Stringmaster d8

[Oliver Althoen]

I have been a dobro player for years, but I just got a Fender Stringmaster d8. So excited to get into this amazing instrument! I'm wondering if there is a standard way to tune the 2 necks? Right now I have one neck in A6 and the other in C6. Also, I would love recommendations on strings. What do y'all use?
Thanks!

[Guy Cundell]

Oliver, you will probably get a ton of recommendations. Probably the most common would be C6 and E13, but there are different versions of each.

As a dobro player myself, I prefer A6 which has a similar feel to dobro IMO. Low to high:
F# A C# E F# A C# E
gives you the familiar triad on triad of dobro tuning with an intervening 6th. C6 with a high G does the same but the lighter strings give it a different feel.

As for E13, the two most popular tunings are McAuliffe's and Boggs. You can look these up. They are similar but the difference is that Boggs' has the 5th an octave lower. E13 is a whole different world.

I wish you well on the journey! Welcome aboard!

[Tim Whitlock]

I have been using SIT Silencer semi-flat strings for years. They come in sets pre-gauged for non-pedal tunings. I use the C6 and E7 sets on my D8. The E7 set can be retuned to B11, A6 and E13.

https://aliensandstrangersmusic.com/search?q=lap+steel

[Ricky Davis]

Here's some great; you can't go wrong with these tuning choices and gauges, by my longtime Friend John Ely>

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

See what makes musical sense to you and go for it.
Ricky

[Allan Revich]

You may want to put a Dobro based tuning on one neck, GBDEGBDE (G6).

[Oliver Althoen]

Thank you for all the info!
Can anybody recommend a good beginning youtube lesson for the E13 tuning?
It is, indeed, a whole different world!

[Landon Jarrel]

Hi Oliver, these are good as direct lessons explaining the tuning:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bAUtqDvwdGo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8r4bpr4mhxw

Here's the thing, though: there's many 13th tuning variations, meaning that the scale intervals are not always in the same order. 8-string 6th tunings are almost always one of two types: 3rd on top or 5th on top, and makes it so that anything that you learn in C6 can be applied to A6 with a quick transposition. The notes lay out the same.

When I started learning about 13th tunings, I found that the best way for me to understand a particular tuning was to map out the tuning - scales, chords, slants - on paper. Fortunately, forum member, Kyle Jester, made this website which diagrams a plethora of tunings interactively. Give it a go: http://www.slantfinder.pro/ it has several 13th tunings on there.

A game changer was taking a lick or phrase I knew in the 6th tuning, and figuring it out on the 13th neck. This made it much easier to compare and contrast the tunings. Maybe this would be helpful to you, and you already have a doubleneck guitar to do this on.

Take a look at this if you are curious as to how many steel tunings developed - explained by the great Alan Akaka: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2G8qAmotF_c

[Oliver Althoen]

Thank you Landon Jarrel!

[Tim Whitlock]

Deleted

[Tony Oresteen]

OLiver,

Congrats of your D8. There is no standard set up. It will depend on what YOU play and like.

A6 & E13 is quite common. I have two necks setup as A6 & C6.

Go through you song list & set lists and that should tell you what tunings make sense for you.

[D Schubert]

Many choices, I use C13 (high voicing) and E13 (lower voicing), low to high...

Bb C E G A C E G

E G# D F# G# B C# E