The Steel Guitar Forum

I want to change the tuning on the front neck on my quad. It has the large holes in the tuners for the larger guage strings. What is a good tuning to experiment with? How about string guages? Thanks for the help! <FONT SIZE=1 COLOR="#8e236b"><p align=CENTER>[This message was edited by Gary Morrison on 26 April 2002 at 03:14 PM.]</p></FONT>

Gary,

Remember that Leon McAuliffe used the front neck on his quad as a bass neck tuned (low to high) A, B, C, D, E, G, B, D. That's probably the idea behind the larger holes in the tuners. Now as to string gauges Leon used, that answer will have to come from someone a lot more knowledgeable than me.

Here's a neat (and jazzy-sounding) tuning you may not have tried yet: (low to high) F#, A#, E, G, A, C, E, G. I don't know what it's called but it's obviously a hopped-up C6th. Gene Calkins uses it on his long-scale Stringmasters and gets huge chord sounds with it. Ya gotta raid a pedal steel C6th set to get the appropriate string gauges for this one.

Tim R.

A variation on Tim's, going lower:
D F# C E A C E G low to high.
This puts a 9th chord, root on string 8, in easy reach of the key you are playing, 2 frets down.