Weissenborn tuning other than open D

Nick Anderson · Post by **Nick Anderson** » 3 Oct 2018 6:27 pm

It seems like everyone plays Weissenborn in open D. I love it, but it may be over used.

Are there players that use other tunings?

Mike A Holland · Post by **Mike A Holland** » 4 Oct 2018 1:20 am

I use EBDGBD low to high quite a lot. You will have to pay attention to string gauges and overall string tension. It is a 6th tuning with the 6th E in the bass. The other strings are Dobro G dobro tuning. Advantages..... You can get major and minor and 7ths under a straight bar with 3 notes or more. If you play blue grass you have the top 5 strings straight away. By having the E in the bass you can think more like a conventional guitar setup, think Emin7. I have a lot of solo Weissenborn material on youtube using this tuning under MikeHollandGuitar.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qdN25oq55L0
Also Greg Booth uses this tuning on Dobro brilliantly!
Mike

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 4 Oct 2018 6:02 am

There are a lot of options available from the core base tuning of open D including Dmin, D7th, DADGAD, Dmaj7, D6th, D modal, etc.

You can tune down to a G6th or A6th using the standard C6th intervals (but will likely want to restring for proper tension).

I also use EBDGBD tuning. It opens up a lot of possibilities.

G11th tuning is a Weissenborn-friendly alternative to the B11th tuning (low to hi): ABDFAC

Mike Neer · Post by **Mike Neer** » 4 Oct 2018 6:12 am

A lot of players use this type of instrument for specific styles of solo playing, whether blues, or folk or Celtic or Hawaiian (almost slack key style), etc. To tune to something like C6, while definitely possible, doesn't really take advantage of the deep bass and full spectrum of sound in one of these instruments. Personally, I would opt for an A tuning, maybe low bass A.

From the treble down: E C# A E A E
or A tuning: E C# A E C# A

Larry Carlson · Post by **Larry Carlson** » 4 Oct 2018 6:38 am

.
I play a lot of songs in open G but I tune down to FACFAC.

David M Brown · Post by **David M Brown** » 4 Oct 2018 6:41 am

Mike Neer wrote:A lot of players use this type of instrument for specific styles of solo playing, whether blues, or folk or Celtic or Hawaiian (almost slack key style), etc. To tune to something like C6, while definitely possible, doesn't really take advantage of the deep bass and full spectrum of sound in one of these instruments. Personally, I would opt for an A tuning, maybe low bass A.

From the treble down: E C# A E A E
or A tuning: E C# A E C# A

A low bass would indeed allow for the "slack-key" like playing of very early steel book arrangements.

A low bass is also easy to retune to E B E G# C# E, 2 strings change. That C#m7 tuning is pretty useful too.

Erv Niehaus · Post by **Erv Niehaus** » 4 Oct 2018 7:21 am

I tune mine to A, high bass.
Erv

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 4 Oct 2018 9:42 am

It really depends on what you want to hear and whether you are playing solo or with other instruments.

I've also found over the years that certain guitars will seem to open up and bloom in one tuning while sounding more constricted in others.

In terms of low notes, some people have gone as big as having .68 gauge low string - I wouldn't recommend that - but some folks want that low, low option.

Personally, not a fan of A-based tunings on acoustic instruments. For my money, Open D and its variants offer the most options including the ability to tune to Dobro G and Dobro G/Em. Like everything in the steel guitar world, it's much more about what you do with whatever tuning is on your guitar than trying to find that one tuning that will do it all.

Chase Brady · Post by **Chase Brady** » 5 Oct 2018 6:05 am

The nice thing about open D is that you can use the thumb to play a bass line and the fingers to play melody, just as fingerstyle blues guitarists do on armpit guitars. It gives you a fairly complete solo sound. 6th tunings and their derivatives give you more chords under the bar, but playing that "walking bass" is not so easy. Of course if you're playing along with a rhythm guitar, you don't need it, so I tune that low A string up to B and get D6 tuning. But for solo work, I find open D hard to beat.

K Maul · Post by **K Maul** » 5 Oct 2018 9:50 am

Try lo CGCGCE hi. You can tune the E to Eb orD for some very cool sounds.

Jim Sliff · Post by **Jim Sliff** » 9 Oct 2018 6:30 pm

Much depends on the instrument make. the "Weissenborn" name gets thrown around far too often as a generic term, which it isn't.

VIntage Weissenborn and most other similarly-constructed makes are built VERY lightly. String tension recommendations vary between 165-186 pounds *total* depending on who you talk to.

Many vintage players I know (including myself - a Weissenborn Style 2, a couple Schiresons and a Hilo 855) use Newtone "Aloha" strings and don't tune to anything that exceeds 180 lbs.

I prefer playing with tunings on more structurally "safe" guitars and keep the vintage Knutsen/Weissenboern "school" of instruments in D tuning.

Newer instruments vary, but after discussions with a few makers and sellers IMO you should check with the manufacturer and verify you'r not exceeding recommended string tension before changing tunings. Better to be safe than have things come apart and have the maker say "not our problem".

Andy Volk · Post by **Andy Volk** » 10 Oct 2018 1:19 am

Here's what Bill Asher recommends for using C6th on a Weissenborn:

For new Master builds C6
C E G A C E
.039, .032, .026, .022, .018, .013

For vintage acoustic Weissenborn type guitars use this lighter adjusted set.
C E G A C E
.036, .029, .024, .019, .016, .011

*NOTE always use a wound third string

Miles Lang · Post by **Miles Lang** » 10 Oct 2018 11:39 am

I use taropatch (DGDGBD) on my Weiss-guy a lot.

I saw Ken Emerson last Saturday, who also uses taropatch. For a few tunes, he tuned the middle D string up to E (G6 tuning I guess). First thing I did when I got home is try to tune my steel like that, and *SNAP*. I put a lighter guage string on there, and now I can go back and forth from taropatch to that G6 pretty easy. I like that G6 - I find I can do a lot of things I ususally do on my C6 Fender that I couldn't do in straight taropatch.

Here's a little Ken & Kimo West https://youtu.be/ncnf8kENjkk