The Steel Guitar Forum

Hello all from upstate NY!

I am new to the forum here and have recently begun to play lap steel (which I love). I had a couple questions if anyone could help me out I would be grateful. I recently purchased a gretsch 5700 to learn steel on in hopes of someday getting a pedal. As a newbie, I had questions about the guitar strings I should use. I have no idea what kind came on mine but I have noticed going to c6 is not ideal with the strings I have. The b string is rather loose when tuned to c6 and sounds pretty crappy in my opinion. I have enjoyed playing open d with the strings but I also ordered a set of GHS c6 strings. My question is how important is it to have say c6 strings compared to the factory ones? Am I wrong thinking the factory ones sound not so great when trying to play c6? Also if I use a set of c6 strings would I run into the problem I already have trying to play in open d? From the sounds of it, I will really enjoy c6 and will most likely use that the majority of the time. So again, how important are strings made for a certain tuning? Any advice is much appreciated, I'm here to learn and be apart of this awesome group. Thanks in advance for your help.

Korey

C6 and open D are quite incompatable when it comes to strings because they span different intervals from low to high. Open D spans a full two octaves from low to high whereas C6 is only an octave and 4 semitones.
The low string D in open D is nearly a full octave below the low C in C6

Yes you need to match the strings to the tuning.

Standard guitar strings do not work for C6th because, for instance, the low C on that tuning is the same pitch as the A string third fret on a standard armpit guitar.
I’d argue that gauges are a lot mote flexible than many people think. Jerry Byrd used the same gauge string for C6th on his E, C and A strings in the late forties and his tone was unbelievable on records from that era. That said, tuning a low E string up to C is not going to work.
There are high bass tunings, like dobro G and C6th that need special gauges, and there are low bass tunings, like open D that can use regular guitar strings.
Also, generally speaking, especially with shorter scale lap steels, using higher gauges on the unwound strings sounds better. using a 10 high E string and 13 B string like a guitar is not ideal IMO. I use 14 or 15 E strings on 22.5” scale.
Check out John Ely’s string gauge chart, its a great starting point.

Sweet. Thank you guys for the information. I'll likely throw on the c6 strings and stay in that tuning for a while. They'll be here in a week! For now it's open d. I almost have steel guitar rag down pat.

Thanks again,
Korey

I recommend Andy Volk's Slide Rules book as you go exploring tunings, it has *lots* along with string gauge recommendations. There's also websites from John Ely and Cindy Cashdollar for string sets

https://cindycashdollar.com/tunings/

https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/tunings/my_tunings.php

What Gene Tani said. That's a super helpful little book full of tunings and ideas.

You'll find your steel plays much better with the custom C6 set. If the tension is not equal across all the strings you'll get some buzzes.

Make sure to buy your strings from the Forum. Just click "Strings" at the top of this page and then click "Non-pedal". I like the SIT Scotty's sets. They are half round so you get a little less bar noise.