Newbie: How to do a dramatic tuning change after receiving the lap steel

[Frank Henard]

Hello, I'm new to the group and new to lap steel. I recently ordered an Asher Electro Hawaiian Jr. with Certano benders. It's in shipping now.

My motivation to get one was very inspired by Luke Cyrus Goetze's Harvest Moon video . After I ordered the lap steel, I started thinking about tuning. I learned some about the different tunings and found out that Luke Cyrus' tuning is Gmaj9 (G B D F# A D). I had a hard time deciding whether to ask Asher for that tuning or whether it should be Open D because I've seen a number of instruction videos on youtube for Open D. Gmaj9 wasn't one of the options listed as tunings that could be requested, so I just said Open D.

Then I thought about it some more and decided that likely, as soon as the lap steel arrives, I'm going to want to spend time transcribing and working on how Luke Cyrus plays Harvest Moon. I changed my mind about the initial tuning and setup, and sent an email yesterday morning asking if they could set it up for Gmaj9, or Open G (dobro) because that's looks to be the closest to Gmaj9. By the time they saw the email, they had already packaged up the lap steel with Open D tuning.

So my question is this. What will it take to go from Open D to Gmaj9? I've intonated guitars before, but those are fretted which are likely easier to intonate guitars than lap steels. Will I need to change the strings to different sizes? Any tips or instructions on which strings to get, or how to intonate?

Any other advice or opinions about any of this is welcome! Thanks

[Jeff Highland]

It is easier than you are thinking.
Asher lap steel strings https://www.amazon.com.au/Asher-Electro ... B016Z41U5I are for open D or Dobro G.
The tuning you want to use is just open D on the 4 highest strings and Open G on strings 5 and 6
So you just need to tune the 5th up from A to B and the 6th from D to G
No intonation changes required

[Jiri Michalek]

I think the easier way to understand this tuning is to see strings 1-4 as D major (your 1st chord) and strings 4-6 as G major (your 4th chord)

[Tony Oresteen]

The tuning is known as D/G. With benders you have to very careful with string gauges as you do not want to be breaking a string when you bend. Getting over 40 lbs of pull puts you in breaking range. I assume that you are bending the 2nd string two half-steps and the 3rd string one half-step.

Here's what I would use on your 25.0" scales Asher"

D over G 25inch 500.jpg

If you prefer a wound 3rd you can use a 0.026" wound string. Normal pitch would pull 30.5 lbs, +1 would pull 34.2 lbs.

Good Luck!