Posted: 9/6/2009 9:07:06 PM EDT
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So I just picked up my first electric guitar. I've been more using bass and some acoustic guitar, so I've never really had much experience with downtuning, but I'm looking to put myself down in drop C or so.
Is it safe to leave my guitar in that range, or will I need to adjust its truss rod or retune it to standardish afterward? If I wanted to do drop B, would it just be easier to use the lower 6 of a seven-string set? |
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It's easier to drop tuning on a fixed bridge guitar, you're gonna notice more buzzing. i have never tuned that low though so I donno if you will have to adjust the trust rod. Honestly I have never had to save for once when I got the guitar I had to do it to eliminate some open string fret buzz.
In short, I donno. If you arent sure take it to a guitar shop and ask them. I dont think you would hurt anything though because if anything tuning down relieves tension on the neck. |
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I down tune all the time.
I use: 10s for straight E / Dropped D & straight Eb / Dropped Db 11s For Straight D/ Dropped C I expiremented around with straight C / Dropped B for awhile with 11s for several months & got along fine, but it was too low for my tastes. So, now dropped C is the lowest I go. And I've never messed with a truss rod, I seem to get away without needing to. 
ETA: Bear in mind that I'm one of those guys that likes to use strings that are heavy for the tuning, kinda like using heavier bullets. It just seems like the heavier strings have more of a meatier tone. |
at considering 10s or 11s heavy strings.
| In the metal band I played in for years, we played 6 string guitars in straight B (7 string tuning basically). I used 13's. My guitars all had locking trem systems. I had to adjust the bridge and truss rod, as well as reset the intonation. Once this was done, they worked great. We did eventually switch to 7 string guitars. |
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Quoted:
I've started drop tuning down to C and B, and with stock string find that the tone I get is usually muddy. I reommend having your action set up if for the drop tuning you plan on keeping the instrument in, and it couldn't hurt getting heavier strings. Not using heavier strings is why it sounds muddy. |
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I used to tune a bass down a whole step. I'd have one in standard tuning and the other in DGCF.
That way I could hit a lower D than in standard. A lot of songs I was playing had D chords, and on bass I thought it was cool to go down to a D instead of up. It worked well. |