Anyone set up a guitar for stupid-low tunings?

[gunslinger_burrito]

Just bought the Ernie Ball 13-72 Baritone set... Planning to try my Squier Jazzy in B or A standard for some fake baritonism so I can actually swap between fak bari and bass with the band.

Hope it's gonna be fine, hope the behind the bridge length will make it nice. I DO like my strings tighter, but might just need a bit of picking adjustment I'll let y'all know

Should be fine. Other than the actual diameter of the strings, the tension (to me) feels about like 10s-11s in standard.

[DarkAxel]

Other than having trouble fitting the 072 into the tuning peg, it's pretty damn awesome

Currently in A standard, ready for drop G if needed. Intonation and buzz don't feel any worse than with 11s in E/drop D ... Tension is not a huge problem, but the massive thickness is a funny feel for playing bar chords and such

I wonder if we're ever going to use it in the band as I currently have at least three songs ready for it.

[Bon Hoga]

Other than having trouble fitting the 072 into the tuning peg, it's pretty damn awesome

Clip the string to length and get rid of the first 2" of winding.

[DarkAxel]

Yep that's exactly what I've done



heading to rehearsal/studio now, gonna pitch some ideas to the band, the fake baritone might get used by any of us since I have ideas for songs that could benefit from some bass with it as well... we'll see!! excited

[Swordfishtrombone]

Dat action!

[DarkAxel]

Is it too high? I like higher action doesn't feel too high to me... And it doesn't buzz

might be the photo angle, but I have been told my action is usually on the higher side, so...

[Swordfishtrombone]

It's a lot higher than I'm used to seeing, but still not like Mascis levels or anything.

[PeteeBee]

So where would you guys tune for a band with no bass? Just drums and guitar. I did drop C for a while, then we had a bass player so I went back to drop D. Now it's just two again. I'm thinking drop B and just forget about a bass player.

[Swordfishtrombone]

C or B would both be perfect.

[Faldoe]

Welcome to my long long journey of experimentation

Skully is right I did just setup a guitar for drop G tuning (GDGCFA) but it's not a gibson scale guitar. It's a Fender Jaguar Baritone Special, it's a 27" scale Jag. I used .14-.68's (D'addario xl157) but there's just a little too much slack in the G so I'm stepping up to some .14-.72 Ernie Ball Baritone Slinky's next string change. With any gibson to standard scale fender (24.75-25.5" scale) the lowest you will be able to achieve and intonate correctly is in the B-A range, any lower and you run out of bridge adjustment and throw the scale off. I have tuned to octave down Drop D before on a 28" scale Agile 8 string, and even with a .84 low D it was still too lose, to get anywhere near an octave below Bb you would need a .135+ gauge bass string (I have a p-bass in BEAD with a .125 currently and its borderline too warbly to tune the low B so i have some .65-.150's I'm throwing on it soon). I've talked to Ron (the bassist from Bongripper) a couple times about how they achieve their low tunings and he uses a 34.5" scale RD bass with a .192 low F string and his guitarists use a 24.75" LP copy and a 24.75" scale dearmond 7 string both with .80 low strings and extremely high action, so apparently it is possible to get them playable but i can also listen to their cd's and hear how off the intonation is when they play higher fret chords (side note: I listen to them ALOT.... sometimes obsessively). My suggestion to you is to find a 28" scale baritone (like a baritone tele) and throw .16-.80 strings on there, there should be enough adjustment to get that intonated correctly with medium low action, OR you can get a Bass VI style 30" scale guitar and throw a slightly smaller set of strings on there (like .16-.80's) and tune it up a step or two. If your going to parts build a guitar and you like fenders, pickup a 25.5" scale body of choice, order one of the 28" scale conversion baritone ebay necks (that's where skully got this believe) and piece it together. I helped do skullys 28" scale baritone jazzie and it worked out great with a little tweaking and it would definitely support tuning's as low as F (but probably not much lower), also if your piecing it together I've done some pickup's experimentation and I highly recommend low to mid output pickups, they retain the clarity and the extra mass of the strings helps it feel like a hotter pickup then it is, I would recommend a p90 or a PAF style humbucker. Hope this helps and if you have anymore questions let em rip, I've probably tried it at some point

Checking out Bongripper: Awesome. So low. Like a stony Meshuggah.

[Bon Hoga]

So where would you guys tune for a band with no bass? Just drums and guitar. I did drop C for a while, then we had a bass player so I went back to drop D. Now it's just two again. I'm thinking drop B and just forget about a bass player.

In my experience (been in a duo for 4 yrs now) you want to go as low as possible. I started with drop C, then bought a baritone and switched to drop G, then bought a Bass VI and switched to drop D octave below. The VI is the ultimate instrument for a two-piece band.

[gunslinger_burrito]

So where would you guys tune for a band with no bass? Just drums and guitar. I did drop C for a while, then we had a bass player so I went back to drop D. Now it's just two again. I'm thinking drop B and just forget about a bass player.

You could do drop B. I've played in drop Bb for years and with the right dirt and amp setup it gets plenty bassy. I've not played a Bass VI (yet) but you wouldn't be able to get any of the "chimey" high notes that you could with a down-tuned regular guitar.

It's probably in this thread somewhere.... but I used to own a baritone that I would tune in a lower version of new standard tuning (which is almost all fifths) in order to spread the tonal range further. It was tuned (low to high) FCGDAC. It was the best way I could fined to achieve lowwww notes but also get some high leads.

[Faldoe]

It's a 30" scale using a Tele body with a Dano Longhorn Bass neck.
Looks rad, sounds rad, easy to DIY!



Pre Humbucker

Did you post a thread about plugging the tuner holes and re-drilling? How much did you pay for the long horn neck, or did you have the bass?

[DarkAxel]

I finally have some cool video of the Jazzmaster in drop G



I know it's not ideal, but still... it's pretty badass

(subscribe, too )

[waltdogg]

I was thinking of restringing my humbucker Les Paul Special up for something crazy low like Thou tunes to. I like dunlops strangs, their biggest is 13-56. Will that be heby enough for tuning lower than C or B? I used to use 12-52 for C standard and that was too loose on a 24.75" guitar(or whatever Gibson scale length is).