Tuning problem
- Thread starter Daniel Martinez
- Start date
First things first, what thickness strings do you use and does your guitar have a whammy bar?
It is possible that by changing the tuning to drop b your intonation got all wacky. This can be solved using a thicker gauge strings or set it up for that tuning. Did you tune it to B F Bb D# G C because if your guitar is properly intimated it should be ok or it just isn’t the guitar but the speaker or the pickups not being able to handle frequencies that low.
It is possible that by changing the tuning to drop b your intonation got all wacky. This can be solved using a thicker gauge strings or set it up for that tuning. Did you tune it to B F Bb D# G C because if your guitar is properly intimated it should be ok or it just isn’t the guitar but the speaker or the pickups not being able to handle frequencies that low.
Also note, the lower you tune a guitar, the more finicky it is to tune correctly. This has to do with math and frequencies and other shit musicians don’t like to think about, but what it comes down to for us in the practical sense is scale length.
Scale length is the distance from the bridge to the nut. It affects lots of things from tone, to feel, to tuning stability. Gibson standard is the shortest, at 24 3/4 inches. That’s why that Les Paul is always begging for you to bend notes until they cry.
Fender standard is 25 1/2 inches, and that’s really become THE standard – Ibanez, Schecter, ESP, Dean, all the boutique makers (the Kiesel I’m desperately waiting for, the high side of my fanned Ormsby), etc.
PRS is kind of a standout – they went in the middle, with 25″ even. Personally, that’s my favorite for standard or Eb tuning.
Now, what’s the point of mentioning all this?
Because when you get to LOW tuning, you think baritone. A baritone guitar (B standard tuning) or a 7- or 8-string guitar, they have a 26.5″ scale.
A bass guitar may have a 30″ scale. Hell, the guy from Killswitch Engage’s bass is a 34″ scale.
Why? Because the lower you tune, the more string length you need to find the happy place.
So. What did we learn?
Tuning a normal 25.5″ scale guitar down to Drop B is going to be really TRICKY, but not impossible to keep in tune.
Because math. FUCK MATH.
Scale length is the distance from the bridge to the nut. It affects lots of things from tone, to feel, to tuning stability. Gibson standard is the shortest, at 24 3/4 inches. That’s why that Les Paul is always begging for you to bend notes until they cry.
Fender standard is 25 1/2 inches, and that’s really become THE standard – Ibanez, Schecter, ESP, Dean, all the boutique makers (the Kiesel I’m desperately waiting for, the high side of my fanned Ormsby), etc.
PRS is kind of a standout – they went in the middle, with 25″ even. Personally, that’s my favorite for standard or Eb tuning.
Now, what’s the point of mentioning all this?
Because when you get to LOW tuning, you think baritone. A baritone guitar (B standard tuning) or a 7- or 8-string guitar, they have a 26.5″ scale.
A bass guitar may have a 30″ scale. Hell, the guy from Killswitch Engage’s bass is a 34″ scale.
Why? Because the lower you tune, the more string length you need to find the happy place.
So. What did we learn?
Tuning a normal 25.5″ scale guitar down to Drop B is going to be really TRICKY, but not impossible to keep in tune.
Because math. FUCK MATH.
? Without it you can’t do physics and it will make me loose all the little understanding of life I have 
So you’ve got the 24.75″ scale, the hardest one to work with for drop tunings. All is not lost – Matt Heafy from Trivium does just fine in Drop C#, but going another full step down from that is probably not going to work well.
I have an Ibanez with a 25.5 scale, and it’s a bitch to keep in tune in Drop B.
Also bear in mind what Ids said about the string gauge. If you’re going to drop B with 9s or 10s, that’s a big part of your problem. Especially with such a short scale, I wouldn’t try drop B with anything less than 12s.
https://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Ball-Slinky-Nickel-Wound/dp/B0002E1J3Q/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=ernie+ball+strings+12&qid=1567295158&s=gateway&sr=8-2
I have an Ibanez with a 25.5 scale, and it’s a bitch to keep in tune in Drop B.
Also bear in mind what Ids said about the string gauge. If you’re going to drop B with 9s or 10s, that’s a big part of your problem. Especially with such a short scale, I wouldn’t try drop B with anything less than 12s.
https://www.amazon.com/Ernie-Ball-Slinky-Nickel-Wound/dp/B0002E1J3Q/ref=sr_1_2?keywords=ernie+ball+strings+12&qid=1567295158&s=gateway&sr=8-2
I’m not sure you’re understanding. The problem is not the BRAND of strings (yes, you can use any brand) or the material (standard strings are nickel) but the GAUGE – the THICKNESS of the strings. The lower you tune, the thicker the strings you need to maintain stability and also to feel right, regardless of the scale of the neck.
If you’re hoping to use the same guitar and strings to go from E standard or Drop D (like Syn) all the way down to Drop B, you’re asking the impossible. Even to setup your current guitar to play in drop B would require neck adjustment, filing the nut, and intonation, at a minimum. This is not something you can go back and forth on.
If you’re hoping to use the same guitar and strings to go from E standard or Drop D (like Syn) all the way down to Drop B, you’re asking the impossible. Even to setup your current guitar to play in drop B would require neck adjustment, filing the nut, and intonation, at a minimum. This is not something you can go back and forth on.
