Drop C tuning or below modifications advice?

[Ben Thorpe]

What sorts of midifications generally need to be done to go down to drop C or lower (strings, bridge etc.)? My Yamaha Pacifica can’t go any lower than drop C, otherwise the sounds it creates are unfathomable, and I would like to know what needs to be done or what sort of costs I’d be looking at. Any general tips or facts would be much appreciated!

 

[Jason Collins]

I walked in to my local Music Shoppe to ask about a baritone guitar and the tech (a guy I’ve known for almost 20 years) looks at me like I have aliens coming out of my ears and says any guitar can be a baritone (for the purpose of drop tuning anyway. Debates about wood resonance nonwithstanding) with a proper nut and setup. What he meant by that? Not sure. Will be happy to ask him for more detail if you’d like. All I know is $170 later I had an Epiphone SG tuned to drop Bb that sounded pretty damn cool.

 

[Ben Thorpe]

Cheers Jason. Not as expensive as I thought it would be, better start saving!

 

[Jason Collins]

That was for the guitar, a new nut and the setup. Since you already have the guitar I’d assume it would be closer to $60-70

 

[Brian Haner Sr.]

I have a 60 Gibson Melody Maker tuned to a B. New nut & pro set up. Under a hundred bucks.

 

[Jason Collins]

Confirmed by Papa Gates!

 

[Ben Thorpe]

Cheers Brian

 

[david ruiztagle]

Yamaha Pacifica can handle tuning at or below C.
Take it to a luthier (search Yelp.com and enter “guitar repair luthier” for a highly rated one). For about $50, the luthier will make it playable at whatever tuning you want. You’ll obviously need thicker gauge strings than normal if you live at C. The Lutheir will also determine if your neck needs a fret leveling if buzzing occurs.

 

[claris fae]

Another quick tip: I’d recommend you go with 11-56 strings. On a 25.5 scale neck (which your Pacifica has), it’s a really good tension to stick into Drop C.

 

[Jamie Burton]

I’d definitely recommend something likes 10-52s. I play in open C (CGCGCE), which is basically double drop C, and you can’t go wrong with that kind of gauge.
But most importantly, get your guitar setup by someone who knows what they’re doing. Even if it’s a buddy who is a good tinkerer with guitars. I get my engineer friend to set my bass up for me

 

[Ben Thorpe]

Cheers for the advice! One last thing, if I make the necessary modifications to go down to drop C or below, will I still be able to tune to standard E tuning despite the thicker strings which will create more tension on the bridge?

 

[Ed Seith]

Lots of good advice here. Definitely heavier string gauges to avoid floppiness, and also those lower tunings tend to NOT sound good on guitars with shorter scale lengths, like Les Pauls. There’s a REASON bass guitars, extended-ranges and baritones typically have longer scale lengths. OP’s 25.5 should be fine, but like a 24.5 LP or a 24.75 PRS (I think – I own one but I don’t remember) is much harder to work with and should be done by a professional luthier (not a Guitar Center guy).

 

[Ben Thorpe]

Cheers Ed!