Using D9 or C9 tuning on 8 string Dobro

[John Watson]

I have been playing 8 string lap steel in a D9 tuning. I tune it with the same intervals used in pedal steel tunings except lower by a full tone. See below. I'd like to use this sort of tuning on square neck 8 string reso but thinking it would be too high/tight for a reso. Wondering if anyone has any thoughts on this, and whether going down another tone to C9 would maybe work. I don't want to switch to another type of open tuning with different intervals as the 9 tuning works best for my purposes. Maybe some is doing something similar. Thanks for reading.
John

My current Lap Steel Tuning

1 F# 11 (highest string)
2 D 14
3 A 17
4 F# 20
5 E 26
6 D 30
7 C 34
8 A 36 (lowest string)

[Howard Parker]

As a rule of thumb, the lower the tuning the more responsive the cone is going to be due to the increased energy through the spider from larger strings.

Mike Auldridge had one of his guitars tuned to C9, same intervals as the top 8 strings on E9. I don't believe he ever recorded that tuning but he certainly tinkered with it.

Just a caveat, the guitar was actually set up for that tuning, including the appropriate strings, nut and bridge inserts.

fwiw

hp

[Fred]

Those sting gauges are fairly light compared to a regular 6 string dobro set. I would just try what you have listed and see how it feels. Then maybe make some adjustments from there.

[John Watson]

Hey Howard and Fred thanks for your feedback. Really interesting that Mike Auldridge experimented with this a bit. I could try the top 8 too, instead of bottom. Fred, good point on the lightness of the string gauges I'll keep that in mind and like you say just try things out and see where it goes. Just need to find an 8 string now.
Cheers

[HowardR]

Mike Auldridge had one of his guitars tuned to C9, same intervals as the top 8 strings on E9. I don't believe he ever recorded that tuning but he certainly tinkered with it.

I remember one year at the Dallas show, Mike was playing the main stage and he had three 8 string dobros on hand......he did state that one of them was a C9 which was a new tuning to him and played it on a couple of tunes......it had a nice timbre to it and sounded great......of course it was in Mike's hands so it was near impossible to sound anything less than stellar.......

[John Watson]

Thanks Howard - would have liked to hear that!

[Howard Parker]

I remember one year at the Dallas show, Mike was playing the main stage and he had three 8 string dobros on hand......he did state that one of them was a C9 which was a new tuning to him and played it on a couple of tunes......it had a nice timbre to it and sounded great......of course it was in Mike's hands so it was near impossible to sound anything less than stellar.......

Yeah man!!! Those were swell times!

HowardP

[Michael Kiese]

Hi!

There are many free string tension calculators available.

All you do is input your guitar’s scale length, the string gauge, and the note you want, and it gives you the corresponding tension in ftlbs.

Really handy tool for creating custom string sets for specific tunings.

After much experimentation, I found 15 ftlbs too loose and 30 ftlbs too tight. So just experiment and find what your preference is.

This is the one I use.
https://tension.stringjoy.com/

Enjoy!

[John Watson]

Hey Mike thanks. That seems like a great tool. You don't need to specify the type of guitar is that right - ie it applies to square neck resonator in the same way it would for a regular acoustic guitar - is that right?