The Acoustic Guitar Forum

Go Back   The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Other Musical Instruments

Reply
 
Thread Tools
  #1  
Old 03-01-2021, 12:55 PM
poopsidoo poopsidoo is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Spartanburg, Sc
Posts: 316
Default Strings for lap steel

My father in law just brought me his 1946 BR-3 Gibson Lap steel to change the strings on. He hasnt changed them since 1953.
How do you determine the gauges? I would think you need different gauges depending on how you tune the guitar. And--if you are tuned to open G, does that mean you can only play certain songs? I dont understand this guitar and open tuning. Some help would be appreciated. Thank you.
__________________
2023 Gibson 1960 Fixed Bridge Hummingbird w/Ultratonic
2021 D'Angelico EXP-1 Throwback archtop
1983 Martin HD-28 w/Ultratonic
1965 Gibson J-45 w/K&K/Ultratonic conversion
1940's??? Harmony Patrician archtop
2002 Taylor Big Baby
1985 Kentucky KM850 mando w/lr baggs radius
1959 Gibson A-5 Mando
2004 Fender Strat (Mexican)
Army bugle
Old autoharp
Indian flute
Cowbell
Reply With Quote
  #2  
Old 03-01-2021, 02:43 PM
blue blue is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Apr 2010
Location: WetSiiiide! WA
Posts: 7,851
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by poopsidoo View Post
My father in law just brought me his 1946 BR-3 Gibson Lap steel to change the strings on. He hasnt changed them since 1953.
How do you determine the gauges? I would think you need different gauges depending on how you tune the guitar. And--if you are tuned to open G, does that mean you can only play certain songs? I dont understand this guitar and open tuning. Some help would be appreciated. Thank you.
There are string sets for different tunings. But if you are talking G and D and C6, I use16 to 56 on both my acoustic and electric. My electric is 23 1/4 scale and my National square neck is 25 inch! I use standard Open G not high G.
__________________
I only play technologically cutting edge instruments. Parker Flys and National Resonators
Reply With Quote
  #3  
Old 03-01-2021, 03:41 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 5,336
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by poopsidoo View Post
My father in law just brought me his 1946 BR-3 Gibson Lap steel to change the strings on. He hasnt changed them since 1953.
How do you determine the gauges? I would think you need different gauges depending on how you tune the guitar. And--if you are tuned to open G, does that mean you can only play certain songs? I dont understand this guitar and open tuning. Some help would be appreciated. Thank you.
just strings and stringsbymail carry string sets for various lap steel tunings. You can play pretty much anything in any of the tunings but a particular one may lend itself to particular chord voicings etc.

There isn't a "standard" lap steel tuning at this time. DADF#AD (low to high) is pretty widely used for blues & rock, CEGACE for country & swing.

Does your father-in-law play? If so, ask him what tuning, I guess.
__________________
stai scherzando?
Reply With Quote
  #4  
Old 03-01-2021, 03:55 PM
poopsidoo poopsidoo is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jul 2002
Location: Spartanburg, Sc
Posts: 316
Default

Thanks. He said he took 12 lessons in 1953 then lost interest. Now at 80 years old he wants to pick it up again, but I doubt he would know anything about string gauges or tunings. I will have to do that for him.
Thanks both of you.
__________________
2023 Gibson 1960 Fixed Bridge Hummingbird w/Ultratonic
2021 D'Angelico EXP-1 Throwback archtop
1983 Martin HD-28 w/Ultratonic
1965 Gibson J-45 w/K&K/Ultratonic conversion
1940's??? Harmony Patrician archtop
2002 Taylor Big Baby
1985 Kentucky KM850 mando w/lr baggs radius
1959 Gibson A-5 Mando
2004 Fender Strat (Mexican)
Army bugle
Old autoharp
Indian flute
Cowbell
Reply With Quote
  #5  
Old 03-01-2021, 03:57 PM
frankmcr frankmcr is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jan 2011
Location: Chicagoland
Posts: 5,336
Default

Quote:
Originally Posted by poopsidoo View Post
Thanks. He said he took 12 lessons in 1953 then lost interest. Now at 80 years old he wants to pick it up again, but I doubt he would know anything about string gauges or tunings. I will have to do that for him.
Thanks both of you.
DADF#AD's quite intuitive, CEGACE takes some thinking about.

(You may see EBEG#BE sets, those are the same intervals a DADF#AD, just one step higher)
__________________
stai scherzando?
Reply With Quote
  #6  
Old 03-01-2021, 07:02 PM
lfoo6952 lfoo6952 is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Mar 2009
Location: Inland Empire, CA
Posts: 825
Default

If you go to the JP Strings website, it will show their recommended string gauges for various tunings (Am, C6, B11) for 6-string lap steel guitars. Here is the link: https://www.jpstrings.com/brstring.htm#haw6
Reply With Quote
  #7  
Old 03-02-2021, 06:32 AM
Dave Hicks Dave Hicks is offline
Registered User
 
Join Date: Jun 2020
Location: Hoosierlandia
Posts: 1,326
Default

Old post from the Steel Guitar Forum, containing a chart of gauge vs. pitch and scale:

https://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopic.php?t=181987
Reply With Quote
Reply

  The Acoustic Guitar Forum > General Acoustic Guitar and Amplification Discussion > Other Musical Instruments

Thread Tools





All times are GMT -6. The time now is 03:16 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=