The String Butler Will Stop Your Tuning Problems For Good

The String Butler Keeps Your Guitar In Tune

With the classic look of a 3×3 or 3-strings-per-side headstock design comes the classic flaw of the middle strings having to travel at a sharp angle from the nut up to the tuning pegs. This pesky angle can lead to tuning issues, especially if your playing style includes heavy string bending.

Ever turn a vintage Les Paul around to see if someone drilled holes for replacement tuners? They more than likely blamed the stock Gibson tuners rather than the string angle. If you don’t have the time, skill or funds to pay someone else to refine or replace your guitar’s nut, there’s the String Butler. Les Paul electric guitars are renowned for having tuning problems but with this new accessory this can be a thing of the past. This new tool can be used on any guitar that has three machine heads on either side of the headstock

The String Butler by Dietrich Parts is a cluster of 4 string trees that mounts onto the high and low E tuning pegs. There’s no drilling involved and the only tool required is a pair of pliers or a wrench to loosen and tighten the hex head ferrules around the tuning pegs. Once installed, your A, D, G and B strings sit in roller guides so they can freely move in a straight line through the nut.

I put a String Butler on both of my Gibson SGs. I recommend installing it when you’re ready to change strings since you’ll need to remove the high and the low E strings anyway. This can also be used on acoustic guitars that also have tuning problems. It took less than 5 minutes to get the String Butler on, centered and bolted down. So its very easy to install and you get directions to guide you if your not confident maintaining your own guitar.

One size does not fit all! There are a few versions of the String Butler. Guitars come in many different sizes and variations which is why there are different sizes. Version 3 is what fit my SGs. Recently a Version 4 was released for Gretsch-style guitars with an oversized headstock.

Colors include black, chrome, gold and clear acrylic. The String Butler will also work with acoustic guitars such as Matons, Fenders, Takamine, Martin and many other leading brand guitars. They are also working on one to fit a strat type headstock with six string tuners on the same edge. If your guitar’s tuners have press-in ferrules, you can still use a String Butler, but you’ll have to drill mounting screws into the headstock. Just below is a demo of how it keeps your guitar in tune just click the play button.

Clip 1: I played some open chords, then followed by some exaggerated bends and finished up with the same open chords to check my tuning. The first part of this clip is with the String Butler on my Gibson SG. You will notice in the first part of the demonstration on Sound Cloud how sweet the guitar sounds after using riffs with string bends in them and then hearing a fully in tune chord at the end while the second part goes out of tune after the bending process demonstrated in the very last chord I play.

Notice how flat the G and B strings go without the Tuning Tool!