Separate Guitar for Alternate Tunings?

[GreatOz]

Good day,

For those of you who play alternate tunings, specifically open E major or D major, do you use an entirely separate guitar for it? Did you have to do anything like change the string gauge or alter the intonation significantly? Does changing the tuning semi-regularly damage the neck or not worth the hassle to do it properly (IE, is it more practical just to get a different guitar)?

I want to start experimenting with open tunings, but am not sure if it is reasonable to purchase an entirely separate guitar for this experiment. However, I also do not want to potentially damage my primary guitar's neck with weird tunings it is not accustomed to as I would likely switch back and forth.

Any thoughts?

Thanks,
GreatOz

[PFDarkside]

Re: Separate Guitar for Alternate Tunings?

Unless you are doing something really whacky, changing it up for experimental purposes is no issue at all. The core design of a Les Paul, Telecaster, Stratocaster, etc. was intended for strings much heavier than what most of us use today. Now if you are already running 12s in E Standard, you might have an issue, but for the most part it’ll be fine. Same goes for intonation, you’ll still be extremely close, as long as it’s setup correctly now.

If you find you start playing in a single alternate tuning frequently, it might be nice to have another guitar setup in alternate gauges to even out tensions for that tuning. That’s really just for convenience though.

[Jr_vw2]

Re: Separate Guitar for Alternate Tunings?

This looks like the perfect excuse to buy a new guitar. This biggest thing you will run into is if you want to start trying lower tunings. Like whole step down or drop tunings. Then you really need a heavier gauge string and with that usually a setup is a good idea. I like to experiment with a lot of tunings but I have a lot of guitars so i do tend to keep some guitars setup for specific tunings. Mostly out of convenience of.....I want to hear this tuning....go grad x guitar and play.

[dystrust]

Re: Separate Guitar for Alternate Tunings?

Unless you are doing something really whacky, changing it up for experimental purposes is no issue at all.

+1

The only slight downside I can think of is relatively poor tuning stability if you're changing tunings a lot. Strings seem to want to remember the tuning they're in, so if I have a guitar in E for a while and then switch to Eb or D it won't want to stay in tune.

[GuitarDoc]

Re: Separate Guitar for Alternate Tunings?

It won't damage your guitar at all. Previous comments are all good. I also have lots of guitars so it suits me to have specific guitars set up for specific tunings. It's convenient. But if you only have one guitar and can't afford or don't want to buy another, don't worry, tune your guitar to your heart's content.