Newbie: How to do a dramatic tuning change after receiving the lap steel

[Frank Henard]

Hello, I'm new to the group and new to lap steel. I recently ordered an Asher Electro Hawaiian Jr. with Certano benders. It's in shipping now.

My motivation to get one was very inspired by Luke Cyrus Goetze's Harvest Moon video . After I ordered the lap steel, I started thinking about tuning. I learned some about the different tunings and found out that Luke Cyrus' tuning is Gmaj9 (G B D F# A D). I had a hard time deciding whether to ask Asher for that tuning or whether it should be Open D because I've seen a number of instruction videos on youtube for Open D. Gmaj9 wasn't one of the options listed as tunings that could be requested, so I just said Open D.

Then I thought about it some more and decided that likely, as soon as the lap steel arrives, I'm going to want to spend time transcribing and working on how Luke Cyrus plays Harvest Moon. I changed my mind about the initial tuning and setup, and sent an email yesterday morning asking if they could set it up for Gmaj9, or Open G (dobro) because that's looks to be the closest to Gmaj9. By the time they saw the email, they had already packaged up the lap steel with Open D tuning.

So my question is this. What will it take to go from Open D to Gmaj9? I've intonated guitars before, but those are fretted which are likely easier to intonate guitars than lap steels. Will I need to change the strings to different sizes? Any tips or instructions on which strings to get, or how to intonate?

Any other advice or opinions about any of this is welcome! Thanks

[Jeff Highland]

It is easier than you are thinking.
Asher lap steel strings https://www.amazon.com.au/Asher-Electro ... B016Z41U5I are for open D or Dobro G.
The tuning you want to use is just open D on the 4 highest strings and Open G on strings 5 and 6
So you just need to tune the 5th up from A to B and the 6th from D to G
No intonation changes required

[Jiri Michalek]

I think the easier way to understand this tuning is to see strings 1-4 as D major (your 1st chord) and strings 4-6 as G major (your 4th chord)

[Tony Oresteen]

The tuning is known as D/G. With benders you have to very careful with string gauges as you do not want to be breaking a string when you bend. Getting over 40 lbs of pull puts you in breaking range. I assume that you are bending the 2nd string two half-steps and the 3rd string one half-step.

Here's what I would use on your 25.0" scales Asher"

D over G 25inch 500.jpg

If you prefer a wound 3rd you can use a 0.026" wound string. Normal pitch would pull 30.5 lbs, +1 would pull 34.2 lbs.

Good Luck!

[D Schubert]

Lap steel intonation isn't usually much of an issue. Once you decide on a tuning, then you can dial in on string gage.

Another way to visualize the LCG tuning is to think of Earl Scrugg's G banjo tuning, with the D-tuners in the dropped position. Then, when the palm/wrist benders are actuated, you're in open G tuning, the bluegrass default tuning for banjos and Dobros. Being brought up with bluegrass instruments, it's logical to me.

[Bill McCloskey]

as was mentioned: you don't want to be breaking strings with the bender which was a big problem with my duesenberg. Duesenberg broke strings really easy and it was a major pain in the butt to change them, impossible in a live situation. One of the reasons I sold it soon after buying it.

[Frank Henard]

My lap steel arrived a last week, but I haven't had much time to think about it till now. Thank you all for your helpful input!

Jeff Highland said this:

Asher lap steel strings <amazon US link> <amazon AUS link> are for open D or Dobro G.

That's really helpful to know what the strings are on my lap steel

Tony Oresteen, that spreadsheet and info is really helpful. I found one like it on sevenstring.org here. The values in the sevenstring.org sheet come out a little different though. Where did you get yours? Do you mind sharing it?

I ordered new strings from stringjoy based on your suggestions.

note: I put the sevenstring.org spreadsheet on google docs put in my values and can be viewed here if you like.

[Tony Oresteen]

Frank,

I used an online tension calculator for the values (Stringjoy) and entered them into Excel myself.

You need scale length, pitch, and string size/type to calculate pull. The number in the 2nd column is the Octave that the note is in (C4 = middle C).

[Frank Henard]

Tony Oresteen,

Also, when doing those calculations are you shooting for about 30 lbs of tension per string? I saw on another post people are looking for 25-30 lbs per string.

[Frank Henard]

Another way to visualize the LCG tuning is to think of Earl Scrugg's G banjo tuning, with the D-tuners in the dropped position. Then, when the palm/wrist benders are actuated, you're in open G tuning, the bluegrass default tuning for banjos and Dobros. Being brought up with bluegrass instruments, it's logical to me.

This is interesting. I've only played guitar with standard tuning. I didn't think about it becoming open G tuning with the benders both down. I will google LCG tuning because I've never heard of that.

Edit: hmm LCG tuning didn't turn up anything. Maybe you meant D/G tuning

[Glenn Wilde]

Yeah, looks to me you don't have much of a dramatic change from open D, just lighten up the two bass strings. Have you tried playing the song in open D? you can most likely do it, are you trying to learn by ear? Sorry,I haven't thoroughly read all the posts here.

[Frank Henard]

Yeah, looks to me you don't have much of a dramatic change from open D, just lighten up the two bass strings. Have you tried playing the song in open D? you can most likely do it, are you trying to learn by ear? Sorry,I haven't thoroughly read all the posts here.

Hi Glenn, I put the strings from Stringjoy on Tuesday, and am now in Gmaj9. That's not a bad idea to learn the song while in open D, but I'm going to need all the help I can get because I've never played lap steel before, so it will be nice to not only play by ear but also to watch and mimic where he's at on the fretboard.

[Glenn Wilde]

Yeah, looks to me you don't have much of a dramatic change from open D, just lighten up the two bass strings. Have you tried playing the song in open D? you can most likely do it, are you trying to learn by ear? Sorry,I haven't thoroughly read all the posts here.

cool, I just noticed that the first four strings of that tuning are the same as open D, so much of the licks will be the same. You will find in your steel guitar journey that many tunings have similar intervals, it gets easier to jump to different tunings with experience. Have fun man, it's a great way to spend your time.

Hi Glenn, I put the strings from Stringjoy on Tuesday, and am now in Gmaj9. That's not a bad idea to learn the song while in open D, but I'm going to need all the help I can get because I've never played lap steel before, so it will be nice to not only play by ear but also to watch and mimic where he's at on the fretboard.