Tone wobble on hand-built OM

[Columbus37]

I built essentially an OM-28 from a kit a few years back and Im really pleased with it. One curiosity though is that when tuning I observe quite a lot of meandering in pitch starting from from the attack, which is higher pitch, then meandering around the correct pitch, higher, lower, higher again, then settling in at more or less the correct pitch. Most prominent on the low E, of course.

This meandering is much more pronounced than in my Martin HD-28. The MartinÂ’s low E does the normal high attack, then pretty much settles right down to the correct pitch. Both guitars are strung with DÂ’Addario phosphor bronze mediums.

I understand why it is normal that the attack is initially slightly higher pitch on most guitars, particularly on lower strings, but my question is what is likely causing the relatively high degree of meandering in my kit build and is there anything I can do about it?

[Alan Carruth]

Does it do more of this on particular notes?

[Columbus37]

I notice it primarily when tuning open E and can watch the pitch meander. But tried it now playing a fretted A on the same low E and it’s even more of a wander. As I say, the effect is less pronounced on higher strings.