Marlin HG-92

[Anthony Maurer]

First post. I'm a 66-year-old Marine, and I've never played an instrument at the antique store. I found a 1960 Marlin HG-92. It looks like it's never been played, but a screw it fell out and hit scratch the back. It was hand brushed, and you can see two finger prints on the back. I had her cleaned up a new strings, put on at Cliff's guitar shop. He also soldered a loose ground and gave her a real nice polish. I think I have all the gear I need now I just need to learn some skills. I appreciate any links, books or workshops that I could participate in. I need a project to learn over the winter.
thanks
Tony

[Tony Oresteen]

Congrats!! Before we can help we need some more info.

1. What is the scale of the instrument? Measure from the nut to the bridge.




2. What tuning is on it? I would assume C6.

3. Get a clip-on tuner. Here's a Snark but there are many other brands. Less than $20.






4. What type of music do you want to play?


Semper Fi!

[Anthony Maurer]

The nut to Bridge distance is 20 and five eights inches. I'm not sure of the tuning. ive ordered a tuner. Im a fan of bob wills, asleep at the wheel, but I wouldn't mind learning a little rock on it. But basically, I'll be happy to learn one or two songs and build from there. I also have an acoustic guitar. I'm going to be learning on at the same time. I need to learn how to read music.
thanks Tony

[Anthony Maurer]

the new string are tuned to e a d g b e. I've done a little bit of research and I'm not sure if this is correct for lap steel.

[Tony Oresteen]

the new string are tuned to e a d g b e. I've done a little bit of research and I'm not sure if this is correct for lap steel.

Anthony,

That is for Spanish guitar that is fretted. While you could use it, it's not the easiest tuning to work slide guitar.

Most 6 string Spanish guitar players that play slide guitar (ie Derek Trucks) use Open E that is (L2H) E B E G# B E.

You could try that tuning but for Western Swing an A6 or C6 tuning would be much better. Use a set of strings gauged for 21" scale length. See:

viewtopic.php?t=402436

6 string A6 and C6 are the same relative tuning (135613)* so instructions books for C6 can be used for A6 but the song will be transposed down 1.5 steps so C6 backing tracks will not work with A6 tuning. IMHO start with C6th. Many members here offer great resources for C6th.

* (135613) means:

1 = root note
3 = 3rd note
5 = 5th note
6 = 6th note

So for C6 it would be (L2H) C E G A C E .