A6 back neck tuning demo GFI D10

Andrew Frost · Post by **Andrew Frost** » 26 Apr 2023 6:09 pm

I've been developing this copedent for a while..
For those interested, its similar to C6, but really is its own thing.
It lives in the same range, but moves just a little differently.
Like C6, string 4 and 8 are still A, string 2 and 6 are still E.
But it is not just C6 tuned down.
There's a low D on 10 that drops to B, and the tuning features both the 5th and 9th tones on top.
I made a short musical demo to document the sound and style of this tuning.

https://youtu.be/ZHZuJ2WZ3R8

Happy to share the tuning chart with anyone interested.
Cheers
Andy Frost

Larry Dering · Post by **Larry Dering** » 27 Apr 2023 7:14 am

Interesting tuning and some nice fat chords. Love the low tones.

Ethan Shaw · Post by **Ethan Shaw** » 27 Apr 2023 9:33 am

Sounds good, Andrew!

Andrew Frost · Post by **Andrew Frost** » 28 Apr 2023 7:52 pm

Thanks fellas, appreciate it!

Richard Alderson · Post by **Richard Alderson** » 30 Apr 2023 8:42 am

How long have you been working on the A6th copedant? Seems like every couple of months you've got a new wrinkle on something. Congratulations on your musical ideas and it must be fun to change copedants around - but also a mechanical challenge. I got exposed briefly to A6th in Herb Remington's no pedals instructional material, as he wrote his tablature for A6th, but that was an 8 string set up, obviously more simple than your 10 string set up with pedals.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 2 May 2023 11:54 am

Richard Alderson wrote:How long have you been working on the A6th copedant? Seems like every couple of months you've got a new wrinkle on something. Congratulations on your musical ideas and it must be fun to change copedants around - but also a mechanical challenge. I got exposed briefly to A6th in Herb Remington's no pedals instructional material, as he wrote his tablature for A6th, but that was an 8 string set up, obviously more simple than your 10 string set up with pedals.

I believe Herb Remington’s Pedal Tuning also was A6th. I might have been close to a tuned lower C6th tuning, as I seemed to hear some well known changes like the P7 change in his playing.
Maurice Anderso favored Bb6th for string gauges and tension->tone and his setup was quite a bit different than C6th, so was his playing.
I like the tone of A&B pedals down A6th on E9th… very sweet due to the string gauges.

… JD

Andrew Frost · Post by **Andrew Frost** » 26 May 2023 7:59 am

Richard, late response, apologies.
Its been a few years on and off with the A6 thing.
The experimentation really started when Covid hit, and gigs stopped for a long time.
I left town for a while and was practicing on my single neck pull-release pretty much all day every day and really wanted to get richer voicings happening within the copedent. I was also digging further into more classic non pedal tunings and sounds at that time. The E9 set-up on that guitar went through all kinds of morphs and shifts and experiments, as did a growing curiosity about getting all the sounds and voicings, for my purposes, on some kind of hybrid or universal single neck.
That journey is still ongoing....

This double neck set-up in the video is interesting and useful in ways though because, as JD alluded to, it is related to 'pedals down' A6 that lives on the E neck. In some ways I see this back neck as a continuation of the front neck.

J D Sauser · Post by **J D Sauser** » 27 May 2023 5:48 am

Andrew Frost wrote:Richard, late response, apologies.
Its been a few years on and off with the A6 thing.
The experimentation really started when Covid hit, and gigs stopped for a long time.
I left town for a while and was practicing on my single neck pull-release pretty much all day every day and really wanted to get richer voicings happening within the copedent. I was also digging further into more classic non pedal tunings and sounds at that time. The E9 set-up on that guitar went through all kinds of morphs and shifts and experiments, as did a growing curiosity about getting all the sounds and voicings, for my purposes, on some kind of hybrid or universal single neck.
That journey is still ongoing....

This double neck set-up in the video is interesting and useful in ways though because, as JD alluded to, it is related to 'pedals down' A6 that lives on the E neck. In some ways I see this back neck as a continuation of the front neck.

As Maurice would put it, C does not relate to E, but A or B (E9th E's down) do.

To me there are two types of A6th... the higher, thinner strings type resulting of holding A&B down on E9th and the lower dark one Maurice tried to clear up by tuning up to Bb. It sound like a "head scratcher" but it's a question of which string is on top and string gauges chosen based on the pulls they have to survive... and scale length.

At the end of the day, most 6th tunings will have pretty much the same changes. E9th has some typical C6th changes on it's B6th and A6th side... but not the spectrum and limited "strumability".

... J-D.

Guy Cundell · Post by **Guy Cundell** » 2 Jun 2023 3:39 pm

Andrew, thank you for posting this. A regular A6 player, I haven't invested much time in my C6 PSG neck. Adopting your tuning and copedent could be a game changer.

Andrew Frost · Post by **Andrew Frost** » 3 Jun 2023 5:49 pm

Guy, here is the chart, should you decide to pursue it.
Cheers
Andy

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Andrew Frost · Post by **Andrew Frost** » 3 Jun 2023 6:14 pm

I believe Herb Remington’s Pedal Tuning also was A6th.

Yes JD I think you're right.
This is from the forum references...

Its an interesting study for sure.
Very cool that the pedal 7 style whole tone change is on P1, and P2 raises the same strings by only a half tone.
I think that is largely to achieve a diminished voicing that extends up to string 1...

Guy Cundell · Post by **Guy Cundell** » 4 Jun 2023 12:10 am

Many thanks, Andrew!