Anyone tune their Dobro to C6th?

John McConnell · Post by **John McConnell** » 9 Jun 2010 6:16 am

I have just purchased a Dobro for an acoustic outing and I was wondering if I should tune it to C6th which I have a little experience with or should I go with the traditional Dobro tuning?

John McConnell
Yuba City, CA

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 9 Jun 2010 7:03 am

WIll you be playing Hawaiian or mostly country? For most country/bluegrass music, open G will give you the sound others use.

I found that C6th tuning on my Dobro® is too weak, but that's only my opinon. Barney Isaacs made a very nice sounding CD with George Kuo called "Hawaiian Touch" using a Dobro® with C6th tuning.

Dobro® is a registered trademark of Gibson Musical Instruments.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 9 Jun 2010 7:18 am

I wouldn't tune a dobro to C6th unless it was an 8 string dobro.

BTW: I tune my dobro to an A tuning. This is the original Hawaiian tuning and the one I learned on.

Will Jaffe · Post by **Will Jaffe** » 9 Jun 2010 9:00 am

I have not tried C6 on a reso, but like Brad said the smaller gauge strings on a dobro will sound thin. No harm trying though.
Most 6 string reso players use open G for a good reason, it sounds great and is very versatile.

With open G you can play blues, rock, swing, jazz, bluegrass, country, etc.

All the notes are there.

Ray Shakeshaft · Post by **Ray Shakeshaft** » 9 Jun 2010 9:06 am

I have C6/A7 on a Goldtone PBS so that I can just pick it up and practice without electrics. It sounds fine and far from thin.

I play that tuning on lap steels so why change?

Gerald Ross · Post by **Gerald Ross** » 9 Jun 2010 9:10 am

I use these gauged strings on my Gold Tone/Beard Squareneck Reso in C6 and it sounds great. Strings are nice and tight. They aren't as tight as a lot of Bluegrass guys in GBDGBD would like though.

.36 .30 .26 .24 .18(p) .16(p)

CEGACE

Jim Grant · Post by **Jim Grant** » 9 Jun 2010 10:05 am

how about open g on a lap steel. I am building a double lap and was thinking about trying open g????If so would gages be same as on a regular dobro

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 9 Jun 2010 12:08 pm

I keep a C6 tuning on my Hound Dog Dobro. It isn't quite as loud as it is with heavier strings and the standard tuning, but I think it sounds fine. I'm not a Dobro player, so I tend to treat it as a lap steel, anyway.

Here's a video of me playing "Under the Double Eagle" on it. I post this with apologies to John Ely, whose excellent arrangement for 8 string electric steel I mostly copped for this:

Under the Double Eagle (quicktime movie ~20MB or so)

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 9 Jun 2010 12:36 pm

Wonderful Playing Jerry!!!

I really liked that. The guitar,
the hands, the tuning all came together
in fine fashion.

Roy

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 9 Jun 2010 12:58 pm

I've just started using open G tuning on lap steel again after mostly playing C6th and/or open D tunings. The Martin Bluegrass resophonic guitar strings (nickel wound, .016 to .059) work just great, as do the Asher lap steel strings. Any set of reasonably heavy nickel wound strings should do fine.

Bill McCloskey · Post by **Bill McCloskey** » 9 Jun 2010 1:10 pm

It is hard to argue with great playing like that Jerry, and you've showed it can be done.

Not to get off topic, but what were you using to record this? particularly the video. I'm looking to set something like this up.

Dom Franco · Post by **Dom Franco** » 9 Jun 2010 2:15 pm

I have my resonator tuned to A6th. With pretty heavy gauge strings, it is amazingly loud and full sounding. Every time I sit in at acoustic jam sessions, musicians are surprised by it's versatility and ask what tuning I am using.
Of course these are not strictly bluegrass songs, so for that situation I would use G6th. My strings are just right so that I can tune down 2 frets to G and still work fine.

Dom

Jerry Gleason · Post by **Jerry Gleason** » 9 Jun 2010 2:46 pm

Thanks Roy, and Bill, for the nice comments on my video. Bill, I'll send you a PM regarding the production details so as not to divert this thread from the original topic.

The string gauges that I use ( .014, .018, .022, .026w, .030, .036) work fine for C6th (CEGACE low to high), A6th ( E on top), or B11.

G6th makes sense if you want to stick to the gauges for standard tuning.

Earnest Bovine · Post by **Earnest Bovine** » 9 Jun 2010 3:25 pm

Yes; mine is C6 high and A7 low kinda like Jerry Byrd or Joachin Murphey, but with high D, not B. I often retune as the song requires, for example C down to B.

John McConnell · Post by **John McConnell** » 9 Jun 2010 4:19 pm

Thanks to you all for your input. I certainly have a lot to think about and try. I love this forum.

John McConnell
Yuba City, CA

Ryan Barwin · Post by **Ryan Barwin** » 9 Jun 2010 4:46 pm

Great playing, Jerry. That was awesome!

Robbie Daniels · Post by **Robbie Daniels** » 9 Jun 2010 5:43 pm

I have a six string dobro with a built in pickup like guitars and I use C6/A7 tuning. Works for me.

Don Barnhardt · Post by **Don Barnhardt** » 9 Jun 2010 6:58 pm

I've been using C6and it sounds good with lighter strings but I'm going to try G6 for a while because I don't like tying up an instrument like that.

Jerry Hayes · Post by **Jerry Hayes** » 11 Jun 2010 7:31 am

John, I have two Dobros one of which is tuned in the stadard G for bluegrass and one (my most used) is tuned to G6th for a more versatile tuning. With this you can still get the majority of your bluegrass stuff plus swing and jazzy sounding improvisations if you're into that. The tuning is (low to high) B D E G B D. What's also nice about this tuning is that you can retune two strings, the high D to E and the 3rd string G to G# and you've got an E7th tuning which is also very useful. On Chandler six string lap steel I have Keith/Scruggs banjo tuners with presets for this.......JH in Va.

John Drury · Post by **John Drury** » 11 Jun 2010 6:49 pm

I have always used C6 on mine, started using open G on a second Dobro a couple years ago, and have a third one tuned to E.

Cindy Cashdollar sounds great on her Steel that Frank Campbell built for her, it is tuned to open G.

Ryan Barwin · Post by **Ryan Barwin** » 12 Jun 2010 8:54 am

I like D6th on dobro...it works for country, blues, and bluegrass (cause it's got 5 open D strings) but it's got the swing sound cause of the 6th tone in it. I use that tuning on lap steel as well.
low to high: A B D F# A D

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Jun 2010 10:11 am

Yes, I do. In fact I converted an 8-string fretless guitar to a resonator guitar especially so that I could use C6. (Actually, the scale is longer, so I use A6, but the relationship between the strings is the same.)

http://bb.steelguitarforum.com/viewtopi ... +resonator

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 12 Jun 2010 11:27 am

I use C6th on a Resonator I built. The Brute!
I have 8 strings on it but I have a slot on the
top to put the high G there. This comes in handy
when I do lessons ...some use high G and others
use traditional "E"
Either way the sound does not bother me at all.
I have a 6 string Dobro strung Bluegrass G Major.
Here is a short clip I just did for this thread.

http://www.mediafire.com/?2kqma1wmix1

Alan Brookes · Post by **Alan Brookes** » 12 Jun 2010 4:48 pm

Roy, I listened to your Walking the Floor Over You. Very nice.

Is that played on your Dobro or on the instrument in the photo?

Roy Thomson · Post by **Roy Thomson** » 12 Jun 2010 4:58 pm

Hi Alan,

That was played on the instrument in the photo
....the brute.