De-Tuning Blues

[Tom Krebs]

I am sure anyone that is dealing with electric guitars and young folk into current heavy music is dealing with all the crazy low-down tuning requests. Example: customer wants to tune down two steps with light gauge strings - and wants no buzzing and low action. LOL. My suggestion is always heavier strings, higher action, or a baritone guitar. I am posting this in case some one has found anything else that helps with this crazy fad??? Of course, some even have another guitar (at home or in fantasyland) that they swear it set-up perfectly by the unknown repair guy.. I tell some customers in jest that it's just 'extra natural distortion'. Rock on...

[Antonio Cotichini]

I would do and say exactly as you. Sending them to hell!

Antonio

[Tim Mace]

tell him to get a tenor bass guitar which should get rid of him for good....or do they exist?

[Donald A. Fortune]

I like your kind of thinking Tim -- Good one LMAO--
Donald

[Russell Vance]

OK, Dunlop and Ernie Ball (among others) both do de-tuning sets - the Ernie Ball sets are heavy gauge 11-54 or 12-56 and are hex cored so they are stiffer than round cores (generally speaking) , but they are heavies and work a treat for a couple of steps down. The Dunlops use a higher core to wrap ratio to stiffen up the string - they also work on some light tops heavy bottoms sets which are quite radical and have a super sized bottom E which holds on down a couple of steps.

You can also dick around with the relationship between the neck angle, neck relief and the action height depending upon whether the guy is a shredder up and down the neck or a chugger down at the cowboy chord end. I generally recommend a long scale guitar for my guys if they have em and lock up the Floyd if they are in drop Z flat. Apart from that it's just going to be as noisy as a trainwreck anyway.

Explain that their favorite bands have the fret rattle taken out with ProTools post-recording and when they are live you can't hear the rattle anyway if they play loud enough to put your eardrums against the stops (which is how it should be) - that's all I know. Rusty.

[Randy King]

This drives me crazy! I had a guy just yesterday complain about "the set-up not being right" when he wanted to tune down a step and a half and then drop the low string... with a set of 10-52's(i had to insist he went with a set AT LEAST that heavy)
I told him it was going to feel waaay too slinky. The low string was slipping up and off the board.... but it didn't buzz and was set up low... and in tune up the neck.
some people....

[Christian Johnson]

I'm on board with Rusty. I tell guys that guitars are designed with a scale length to be played with normal range strings (9,10, 11) in standard tuning. Any gross deviation from that will require major adjustments and will be a compromise at best. Heavier strings help, but they are not an end-all. Before proceeding, I make sure customer and I have a meeting of the minds that the results will usually not be perfect, and customer will live with it. I like the pro tools bit. Never though of that. Thanks, Rusty.