im new

Skip Bassford · Post by **Skip Bassford** » 5 Sep 2020 9:05 am

sorry if this is a dumb question but can you use reg guitar strings on a lap steel its a rogue rls-1 beginners.or do you need to buy special string for open g,etc?whats a good brand to use.thanks

Mike Auman · Post by **Mike Auman** » 5 Sep 2020 9:44 am

Welcome Skip! This forum is a great place to ask questions like that. You can also search for previous posts on similar topics. To get you started, check https://www.b0b.com/infoedu/gauges.htm , it's for pedal steel but will help with lap steel too. Mike

Ken Pippus · Post by **Ken Pippus** » 5 Sep 2020 10:12 am

https://www.steelguitarshopper.com/electric/
https://www.steelguitarshopper.com/acoustic/

Jack Stoner · Post by **Jack Stoner** » 5 Sep 2020 1:03 pm

Check out the list at Scotty's music web site. It lists tunings and string gauges.

http://scottysmusic.com/tunings.htm

I used to live in Laurel, MD. Always dealt with Chuck Levin's Washington Music in Rockville.

Jeff Mead · Post by **Jeff Mead** » 6 Sep 2020 2:32 am

Make sure you use electric guitar strings - most acoustic guitar strings (and acoustic Dobro strings) don't have enough magnetic properties to work well with a magnetic pickup.

James Meloan · Post by **James Meloan** » 6 Sep 2020 3:43 am

You can, but I believe steel specific strings have flatter windings to cut down on bar noise.

Mike Auman · Post by **Mike Auman** » 6 Sep 2020 2:15 pm

And a related discussion on string gauges: viewtopic.php?t=361604

G Strout · Post by **G Strout** » 6 Sep 2020 4:23 pm

Skip ,yes you can use regular guitar strings BUT most lap steel tunings use way different gauges than a standard guitar uses. First you need to decide on what tuning you will want to use. That will depend on the type of music you want to play. I recommend that my beginning students start on C6 tuning. There is a lot of instructional material available in C6. For rock, blues, etc. I would recommend a G or D tuning. To find the gauge that you will need, go to John Elys' website. There is a lot of information available for beginners at the site. (Hawaiiansteel.com) He also has a string gauge chart that will tell you the best gauge strings to use for any tuning that you may decide to use. You can also go to you tube and check out lessons with Troy. He has a lot of useful info for beginners as far as tuning , style etc.
There is also a lot of instructional material available here in the forum store, and from individual members. Both Doug Beaumier and b0b have some excellent books that are helpful in starting out. For C6 I generally recommend 15, 18, 22W, 24W, 30W, and 36W (high to low) For a G tuning I would recommend 16, 18, 26W, 34W, 46W, and 56W. (Again high to Low) Good Luck on your journey into steel guitar.

Allan Revich · Post by **Allan Revich** » 6 Sep 2020 10:18 pm

Regular electric guitar strings will work just fine, but you need to pay way more attention to string gauges. What gauges you use will depend on what tuning you decide on.
Here are my thoughts on choosing a tuning.

If you plan on playing lap steel only occasionally in addition to electric guitar. I’d start with open E. EBEG#BE

If you plan playing mostly blues and rock, you’ll probably like either
E = EBEG#BE
D = DADF#AD or
G = GBDGBD (this is also the standard tuning for acoustic dobro.

If you plan on getting more serious about lap steel and diving deeper, then as others her have suggested, C6 is the basic “standard” these days.
C6 = CEGACE (you’ve got C major on the three lowest string and A minor on the three highest, plus C6/Am7 etc with other string combinations)

Lastly, if you’re the kind of person that prefers to choose your own path,
lap steel is possibly the best instrument invented. There are hundreds of tuning possibilities, some quite popular, some less so. As you read through the threads here you’ll soon see that many players find their own special tunings that work for them.

Just keep in mind that unique tunings will have almost no instructional material, while common tunings (like open D, E, G, and C6) will have loads of reference material.

Gene Tani · Post by **Gene Tani** » 8 Sep 2020 7:58 pm

Welcome to the forum, it's a great resource and great instrument you're learning

Sure, i use a lot of generic Ernie ball slinkies sets tho I've seen problems with a few tailpieces including one of mine which i had to dremel out to change strings.

Here's good reference sites

https://people.well.com/user/wellvis/tuning.html

http://cindycashdollar.com/tunings/

https://www.hawaiiansteel.com/learning/gauges.php