Can you bend notes with EverTune?

Yes, when properly set up (which is simple), EverTuned guitars bend and trem like normal guitars.

Is it electric?

The Evertune bridge is all mechanical, consisting of one spring for each string. It never needs batteries and nothing is “automated”. The player hand-tunes and the bridge holds the tension (tune) set by the player indefinitely…until restringing or deliberate tuning (for alternate keys)

Is it like the Robot Guitar® and other auto tune guitar systems?

Evertune is unique. Auto Tuning systems re-tune guitars when they are activated by the player, but guitars with auto tuners go out of tune during play, like any other guitar. We keep the guitar always in tune.

Can it tune to any tunings and detune?

Yes, the player sets the tune like a normal guitar.

Does the EverTune Bridge work with capos?

Yes the EverTune bridge works extremely well with capos. Check out the testimonial from Lyle Workman on our artists page. Also Ben Carey, of Lifehouse uses an LP junior with EverTune as his Capo guitar on tour.

Is it available for 7 string guitars?

Yes, as of September 1st 2011, seven string EverTune bridges are available for a retail cost of $480.

How does EverTune “know” how to hold tune if it’s all mechanical?

EverTune is a totally passive system. All it does is pull the string with the same (constant) tension, regardless of the string’s expansion or contraction. We use a compact spring suspension system to accomplish this. The tuners on the EverTune bridge increase or decrease the tension with which the strings are pulled. Thus the player sets the tension (and hence tune) of each string.

Does EverTune REALLY stay perfectly in tune?

In current tests of our prototypes and early production models, after one to two weeks, we might see a few strings go about 5 cents flat (which is still in tune to most ears). However, the vast majority of strings on EverTuned guitars are perfectly in tune (less than 2 cents sharp and flat) for the life of the string, through all sorts of conditions and styles of play.

EverTune is a work in progress, and we continue to refine it based on feedback from our beta testers, so even this may be improved before commercial release.

Will it be available for other instruments?

Yes. First electric guitar, and then bass. After bass we will develop a tremolo and B bender version for the electric guitar and then a version for acoustic and twelve string guitars. On the far horizon we have our sites set on piano, electric cello, electric violin.

Can it be a B-bender?

Yes it works very well as a B-bender. This is also currently in development.

How much wood does it take out?

The style with which we are launching will have about the same size route as the trem pocket for a strat, about half an inch longer and a bit deeper.

How much does it cost?

The retail price for our first ever models are $330 for standard and $480 for seven string.

Is it available in different colors?

Yes, it is available in Gold Chrome, Black Chrome, Chrome, and Nickel.

Will I finally be able to pound on my guitar and rip it to shreds ’til I get to a new dynamic range of loud, and then rip into a roaring solo with seven stop bends, and then bring it on home with a grand finale where I do Pete Townshend style windmill chord strums but 5 times as fast and then hit the final A chord and have it sound in tune?

Yes.

Is it a trem/floating bridge or a fixed bridge?

The EverTune bridge plays like a fixed bridge. In terms of tone, it is on par with a hard tail/fixed bridge.

However, each string is suspended by a spring, and the saddle is floating, so in terms of attack and sustain, it may be more similar to a trem/floating bridge.

Any plans for a trem version?

Yes, we will have a trem version in the future.

Does the spring suspension system affect tone and sustain?

Every change to any bridge affects tone and sustain. We have gone to great lengths to use good tonal materials such as steel to get a tone that we think is great. Strings attached to springs resonate only 75%-80% as long and usually have a softer attack because some of the resonant energy bleeds into the springs. To compensate, we developed spring buffers and dampers, a great saddle design, and lots of steel.

As a result, EverTune’s attack and sustain are as good and better than other floating bridges, and the tone is louder and brighter than a stock bridge on many of the prototype guitars we have installed. Many people are concerned that EverTune’s functionality will be at the expense of tone. To this we can offer that the huge majority of our beta testers say that their guitars sound MUCH BETTER after the EverTune installation. This may be because guitars that are beautifully in tune all the way up the neck, re-enforce the sounds and frequencies of chords and melodies. It may be because of our high quality steel saddles. We feel that the tone of this first ever EverTune is awesome, and we are constantly working to make it better.

If the saddles move to keep the tension constant, does this affect intonation?

Theoretically, when saddles move, they change string length, which changes intonation. But during normal use of the EverTune bridge, the saddles move too little to affect intonation.

In our tests* of the EverTune bridge, a saddle had to move AT LEAST 0.75mm before there was a measurable change in intonation (about 5 cents at the 17th fret). 0.75mm is a HUGE change, nearly impossible to recreate in normal play. How impossible? On a standard guitar, if the low E string of a set of 010s changes length by just 0.25 mm, it will go out of tune a WHOLE STEP (e.g. an E would drop to a D). That just doesn’t happen in the real world–and it would take THREE TIMES as much detuning to make a noticeable intonation difference on an EverTune bridge. In other words: conditions that would create a noticeable (5 cents at the 17th fret) intonation difference with EverTune would cause a normal guitar to be 3 WHOLE steps flat!

*tests performed using 010 gauge strings on a Mexican Telecaster.

Is EverTune necessary? Shouldn’t real guitarists be able to keep in tune?

Can rock gods rock out WITHOUT EverTune? Of course. A car without a suspension still gets where it’s going. The suspension just smooths the ride. An experienced guitarist with quality hardware and a good set of pre-stretched strings will be in tune throughout a song, even a whole set, 90% of the time, assuming nothing accidentally bumps the tuning pegs. A pro can tune a regular guitar in just seven seconds after a song is over, but if he has a really good ear, he’ll hear when he is starting to go out of tune, and that’s usually DURING the song.

With the EverTune bridge, that same guitarist will be in tune 99.9% of the time, even if someone bumps the tuning peg, even if he uses cheap hardware, and even if he uses a freshly-changed set of strings. And when instruments are perfectly in tune, they sound AMAZING.

Being in tune also saves time for live acts. Sick Puppies report being able to play one more song per set (using one of EverTune’s oldest prototypes) because they save the time that used to be spent tuning after every song or switching guitars offstage. And their guitar tech says that EverTune makes his life much easier and less stressful.

In the studio, where time is money, EverTune cuts down the 4-5 takes it takes to get some passages right in terms of tuning down to one, and it preserves those passages that are so perfect and have to be re-taken because they are out of tune.

Is restringing and re-tuning harder or easier with EverTune?

EverTune strings exactly like a regular guitar. Unlike a Floyd/floating trem, if one string breaks, the others stay in tune.

EverTune actually strings FASTER than a conventional guitar because the system retains the same tension from before the old string broke, so the new string is in tune from the get go. That’s right: no more waiting times for the strings to stretch before they finally hold tune!

How much does the EverTune bridge weigh?

The EverTune bridge weighs 1lb 4oz. To calculate the increase in weight when installing an EverTune bridge, subtract the weight of the hardware being removed, plus about 4-6oz for the wood being removed.