the Fly Clone Project

Hello all,

I'm a huge fan of the nitefly and currently have 2. I bought both used and one has always had tunning stability issues when bending or using the bridge (the black one in the picture). The other is stable enough for my liking (tobacco burst). The issue is, I love everything else about the black one including the slightly thinner body as compared to the burst guitar. I'm wondering if you all could help me reach a resolution/diagnosis the issue?

I believe it may be the saddles of the black guitar that are causing the tuning issues. They aren't the ball-bearing saddles, and they are very worn since the guitar is old. What do you all think? I see that ghost makes replacement saddles. Does anyone have experience with them? Can they just be soldered into the old preamp?

My last ditch effort would be to switch the bridges completely, but the tobacco burst one has the newer nitefly system with the button whereas the black one does not. That might make things a bit more difficult...thoughts? I don't really want to cannibalize the tobacco burst guitar since it is honestly a great guitar.

Hi @andrefludd, tuning stability issues can be difficult to diagnose, but, fortunately, NiteFlys generally have very good stability, so let’s isolate all of the variables we can.

Is the tuning instability just while using the vibrato with the step-stop up? Does the NiteFly hold tune well with it down? What kind and gauge of strings are you using, and when was the last time you changed them?

Saddles could be an issue if there are burs on them from wear or rough spots where the strings might catch, you probably don’t need to change them.

Hey thanks for getting back to me. I use very light strings a custom set of 8 to 42. I change my strings at least once a month. But I don't believe that's the issue since I use the same strings and have the same string change habits on the other guitar. Lube the nut and the bridge saddles every time I change strings. The tunning issues are always there even if the trem isn't floating.