22.5" Weissenborn Advice

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 12 Jul 2016 4:58 am

I'm stringing up a new model this week. I've started building a 22.5" scale length. Before I start the stringing and tuning process thought I'd see if anyone has any advice.

I'm sure theres a few tunings to choose from. Just thought I'd see what some of you all thought would be a more popular or standard tuning for this and some string gauge advice. I can find a bunch of info for lapsteels, but haven't found much for an acoustic lap steel.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 12 Jul 2016 8:17 am

I'm not much help but I was stringing up a Superior Weissenborn guitar a few years ago and located a company that sold strings specifically for Weissenborns. The were supposed to come up to pitch with less tension on the guitar. I haven't had much luck in getting any response from them of late but you might have better luck.
I'm from the old school so I have most of my lap guitars, including Weissenborns, tuned to A, high bass.

Bob Blair · Post by **Bob Blair** » 12 Jul 2016 10:09 am

Hi Rance. What I've been doing on my Celtic Cross 21 1/4" scale is using a set of D'Addario EJ-10's, but replacing the high string with an .11. Mostly I tune it to an F (bottom to top - FCFACF), but I've pushed it a full tone higher with no ill effects and Neil was not worried about the extra strain from doing that.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 12 Jul 2016 10:32 am

The name of the strings I am referring to is "Newtone Aloha Strings", now if you can find them, that's the problem!

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 12 Jul 2016 10:52 am

Open D tuning is the most common tuning used on Weissenborn guitars followed by open G but many more tunings, including 6th tunings, work well.

22.5" is a common scale for lap steel but Weissenborns are usually between (ballpark) 24" and 25." I think the Newtone Alohas are no longer in production. They were hand-made by a one-man shop. I've been very happy with the set Bill Asher sells:

http://www.asherguitars.com/collections ... single-set

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 12 Jul 2016 6:27 pm

Hey guys. Thanks for the replies. These are my first two 22 1/2" weiss's. I've built over 280 regular 25" weiss's and baritones and wanted to try a new scale. I guess I'll string it up and get a bunch of gauges ready and start the process.

might try a C or G.

I'm not sure if newtones are still being made. I think they still offer them on Just Strings. I bought a bunch of sets from him about 6 years ago for my 30" baritone model. They were/are really nice still have a set left for those.

Todd Clinesmith · Post by **Todd Clinesmith** » 12 Jul 2016 6:39 pm

Rance,
I personally thing D tuning is good for long scale instruments since it is such a deep throaty tuning.

I'd try a slant tuning like a 6th of some sorts , since a lot of folks like short scales for ease of slants. C6 with a high E would probably cut fine on an acoustic instrument.

I think these gauges would work well:

E 15
C 17
A 20
G 26
E 30
C 36

These are gauges for a long scale solid body steel , but I think an acoustic short scale would handle these gauges just fine.

Low bass G would sound nice too.

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 13 Jul 2016 3:46 am

Alrighty. Thanks Todd, that's a big help. I think I'll go with that first and see how it sounds.

George Piburn · Post by **George Piburn** » 13 Jul 2016 4:25 am

Hello from GeorgeBoards

I agree with Todd, we go with a slightly different line up.

.038 low C --.032 low E -- .026 wound low G .020 plain A .017 plain C -.014 plain high E

I prefer a tiny bit more Beef on those lower strings.

Congratulations on going with a Short Scale Acoustic Hawaiian, we have always thought that would be a major winner.

Mark Evans · Post by **Mark Evans** » 13 Jul 2016 11:10 am

Rance
I have a baritone and a standard scale Weiss. A short scale would be cool...if my boat ever arrives with the trunk full of cash. What woods are you using? At that higher tone I'd bet an all mahogany weiss would be sweet

Dave Rodgers · Post by **Dave Rodgers** » 14 Jul 2016 1:02 am

Andy Volk wrote: I think the Newtone Alohas are no longer in production.

The Aloha's are still made here in UK and available direct from Newtone Strings but as a UK resident I don't know what the US availability situation is.

Dave

Post by **Brad Bechtel** » 14 Jul 2016 6:30 am

Newtone Aloha strings are available through Juststrings.com.

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 14 Jul 2016 8:03 pm

These are both mahogany. Mahogany should warm it up.

I'll try to post some photos of them tomorrow.

Thanks for all the advice.

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 16 Jul 2016 3:53 am

Here's some photos. This is a beautiful set of mahogany. The other one in progress is my old growth mahogany with rosewood binding. Strung it up and got to play it a few minutes yesterday. Sounds really fun so far. Super responsive with nice volume and really fast. I'll try to get some sort of recording up.

I strung it up just as Todd CLinesmith posted. Thanks for the help. May tweak the gauges a little, but it's really close. A .038 on the bass would work, but I'm not a fan of the plain .020" so I'll order a wound for that one.

I don't have time to experiment with many different tunings or play regularly. Usually when I get one finished up I have to mail it out and it's usually 90% tuned to D, but depends on the customer. But I love the C6 on this and will have to build one that is not so pretty to keep here around the shop.

These are for sale so if anyone is interested give me a shout.

Rance White · Post by **Rance White** » 17 Jul 2016 5:20 am

Alright finally got something recorded. Let me preface this by saying I'm not a professional. I am a much better mediocre guitar player than steel player. Mot of time goes to building instruments and kids.

And the recording is off my digital camera. I'm slowly working on getting something to record a little better. The mic is actually decent for what it is. It is a very "hot" mic and doesn't represent the low end very well.

I'm actually not sure if I have it tuned right, but it sounded neat. My old strobe tuner, which I love, had a hard time tuning up the A for some reason.It's closest gauge I had to a 20 without dropping all the way to an .018. Here's the tuning

E 15
C 17
A 24
G 26
E 32
C 36

I finally rounded up enough strings to do it. Some of the strings were a little dead/old and some are new. The C-36 (bass) string is pretty dead and it needs to be thicker. Should sound awesome with a new 40.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzGyd2n2QuU

Anyway, I'll take off $50 and include shipping if anyone is interested and has the ability to make a good sounding (home studio) style clip.

I'll list these on the for sale page later tonight. These two started out as prototypes, but they turned out so nice. I think they'll have a price of $800.

Peter den Hartogh · Post by **Peter den Hartogh** » 17 Jul 2016 6:30 am

Isn't this a bit heavy for a D-tuning on a regular 25" weiss?

Mark Evans · Post by **Mark Evans** » 17 Jul 2016 7:09 am

I used this heavy set once on my baritone Weiss, tuned down to open C. Sounded good but not that much better than the JP Weiss strings with the .060 or .062 on the bottom. Plus that heavy end kept me on edge, waiting for the bridge to pop off.

I only play in open D, G, C and their minor iterations. Lately I'm messing with FACFAC, which has a similar tension to D.

I think I'll start saving for one of these short scale gems.