change more than the higher strings?

I know that these questions may be somewhat frivolous, but I would like to understand what is happening here.

[Charlie Bernstein]

I have noticed that mandolin strings go out of tune unevenly, and I wonder why. . . .

Well - why wouldn't they? They don't compare notes.

[Tobin]

Part of it could be the strings, but I suspect more of it is the instruments themselves that are behind the differences in going out of tune. There are probably hundreds of variables involved here. Every individual instrument will change differently when temperature and humidity swing. It depends on the woods, the glues, the truss rods (if so equipped), the tuners, the degree of arching in the top, the slots in the bridges and nuts, etc., etc., etc.

We could make guesses, but the truth is that there's no official answer here. Your mandolins are unique items, and they will behave uniquely.

[Rodney Riley]

The difference in the material mass of the strings, the way the wood warps to temp/ humidity. Is the tuners tightened the same to the head stock? Some might slip a very little over time from the strings tension. Lot of variables in these little monsters.

Oops, what Tobin said. He posted while I was typing

[JeffD]

I noticed on one mandolin that my "corner pegs" - the treble side A string and the bass side D string, tended to lead the pack in going out of tune. I surmised it had something to do with jostling inside the case, those two pegs being most vulnerable.

[farmerjones]

Strabo,
How long have the strings been on each of the instruments?
Also, is the string flat or sharp, and by how much?

I'll just say, steel core string types seem to be the most inert, or rather the most stable. Then there are the tuning machines, and the instrument itself. Also the method to which one puts the strings on. Many factors, as has been mentioned.

[sbhikes]

Of course they'll go out of tune unevenly. They're all separate.

[mandroid]

WE do use the internet to ask rhetorical questions, How many write here from Work?

[Mandoplumb]

I have mine trained to go out of tune evenly one fret at a time, then if I don't want to retune I just put a capo on the appropriate fret.

[Charlie Bernstein]

. . . How many write here from Work?

Can't anymore. I retired.

[FLATROCK HILL]

We could make guesses, but the truth is that there's no official answer here. Your mandolins are unique items, and they will behave uniquely.

I think the OP's mandolins are 'loners' and don't socialize much with each other. Mine on the other hand have somewhat of a 'herd mentality'. When one goes out, they all go out. And just when I think they're going to behave, I find they've all conspired to let one of their 'A' strings slip just that least little bit. Just enough to drive me crazy. I think they're trying to 'Gaslight' me

[pheffernan]

1. Why would the Stradolin/Elixir combo change pitch more readily than the Gibson/Thomastik?

Thomastik flatwounds are noted for their tuning stability.

2. Why would the lower-pitch strings change more than the higher strings?

Assuming that you are stringing and tuning up correctly, I would look at the tuning machines to determine whether they have some play after eighty years of use and require either an adjustment or perhaps replacement.

[Bertram Henze]

Why would the lower-pitch strings change more than the higher strings?

The higher strings are nearer to their breaking tension (remember breaking a string on tuning up? always the E). Near the breaking point, the same change in stretched length makes less tension change and thus pitch change (again:remember breaking a string on tuning up? just before the string broke, pitch ceased changing). Steel behaves like that when it passes from elastic deformation into plastic deformation; this is, btw, the reason why tuning up and detuning a string repeatedly makes it more prone to breaking.

[Willie Poole]

I knew a picker that would tune up starting at the bass strings and working his way to the E string, then he would strike a chord and wonder why his instrument was not in tune, when tightening the unwound strings last it pulls more on the neck and causes the wound strings to go out of tune, I always start on the D strings and then the A , then the E and last the G string, I also double and triple check them all....Letting an instrument sit over night it will change due to the weather changes, mine usually go sharp....

These are some things that you just have to put up with and master if you want to be a mandolin picker...Every time I seen Monroe he handed his mandolin to another band member to tune, maybe he didn`t have the right ear for tuning, I don`t know...

Willie

[JeffD]

If I had someone to whom I could hand the mandolin for tuning, I would. Every time.

[Tobin]

If I had someone to whom I could hand the mandolin for tuning, I would. Every time.

That's what my wife does. She hands it to me. I guess now I can tell her she's following the Bill Monroe tradition.

[sbhikes]

The only thing worse than a mandolin for tuning is a banjo. Those things are never in tune. Mandolins are only sometimes in tune.