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Topic: String selection advice |
Stuart Berlinicke
From:
Baltimore,Maryland, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 7:30 am |
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I am new to the lap steel and just ordered the Jerry Byrd instruction course to get a good foundation. I see the book starts off in A major tuning and progresses to E major/ E7 tunings. I am looking at the steel guitar forum store site and see the John Pearce strings in A tuning and the GHS for E tuning, would these strings be a good start? I also see strings that are semi- flat, and the GHS strings advertise an “unusually thick 3rd stringâ€. I don’t want to overthink things but I would like to have the proper strings when the book arrives.
Thanks in advance for any help on this matter.
Stuart |
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Jack Hanson
From:
San Luis Valley, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 8:06 am
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My two cents:
Lap steel, with its seemingly endless array of tunings, requires a different mindset than standard guitar. You need to think in terms of individual stings, as opposed to sets.
String gauge is determined by both the scale length of your instrument, and the pitch desired of the individual string(s). It's basic physics -- a skinny string will tune to a higher pitch before snapping than a heavier one, and vice-versa.
Some experimentation will likely be required before you settle on the precise gauges that work best for any given tuning on any given instrument.
Find an online string gauge calculator; Ernie Ball's and John Ely's are two that I'm familiar with -- there are others.
Online sellers such as Just Strings dot com offer a wide array of single strings. I often purchase them by the dozen in the gauges most appropriate for the tunings that I commonly use.
Good luck, welcome to the extremely addictive world of lap steel, and have fun! |
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Allan Revich
From:
Victoria, BC
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Bill Sinclair
From:
Waynesboro, PA, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 12:50 pm
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Here's the string gauges from Jerry's book:
For Amaj: .015, .017, .019, .030w, .032w or .034w, .042w
For Emaj: you can retune those gauges except for the 6th string which should be changed to a heavier gauge, probably .056w"
I'm pretty sure these gauges are for the 22.5" scale preferred by Mr. Byrd. |
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Stuart Berlinicke
From:
Baltimore,Maryland, USA
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 1:22 pm
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Thanks for all the good advice, very much appreciated.
I will order individual strings using the information provided.
Stuart |
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Tim Whitlock
From:
Colorado, USA
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Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
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Posted 15 Jul 2021 4:03 pm
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You can get a lot of different tunings from one string set, but the JB course goes through quite a few. I would bet you would need a different set for the "early" major tunings, and then a separate set for the C6 and C6 related tunings. C6 is easily retuned to B11, A6, C6/A7, C13, D9, GMaj7/F9.
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
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