playing live outdoors in the cold sucks

Joined: 13 Feb 2004 Posts: 5603 Location: phoenix az.

Played a show outdoors at 910 and it was cold out and man did that wreck havoc on tuning. Usually my guitars stay perfectly in tune through whole sets but not this show.I had to stop and tune almost every song.It totally sucked me and my bass player were in tuning hell the whole show.It was weird my guitars were in tune but kept going a little flat across the board.I don't see any way around this if anybody has any ideas let me know.wood flex during temp change how can u fix that?anyways was still a great show heres a clip.camera was on the bass side so sorry if the guitar isnt as loud on my side u couldent even hear the bass.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7w07xINw-fw

Joined: 19 Aug 2008 Posts: 4622 Location: UP of Michigan

How cold was it?

I would think letting your guitar acclimate to the weather for a while would help, if the tuning issues were from the guitar getting colder during the set. Never been in that situation though so just a guess.

Posted: Tue Dec 11, 2012 11:51 pm

Cold? Pheonix AZ?
Canad'uh laughs at this thread Razz

Joined: 30 Jul 2005 Posts: 13235 Location: MA

bassmantim71 wrote:

Cold? Pheonix AZ?
Canad'uh laughs at this thread Razz

SRSLY

Joined: 03 May 2008 Posts: 6629 Location: Minnesota

bassmantim71 wrote:

Cold? Pheonix AZ?
Canad'uh laughs at this thread Razz

Minnesota is also laughing at this thread. But that's basically like SOuth Canada.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 2:58 am

Cold or not, it looked like a fun show

Joined: 09 Nov 2005 Posts: 818 Location: Canada

bassmantim71 wrote:

Cold? Pheonix AZ?
Canad'uh laughs at this thread Razz

Yeah, here's one Canadian who is laughing right now.

My parents go to Arizona for their winter holiday and they get strange looks from people when they walk around in shirts and shorts, lol.

Joined: 27 Feb 2006 Posts: 13396 Location: Earth

I used to call my friend in February complaining about the 20ºF weather I was having back East and he would be poolside at his condo in Phoenix laughing at me. Although I will say when I was in Iraq in 2002 it was about 130º in the shade in August and it dropped down to 90º in November and we were wearing sweaters and jackets because it felt so cold. So as funny as this thread my be to use from temperate climates, Rob may have a valid complaint. Although it would seem silly to us, a guitar used to 115º every day would still have tuning issues in 80º weather.

Posted: Wed Dec 12, 2012 10:54 pm

it's been in the high 30's overnight lately...cold for us Rattlesnakes Mad

Joined: 30 Nov 2003 Posts: 10593 Location: Canada

RobBouchardDeanml wrote:

... I don't see any way around this if anybody has any ideas let me know....

The closest way to get around it is to acclimatize your guitar for a number of hours (you should do it anyway so your finish doesn't check). Leave it in the case and let it sit somewhere at the playing temp for a few hours before you go on stage. The same when you get home, leave it in the case for a few hours. Usually after the first hour I give it a quick tune and put it back in the case.

Joined: 10 Feb 2006 Posts: 1370 Location: Lutz, Fl.

Here's an oddball thought on Arizona weather. As many of you know I am a former long haul truck driver. It was wintertime, and I was driving into Flagstaff. As I started up the incline to Flagstaff I noticed snow started appearing on the ground. As I got closer to Flagstaff snow started piling up.

I pulled into a Pilot Truck Stop to fuel up. I had to be careful because snow was piled up 4 feet on the sides of the truck stop. In fact, all of us truckers were being dang careful because of all the snow. So I get back on the interstate. All of us truckers are driving dang slow in the right lane due to safety reasons. After I am few miles out of Flagstaff I notice the snow starts to disappear. And then, like a perfect line in the sand, the snow completely disappears.

So on either side of Flagstaff it wasn't that chilly, but once I got near it, the temperature dropped and the snow built up.

The lesson of this story? There are certain places in Arizona that can get a bit chilly. Not all the time, and not in every place, but it's possible.

But of course, I have a different view of chilly living in the Tampa Bay area. Right now, and as of a few days ago, I have had the A/C turned on.

Posted: Thu Dec 13, 2012 8:18 am

Flagstaff is at a higher altitude than Phoenix.

Joined: 19 Mar 2012 Posts: 1581

That is wild, never gave a thought to the TEMP messing with the Tune of a Guitar? Very Interesting.....2 years ago, when The Green Bay Packers Won the Super Bowl, It got UNUSUALLY FREAKIN' COLD Here in TEXAS! People from Wisconsin came down here , and they were all asking WTF , I thought it was Hot as Balls here in Texas? Confused

It was Colder down here than most places up North for a little Bit!!! We had a LOT of Snow, Power was out for a Day , My Buddies Power a straight week!!!

Ya might wanna Google that little problem of yours.... or like MILJE said , let your stuff lay around in the Cold Temp awhile and it might get use to it,who the Heck knows? Sounded alright to me tho!

Posted: Fri Dec 14, 2012 1:19 am

Many good friends of mine live out that way still. Used to go at least once a year but now we do NC. I remember seeing a documentary about Phoenix and how all the construction was literally making that area change.
As a side note one of my best Sundays there was spent at Jenna Jameson's club. Wink