mr dave

i'm guessing you've got an SG right? are you trying to tune new or old strings?

new strings will stretch and require you to tune multiple times before they're all in harmony. it's not uncommon to have the low E end up being C or D by the time you get to the high E with a pack of fresh strings.

springs also cause a hassle. since every successive string that is tuned up will increase the tension on the springs and pull the bridge out further from the body and drop the pitch on the strings that have already been tightened. which again requires each string to be tuned multiple times in succession before the instrument is in tune.

even with 5 tremolo springs the bridge on my strat was unmanageable so i ended up blocking it and tossing the tremolo arm. i know blocking a strat style bridge isn't really that hard, not sure about SGs though, are your springs in a cavity within the body or hidden under a metal plate on the front?

for my strat i just used a rolled up piece of corrugated cardboard and wedged it between the back of the bridge and the body of the guitar. mind you doing this completely eliminates the point of having a tremolo bridge but it's a cheap way of checking to see just where your tuning issue is.

replacing tuning pegs isn't really that complicated either but i really don't think they're the source of your problem. even weak pegs will hold a string in tune long enough to tune the other 5. when you start a song in tune and end it out of tune is when you need to replace the pegs.

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