Gibson Headstock, Sperzels, And Tuning Prob?

[akozols]

HI,

I'm no expert, but I have experience making bodies, installing trem, refrets, basic guitar setup. I'm having a problem that has me stumped. I have an older Peavey Impact with a two point trem and Sperzels. I have the problem of the plain strings going sharp after a trem dive. I know the strings are sticking and I'm trying to find out where. I installed locking saddles so there's no slipping there.

I've spent alot of time making the nut perfect. With the guitar in tune, I can grab the string behind the nut and press down till the note goes up 5 frets. When i let go, the string will go back in tune. BUT if i use the trem to slide the string thru the nut, the unwound strings come back sharp. With the strings sharp and can grab the string again BEHIND the nut and the strings will go sharper, but come back to the original sharp note. The only way to get the string to go back in tune it to push the string sharp right next to the tuner(locking). That tells me that the Sperzels are holding the string sharp....make sense??

The other problem might be that the headstock is Gibson shaped. The string drop down about 6 degrees and bend to the side about 4 degrees. Next step is o make a nut with each slot angled towards the tuner.

I've noticed that all other Wilkinson/Sperzel setups have straight string pull behind the nut. Am I fighting a losing battle and install a Floyd instead?

thanks,

Al

[ElGringo]

I am interested in some advice on this as well.

I just put together a custom wramoth setup, with a Fishman Wilkinson Piezo tremolo bridge, Graphtec Nut (slots are angled in line to the tuners across the nut), 13 degree angled neck and Sperzel Locking tuners.

The strings will not stay in tune for anything. I am not sure what is causing it. Thanks!

[akozols]

I did make an improvement to tuning. The original nut was the fat Gibson type, I found a graphite Fender type that was thinner. First thing I did was to glue the nut in place and mark where the slots would be. I then used a small straight-edge going from the tuner to the fretboard side of the slot mark. I used the edge as a guide for the initial cut of the slot. Once the slot was started, I sat the guitar in playing position and noticed the angle of the string from the slot to the tuner. I cut the slot(using a notched feeler gauge) using the same angle as the string. After I cut the slot, I finished up by using sandpaper wrapped around smaller feeler guages to smooth out the slot. I finished with a quick lube of graphite.

It now stays in tune 99.5% doing drastic whammys. My tuner are beat and I have about 70 bucks.. I'm not sure if I want to get a new set of locking tuners, or try to find a Floyd system to install. Let me know if yoiu have any more questions.

Al