Looking for advice setting up a guitar into a low tuning

[Naetharu]

Hi folks,

So i've started playing a bit of guitar in addition to bass of late. And being a rather big Mastodon fan I fancy trying my hand a few of their songs. This means getting my guitar into a very low tuning however.

The tuning I am looking for is AGCFAD - which means the low string is going to be seven semi-tones down from a standard E - eep! Clearly I am going to have to set the guitar up to handle this as trying to do it now will just result in my strings falling off. So I was wondering if anyone here might have some experience doing this and offer me any tips/tricks to get the guitar set up in this way.

I did think about picking up a seven-string, but Mastodon themselves use down-tuned 6-strings (just a classic Gibson V in Brent's case) and I am concerned that a seven string with a long scale length is going to make a lot of the music harder to play. It's very classic rock/prog rock sounding rather than the thunderous riffage of bands like Periphery.

[MoonBassAlpha]

Sounds like a baritone would do the job. Scale length shouldn't be a big deal if you're coming from bass.

[Naetharu]

[quote name='MoonBassAlpha' timestamp='1490704080' post='3267177']
Sounds like a baritone would do the job. Scale length shouldn't be a big deal if you're coming from bass.
[/quote]

I've certainly thought about that, but my concerns would be that it might make some of the lead parts rather tricky to play given the tension issues that those guitars tend to have with their high strings. A lot of the Mastodon stuff is very classic rock style / classic prog and so being able to deal with the higher notes and bend strings etc is paramount.

From what I can gather the band themselves just use normal guitars down-tuned, but I assume they set them up in a special way to account for this.

[dannybuoy]

Just trying to wrap my head around that tuning! All strings 2 steps down except the low E is 7 steps down! I guess you just want a regular heavy guage set plus what would be the low B from a 7-string set?

I've heard of using baritone strings on standard scale guitars to tune to A or B standard, but those upper strings would be way too tight for the tuning you want.

[Naetharu]

Aye it's not a tuning that'll work without a setup for it. The reason for it is both having the low note tone but also for being able to use the A as a pedal tone/ drone. If you check out the intro to Oblivion on Crack the Skye you can hear a great example of it ( also one of the best prof albums ever made )

[BigRedX]

If that was me, I'd be looking at spending lots of time and money experimenting with string gauges (and tweaking the truss rod) to find out what suited my playing style and the guitar I was using.

I'm sorry I can't offer any more advice than that as IME everyone is different when it comes to gauges and tensions. I like my strings fairly taught at the bottom end to the point where I have a dedicated guitar for drop D with a slightly heavier bottom string so that the "D" feels the same as the "E" on my guitars with standard tuning.

[Naetharu]

[quote name='BigRedX' timestamp='1490809137' post='3268267']
If that was me, I'd be looking at spending lots of time and money experimenting with string gauges (and tweaking the truss rod) to find out what suited my playing style and the guitar I was using.

I'm sorry I can't offer any more advice than that as IME everyone is different when it comes to gauges and tensions. I like my strings fairly taught at the bottom end to the point where I have a dedicated guitar for drop D with a slightly heavier bottom string so that the "D" feels the same as the "E" on my guitars with standard tuning.
[/quote]

Aye,

I think that is pretty much where I am going with this. After a bit of asking around and research I'm going to give a set of 10 - 54 hybrids a go and see how we get along. It pains me as the guitar in question is really well set up right now for E-standard and I know it'll be a while to get it back playing that good in the new tuning but needs must. When I get to strike that nice low C at the start of Oblivion all will be worth it.

This is what you get for letting a bass player mess with guitars I guess

[dlloyd]

Don't waste your time experimenting too much... you can start off in almost the right place by just using logic.

If you were to detune a seven string a whole step, you would have:

A D G C F A D

So all you're doing is eliminating the sixth string (D)

I would buy a seven string set, heavy guage... 11, 15, 18, 28, 38, 48, 64 or something like that, throw away the 48 and string it up accordingly.

You will probably have to file the nut for the 64, but I can guarantee you will have around about the same tension on the neck as you already do, so a quick trussrod tweak at the most. set intonation and you're pretty much on your way.

[Naetharu]

[quote name='dlloyd' timestamp='1490964291' post='3269437']
Don't waste your time experimenting too much... you can start off in almost the right place by just using logic.

If you were to detune a seven string a whole step, you would have:

A D G C F A D

So all you're doing is eliminating the sixth string (D)

I would buy a seven string set, heavy guage... 11, 15, 18, 28, 38, 48, 64 or something like that, throw away the 48 and string it up accordingly.

You will probably have to file the nut for the 64, but I can guarantee you will have around about the same tension on the neck as you already do, so a quick trussrod tweak at the most. set intonation and you're pretty much on your way.
[/quote]

You sir are a star!