The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Archtops

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 12-31-2018, 11:38 AM
Frankieabbott Frankieabbott is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Nov 2012
Posts: 202
Default Tuning your archtop to DADGAD

Is it modernisation......or a heinous act of vandalism?
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 12-31-2018, 11:47 AM
mr. beaumont mr. beaumont is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2010
Location: Chicago, IL
Posts: 10,177
Default

Go for it.

That said, I can't be moving the notes around and still play the way I want.
__________________
Jeff Matz, Jazz Guitar:

http://www.youtube.com/user/jeffreymatz
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 12-31-2018, 01:29 PM
Livingston's Avatar
Livingston Livingston is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Feb 2002
Location: Winchester, CA
Posts: 4,180
Default

Agree with Mr. Beaumont...Sure! Why not?

I am not familiar with archtop players who have used alternative tunings with the exception of Johnny Smith and Mundell Lowe who used drop D tuning.

But, why not go for it?

Would be very interested to hear the output, if you decide to record some tunes in DADGAD on your archtop.
__________________
“Sometimes you have to play a long time to be able to play like yourself”
— Miles Davis.
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 12-31-2018, 01:54 PM
MC5C MC5C is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2016
Location: Tatamagouche Nova Scotia
Posts: 1,136
Default

I think that if people realized an archtop is just a guitar, it might get more love. Tune it how you want! Every one of my archtop guitars benefits from the lower tuning, enhances bass response a lot, and the lower tension opens up the sound. I can't imagine why, if you like DAD tuning, you wouldn't like it on an archtop!

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jPXu6PuLZ7E
__________________
Brian Evans
Around 15 archtops, electrics, resonators, a lap steel, a uke, a mandolin, some I made, some I bought, some kinda showed up and wouldn't leave. Tatamagouche Nova Scotia.
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 12-31-2018, 04:37 PM
Steve DeRosa Steve DeRosa is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2013
Location: Staten Island, NY - for now
Posts: 14,965
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by Livingston View Post
...I am not familiar with archtop players who have used alternative tunings with the exception of Johnny Smith and Mundell Lowe who used drop D tuning...
From Wikipedia:

Quote:
Like many early jazz guitarists, [Carl] Kress played on the banjo before switching to guitar. The tenor banjo tunes its consecutive strings in intervals of fifths,

C-G-D-A,
and Kress adapted this all-fifths tuning for his guitar

B♭-F-C-G-D-A,
although he down-tuned the A-string an octave.

Before switching to fifths tuning, Kress had used other tunings on the banjo and tenor guitar. His fifths-tuning gave Kress's playing "fuller chords and basslines", according to Lieberson
(1996, p. 42). When Kress's duets with Dick McDonough were published, they were transposed from his fifths tuning to standard tuning.
__________________
"Mistaking silence for weakness and contempt for fear is the final, fatal error of a fool"
- Sicilian proverb (paraphrased)
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 12-31-2018, 06:11 PM
Mandobart Mandobart is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Aug 2015
Location: Washington State
Posts: 5,384
Default

I tuned an old Applause 6 string flattop fixed bridge to all 5ths F-C-G-D-A-E. I don't recall the string gages used, but since I have a 26" mandocello tuned C-G-D-A-E I relied mostly on those sizes. The low F is tough, I think I used a .074 or something huge. Still is too floppy. But the C-G-D-A-E all sound good. Its great for slack key. The symmetry of 5ths tuning makes creating and transposing chords very easy.

When making a change like this you need to change the string gage, putting together a custom set. You'll likely need to re-slot the nut and possibly bridge, as well as adjust bridge position/angle to make this work on an archtop. Also if you're going to go low the holes on your tuner posts may not accomodate strings thicker than around .066.
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 01-01-2019, 10:41 AM
shufflebeat shufflebeat is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: May 2016
Posts: 1,681
Default

I'm playing with DADGAD on my Framus archtop, partly to differentiate it from the dreadnought which is in Drop D and partly because I need one of them for tunes and riff based backing (Irish trad) and the other for more chords based songs.

Sounds great, specially with the lower tension which requires a lighter touch.
__________________
Give a man a fishing rod... and he's got the makings of a rudimentary banjo.
Reply With Quote
  #8  
Old 01-01-2019, 01:27 PM
coldshot coldshot is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Oct 2006
Location: Sydney Australia
Posts: 3,385
Default

I play some slide guitar on all my archtops, L48 is always tuned to an open tunning, usually open G.
__________________
2014 Gibson ES225
2006 Taylor T5 Koa C2
2004 Taylor GA5 with a 2010 cv braced top
1995 Gibson J 35 Ltd No 7 of 250
1958 Gibson L48
1955 Gibson ES125
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Archtops

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:01 AM.


Powered by vBulletin® Version 3.8.11
Copyright ©2000 - 2024, vBulletin Solutions Inc.
Copyright ©2000 - 2022, The Acoustic Guitar Forum
vB Ad Management by =RedTyger=