Do 7 strings have a higher string tension than a six? I mean if I tune a 7 to B standard and I tune a 6 to B with a 52, will the six be looser, and if so how much of an increase in guage would compensate for this? 54, 56 more? Thanks
6 and 7 string guage question
- Thread starter Rupturemetal
- Start date
Well...generally speaking you can make a 6-string's string tension just as tight, but it requires a good amount of adjusting whereas basically a 7-string guitar will have a good tension to begin with. HedPE and Soulfly (for example) use some pretty low tunings on a 6-string...and they sound pretty tight to me 
~006
~006
Well...generally speaking you can make a 6-string's string tension just as tight, but it requires a good amount of adjusting whereas basically a 7-string guitar will have a good tension to begin with. HedPE and Soulfly (for example) use some pretty low tunings on a 6-string...and they sound pretty tight to me
~006
Dude - I cannot believe you picked those two bands as examples
Might as well bust out Limp Bizkit and Korn for examples of 7-string tunings! But yes, as long as the neck scale length is the same, I doubt it would matter too much whether there were 6 or 7 strings as long as the string thickness was the same.Dude - I cannot believe you picked those two bands as examples
Yep, the amount of strings has nothing to do with string tension. If the guitars have the same scale, then they both have the same tension with identical strings.
I know right! I just picked two random bands that I remember using 6 strings with low tunings. I remember back in the day, before I got into the music I like now, that was the heaviest stuff I heard (Soulfly) at the time. Now, by today's standards Soulfly really is a bad example lol.
~006
~006
Loren Littlejohn
Lover of all boobage.
Benny H
Degenerate
What matters is scale.. how long the guitar is. Most 7s are standard scale sizes so the answer is generally no, there's no difference.. just an extra high string.
Matter of fact, you can actually get 7s that will be worse for low tuning than other 6 strings. By that I mean a 24.75 seven Vs a 25.5 six string.
Well...generally speaking you can make a 6-string's string tension just as tight, but it requires a good amount of adjusting whereas basically a 7-string guitar will have a good tension to begin with. HedPE and Soulfly (for example) use some pretty low tunings on a 6-string...and they sound pretty tight to me
~006
Your right, I tune to drop A with a 6 string and cant use anthing but 56's. If i use a lighter guage the strings will be floppy twats
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
Benny H
Degenerate
For the same tuning and gauge, more strings will mean more tension on the neck as a whole, but not more tension on each string.
.052 also seems pretty light for a low B; when I was playing an SG tuned to B (short scale, I know) I think I was using .058-.060's usually. Just pick up any 7-string set, jot down the sizes of the six lowest strings, and buy those sizes individually.
Or if you're made of money, just buy a 7-string set and toss the high string.
.052 also seems pretty light for a low B; when I was playing an SG tuned to B (short scale, I know) I think I was using .058-.060's usually. Just pick up any 7-string set, jot down the sizes of the six lowest strings, and buy those sizes individually.
Or if you're made of money, just buy a 7-string set and toss the high string.
Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
I am saying if you add another string, it's going to affect the tension of the guitar. Unless you get a piece of neck wood that somehow perfectly offsets that extra string, then you're going to have a change.
Someone hail Jbroll to clarify all this.
Okay... let's talk about the simplest case we can - a fixed bridge. The tension on a string is proportional to the string's 'unit weight' (which depends on its material and radius, as far as we're concerned') multiplied by the square of the scale length and the frequency it's tuned to. Note the absence of the phrases 'how many other strings there are' in that proportionality. A six-string with 13-56 in B will have the same string tensions as a 7-string in standard with the same 13-56 for six of the strings; an additional string on the top or bottom adds more tension to the guitar (and thus to the floating trem, if one is on the guitar) but IT DOES NOT CHANGE THE OTHER STRING TENSION because that is dependent on the string weight, the frequency, and the scale length. Now, common misconceptions arise because a floating trem will have more overall tension on its springs because the sum of all the string tensions is acting on the trem, but that only makes the trem (and as a result, bends, but to a lesser degree) tighter and this is of course irrelevant with fixed bridges. Also, seven-strings commonly have longer scale lengths to keep the low B from sounding like fucking a loose asshole. But, again... it doesn't matter how many strings are on your guitar, tension is related to mass, scale length, and frequency... and for all practical intents and purposes, nothing else.
Jeff
Jeff
Benny H
Degenerate
Yeah I was just gonna say - To my mind the effect of the tension on the guitar itself is compensated for, and as long as the length of the string is the same, the tension of the actual string will be the same.
Ericlingus
Prettiest Hair Around
- Oct 31, 2006
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hey jb roll. WOuld strings would you recommend I try on my 25.5" schecter c1 guitar in B standard tuning? I'd like them all to have the same tension. I'd also not want a 70 gauge in the low b. More like a 64. Also how much of a differnce tonewise would a 64 make compared to a 56. I'm afraid if I go too thick, my tone will not be as cutting. Thanks.
I'll get to that shortly, have to run to class right now but I'll either PM you the details or just edit this post.
Jeff
Jeff
Ericlingus
Prettiest Hair Around
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Genius Gone Insane
http://www.¯\(°_o)/¯.com
It makes sense to me that if you add a 7th string, then the force between the wood and the pull of the strings changes. There are more strings, which bends the neck differently. Of course, there's more wood, which offsets about the same amount of the pull of the strings. And then you have a less taught truss rod to complicate matters further.
By the way, I'm not trying to make a desperate attempt at saving my last post, I'm just trying to grasp this better. It just doesn't seem right to me that a string on a 6 string will have the exact same tension as on a 7 string. Close, yes. Negligible? Maybe.
I'm not trying to question anyone's knowledge but let me give a hypothetical example, because it will help illustrate whether I'm right or wrong here:
Say you have a rubber guitar. With six strings, the firmness of the rubber (did I just say that?!), looks normal and plays normal. Now add a 7th string and the guitar bends like a Robin Hood bow, probably like one you could find in Gavin's room. So to straighten it, you use a super-truss rod....well, you know....actually now that I think about it, I guess you're right...the truss rod activity would offset the extra string...hmmmm. But wouldn't that affect the scale of the guitar? Minutely??? Hmm.
There's a big difference between a rubber guitar/Robin Hood bow/flaccid horse cock/whatever and a guitar. Measure how much the scale length changes on your six between having everything up to normal tuning and then removing the low string. Should be... negligible. There should be VERY LITTLE change on the guitar itself, or tuning everything down a half-step would throw existence out of whack.
For the string gauges I promised...
B - 64 (as stated)
E - 48 or 49 (roughly the same tension)
A - 34 or 36 (again, roughly the same tension)
D - 26W (to match the B, E, A tension with a wound string) or 20P (to get near a 'normal'-feeling - for plain strings - tension with a plain string)
F# - 16P
B - 13P
Note that the D, F# and B plain strings would be more back-of-the-envelope because their tensions get tricky around there... if you would rather just go for the 'typical' plain string gauges (11-15-18, 12-15-19, or 13-17-22/13-17-26W) it would be perfectly understandable. Those are already a mess, and tension with those is more about personal feel... people are accustomed to a lighter B string than would be expected for bending ease, and all that sort of thing. So if I were you I'd go for about 13-16-20-34-48-64 to target that sort of tension... if you're after a specific plain string tension (favorite gauge and tuning for a high string is all I need) then I can work that out too. Have fun.
Jeff
I only brought it up because I heard Dino say he moved to 7's to get better tension for the lower tunings but I'm sure his 7's are of longer scale.Thanks for the answers
