guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 01:59 PM

You win some...you lose some! They work for me....

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 01:18 PM

thanks leenia - will do that. thanks to everyone else. partial capo's i did buy -- but oh god - did it sound a mess. my knowledge of music just isn't good enough.

they said, it will sound just like dadgad, it will give you drop D...it never did.

I gave my collection of partial capo's to Sunjay. I notice he doesn't use them either.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: GUEST
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 11:49 AM

My current gig setup is similar to yours, Al. One guitar, a dread, stays in standard & drop tunings. Another, a parlor, is kept in open D and open G. (Plus a banjo played in G standard, A6 & Mountain Modal) As others suggest, I just capo as needed. I would not tune the parlor up to E or A - for me there's the question of string breaking and also putting stress on rest of the guitar. For sparkly, beyond natural resonance all instruments go through a Fishman preamp that allows me to add "brilliance." I checked with the manufacturer (Simon & Patrick/Godin) prior to putting medium strings on the parlor a few years ago. Never hurts to ask.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: leeneia
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 08:30 AM

Hi, Big Al. You could e-mail your question to Fender at this site:

https://shop.fender.com/en-US/contact-us

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Stanron
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 06:53 AM

If you are going to tune up you could investigate selective use of lower gauge strings. Many years ago I could phone up Newtone Strings and order custom sets with the gauges I asked for. I don't know if they still do that.

This link

http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html

has a string tension calculator, scroll down a bit.

You can set the string length and gauge and it will tell you the tension on the string. If you can determine an ideal open tuning set here you might get Newtone Strings to supply it.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Waddon Pete
Date: 16 Nov 17 - 06:41 AM

Have you thought of investigating Partial Capos? They give a great variety of sounds without the need to keep retuning strings.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 06:02 AM

no you keep the variax in standard, and you plug it into the computer to change the value of the electrified sound.

i played one for years. i'm really sorry line 6 gave up on them - it was a noble experiment, and they were getting there. i thought it turned to shit somewhat at the point of plugging your acoustic amp into the the PA. a bridge too far!

i remember doing fylde with one and insisting they miked up the amp. which really is putting yourself in someone else's hands, and making a nuisance of youself.

the fishman transducers are just so good these days. and the current fender acoustasonic amps.

its a perennial really. i saw Ralph McTell play the little theatre at Sleaford a few years back. he'd decided he wanted to finish his career as he started playing a j45. anyway at that stage the entire back of his guitar was covered in contact mic's..

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 05:34 AM

When you're playing the Variax, can you hear the acoustic sound of the strings as well as the electric?

Just wondered if the two might conflict...

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: GUEST,Some bloke or other
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 04:28 AM

Modern context?? When I saw you play at The Brown Cow in Mansfield I was wearing nappies..😳

Strings are better quality now, although Elixir .016 have occasionally failed me, even recently.

The 5 string capo on standard tuning 2nd fret is fun. I use it a lot for playing in E, and means that unlike true drop tuning, I can use a lazy G shape for A. I?ve been experimenting with a 3 string Shubb capo recently too.

Good luck with the search for modern Al. I have the answer by the way on one of my electric guitars. A Variax that ignores what a string is tuned to and plays it to wt you want. (Open E when I provide rhythm but push a button half way through a song to put it in standard tuning for the pentatonic masturbation that pub crowds love in the middle 8)

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Mooh
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 04:24 AM

I concur with Will Fly.

My interest in tunings led to me use a 27" scale tuned to C# or D standard intervals. It was initially sold to me (and marketed) as a baritone but I find it markedly too short for that, ie tuning down further doesn't intonate as well and I don't like the required monster strings required for low pitches at that scale length. However, it excels at D standard and any open tuning tuned down two or three semi-tones. Open E on it works out to open G tuned down 3 semi-tones (BEBEG#B).

Hoping this link works, here is a sample of that guitar in open F (CFCFAC):

https://soundcloud.com/michael-crocker-6/barbara-dorothy

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 03:52 AM

the thing is some bloke - we all have historic memories of snapping more strings than bra straps.

but now

1) electronic tuners means you don't have to overtighten - not so much.
2) i think guitar strings are better quality these days

i seek this information in a modern context, but thankyou for your input. i appreciate the time you've taken to respond.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Will Fly
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 03:52 AM

Good advice from Sboo - unless you're regularly venturing up the dusty end, capo-ing on fret 2 sounds a simple option.

Using a banjo capo across frets1-5 and leaving the 6th string uncapo'ed also gives a nice dropped D tuning effect.

Subject: RE: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: GUEST,Some bloke or other
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 03:27 AM

Must admit Al, I used to snap strings occasionally when tuning to an open E so for more years than I?d care to admit, I use open D and capo it.

The added attraction being the audience don?t have to put up with so many of my knob gags whilst retuning. Win win...

Meanwhile, an open tuning means that wet Wednesday afternoon I spent as a teenager learning the 5 string banjo neck wasn?t entirely wasted as I can play a similar fingering but on a musical instrument.

Subject: guitar advice sought/ D & G tuning/E & A
From: Big Al Whittle
Date: 15 Nov 17 - 12:22 AM

At this precise moment in time, I'm gigging wharpADith two guitars. one in standard tuning and the other in open tuning.

At the moment, on the open tuning guitar, I use D and G tuning. Generally DADfsharpAD (Vestapol and occasionally DADGAD.
THe switch to G modal (Spanish) DGDGBD is effacted without trauma - and thanks to snark type tuners, quickly.

However I think open E tuning is much more sparkly.

so my question is, could I without feat or trauma move to E and Atuning.

The E is easy
The A tuning though presumably will involve moving the second string to C sharp.
I use Fender duratone medium light strings - how safe will the string be at that tension. I HATE breaking strings onstage.               
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                     
                                                                   ly and