G string on epi sheraton elistis loves going out of tune. its breaking my heart. sounds good barred then **** open chord, and sometimes vice versa. i have had the intonation looked at and its not the problem. i use 11's is this the problem?

search for --cords for 3 string open tuning---and if there is a pdf version , it will be free to download

are you in "A" _ 440? digital tuners are set in a440 as a default. if your playing chords and are down half a step. Or improperly tuned (ie: your intonation is out?) I assume you are playing guitar? then it would have trouble picking up proper signal. - if this answer doesnt help. try more specifics. what are you playing ? what display are you referencing. etc. Good luck!!

Are you, by any chance, pushing the strings a little too hard? You may be unaware of it, but some people who are used to playing power or bar chords, tend to push too hard in first position. On an electric guitar, this can cause the unwanted sharping. Plus, if you're more attuned to playing acoustic guitar, this can sometimes happen as well. I don't know if this is the problem, since I've never seen you play, but you might want to check it out.

Could be the level from your guitar is too high OR low. Too low the tuner can't get reliable signal... Too high and the tuner will see harmics of the strings. Make sure you set onboard shape or EQ's flat. You CANNOT tune while playing CHORDS... A single note at a time please...

That is near fatal... you might find a Luthier that could repair it. I have repaired three broken neck instruments myself, an acoustic bass, acoustic hollow body, and a banjo... it is NOT fun and requires great care. The strains on the neck from string tension cause a lot of force that tries to re-break the neck.

Before turning the unit on, press and hold down the calib/batt switch to check the condition of the battery on the battery meter.

Then either plug in your electric guitar to the input side of the AG-6 or if tuning an acoustic guitar without electronics placing the AG-6 near the front of the guitar should work. You will not need to press a button to select which string you are about to tune. The AG-6 will detect it and the corresponding light will turn on when it is tuned within range.

Turn on the AG-6 and start by striking the low E (thickest) string while open. This is the number 6 string or 6E. Slowly turn the guitars low E tuning key untill the red LED below the 6E marking on the AG-6 lights up. Continue stricking the open string and turning the key untill the needle centers on zero and the 6E light remains on.

Repeat this for the open A string untill the 5A light turns on and the needle centers on zero.

Repeat for the remaining four strings, 4D 3G 2B and 1E, being careful not to over tighten and break them.

Tip: It may be a good idea once the low E string is tuned, to tune the rest manually, especially new strings or strings way out of tune. Then tune again using the AG-6 tuner.
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If installing fresh strings you will probably need to stretch each string and re-tune, possibly several times, before they hold their tuning.

An autoharp makes chords by muting all the strings except those that make the chord. There would be 2 ways to change the chord structure. 1) retune the strings knowing which ones will be muted by each key so that the result is another but valid chord or 2) make your own "keys" so that they mute different strings.
The tuning of an autoharp is selected to allow you to play songs as long as they are in the right key or two. If you set it "like a piano" as you suggest, you could play those chords but not the chord sequences that make up most songs. Most songs revolve around sequences or intervals such as the popular 1 - 4 - 5 blues progressions. Most music has some predictable progressions and that's why the autoharp is tuned the way it is.
You can always experiment with different and odd tunings but if your goal is to play already written songs, I'd stick with the normal tunings - there are alternates.

Sounds like the bridge was either in the wrong place or the string tension excessive.

Sometimes there are low, medium, and high tension grades of strings.
Find out what your mandolin requires.

If the strings are snapping, you are tuning them wrong. They should NOT break with 10% over the final tuning. It sounds like you may be using the wrong strings.

De-string it to see if the wood will recover. If it doesn't take the instrument to a Luthier for repair.

Pickup height on electric guitars is an oft debated subject. It's more about personal preference, ..BUT there is a bit of science involved , and here is some real simple "String Theory" for electric guitars. Your pickups are magnets essentially, with little winds of copper wire - this is how a transducer (pickup) picks..up (hence PICKUP) the sound of the strings. Strings are steel , most brands have Steel wrap around a Nickle core, ..it is ALL attracted to magnetics. You've played with magnets before , right? What happens when you put a magnet close to metal? It...PULLS it , right? Now , here's the deal about THAT , for guitars. The closer you get a vibrating string to the pickups , the more signal the string will produce , BUT if you get TOO close, the pickup will start pulling on the string too much (remember..magnetics) and that will reduce the amount of sustain on a string(s), and may even hamper actual tuning depending how strong the pickups are. Of course there is the "Duh" factor - having your pickups so high that your strings actually rub them as you play , ...don't do THAT! Best advice: Keep the pickups about mid-way. Not high enough to cause any noticeable problems, but not too low to sink them below the pickup rings (the plastic rectangulars that surround the pickups.

This will help for starters:http://www.epiphone.com/images/EpiOwnrsManul.pdf This site has good info in the discussion:http://www.thefret.net/showthread.php?t=4728 There's info here too:http://epi.p3net.net/bbs/index.php.