SG - 'Custom' string sets for lower tunings

[drzing]

Hello friends!

 

I have purpusefully bought a 7 string earnie ball 'regular slinky' (green), when I was also buying

some 'heavy bottom' strings, for I was wondering about useing the thicker strings (and to disregard

the .010), for lower tunings, I use to tune my guitars in D, Db (have never gone below Cb), my

idea is that thicker strings and more tension can hold more tension, not to fret, and I just hope

that it can pick intonation well.

 

The gauges are:

 

10 - disregarded

 

13

17

26 (W? Er... I'm nasty.)

36

46

56

 

While heavy bottoms are:

 

10

13

17

30

42

52

 

Another alternative could be to disregard the 26 instead of the 10.

 

Has anyone tried something like this?

I'm rather looking for a meaty sound, both for rhythm and solos, on lower tunings than Eb,

mostly from Db-Eb

 

Thanks for reading!

[Versatile]

I play 12 str acoustic in C# tuning always....

 

So it is useful to have one or two 6 str guitars in the same tuning...

 

I use 12-54's on both electro-acoustic and solid electrics

 

So for moi it is nothing special...just using standard string sets at higher gauge

 

Bronze and Nickel respectively...

 

V

 

[billymagnum]

Thanks for reading!

i used to use 10-52's through my time in a Drop-C metal/hardcore band. I would say after that experience, 52 is slightly not thick enough for C but will be good for D or Db.

[milod]

I think that the question is pretty difficult unless "we" know how the instrument is to be played.

 

As noted above, my 12s tend to be tuned at D, but with just a regular 12-light set, then capo up to E. That's mostly fingerpicking or with a flatpick at an angle that normally would be considered "very gentle."

 

A lot of jazz players wear strings that are very heavy - 13s or so in a flatwound set.

 

Me, I wear 9-42 on almost everything, but I'm a fingerpicker with pretty much a "classical guitar player" style. Chet Atkins supposedly had his action set pretty high and used a thumb pick for his alternating bass.

 

I have one flattop that I do more of an "old time" or "gypsy jazz" type rhythm strumming, and it only wears 46-10. Again, I'm pretty doggone gentle and the action is low.

 

So hear again, what's the guitar's preferred setup and playing style? I don't think you can make an informed choice without considering that. It the player is using a heavy hand - and amplifiers make that unnecessary for electrics to a large extent - especially detuned, a higher action may be preferred. But that would increase string height and increase intonation problems, especially for power chords. With a light hand, and care to where one plays the strings, you can even detune 8-38 a pitch without major change to the setup.

 

I guess I tend to see it all as a system, and what I do could be entirely inappropriate for what others might do.

 

Just as an "back in the old days" comment, Mother Maybelle Carter wore the heaviest strings I've ever touched on her old Gibson acoustic archtop. I could barely finger cowboy chords and couldn't even manage hammering on with no capo on the neck. And at the time - this is over 40 years ago - I was playing a 12-string regularly and had no problems at all with whatever strings I was using at the time. Yet this little lady, with a capo on it, could make that old Gibbie sing. It's technique and concept.

 

Again, think "system" instead of "strings." I know detuning 6-strings is a big deal nowadays, but even back when "we folkies" did a lotta open chord tunings that amount to the same thing, string choices ultimately came down to how the player had his/her guitar setup and how he/she played.

 

m

[drzing]

Thanks for all inputs, nice to see I'm not the only one on thick strings.

 

Milod, I'm rather gentle with the strings, that guitar has a rather low action, no intonantion/fretting

issues (unless with low tunings and thin strings, then it will start to buzz inevitably), I think

I can say I have a rather slow, or perhaps steady hand (much blues). I totally agree with your wider

view, I'm glad I've been on the road for a little time already, and that I have always had great friends

to guide me, that gives me a great idea of what to look for in my sound.

 

Thanks a lot!