Tuning a guitar in 5ths?

[Morgan138]

I have a fretless Ibanez Iceman that I'm thinking of tuning in 5ths. This is partly because I've been playing a lot of fiddle and mandolin lately and have been really liking that tuning for melody playing, and party because playing chords on a fretless is kind of a lost cause anyway - in 5ths I'd at least be able to hit power chords with no trouble.

Has anyone here tried this? Because I've got a few questions:
1. does anyone make flatwound sets in the right sizes for this tuning?
2. if not, is there anywhere I can get mix-and-match flatwound string sets?
3. how do you deal with the high string? Seems like it would have to be impossibly thin unless I'm tuning super low.
4. even if I start at low C, my highest string ends up 3.5 steps above normal, ouch.
5. is this a terrible idea?

 

[Ohmission]

Hey I thought I'd reply with a link to something you might be interested in.

http://www.tkinstruments.com/index.htm

The guy who builds these is nuts about 5th guitars and basses. Plus they are some of the most gorgeous looking guitars I've seen. Such nice wood.

Anyway about your question. You will probably need to make yourself a custom set of bass strings. I believe daddario puts out individual bass strings (probably flatwounds too) that are pretty widely available. To go higher than a four string, simply use the top string off of a 6 string bass set

my guess is it will come out something like

low C =.125
g=.90
d=.60
a=.30

You may find that all fifths is cool, or it may be a bust. Only you will be able to decide. I don't think it will mess up your instrument by trying (unless your nut is really weak and the gauges dont sit in the slots, or it is a massive change in tension on the neck). I have a feeling though that it may be more trouble than its worth though, but to each his own. Hope this helps. Good luck.

Cheers,
George.

 

[JBroll]

If you balance the strings properly you won't have tension problems. The nut, however, will almost definitely be an issue, and you may need to strip away some of the outer wrap to fit strings through the tuners. The biggest problem is that fifths on a six-string leads to a fucking huge range and you'll need both absurdly thick and painfully thin strings if you want anything remotely resembling uniform tension.

Start with something smaller - pick up the GHS set formerly known as the Zakk Wylde heavy-gauge (11-70, I believe) and tune that to something like AEBEAD. (Think the 'usual' DGCFAD, with the F and C tuned down a half step, the G down a minor third, and the A tuned down a fourth.) The bottom two pairs of strings are a fifth apart, and the rest are a fourth - you can drop the bottom three strings down another step to GDAEAD for three fifths and two fourths, but the G that low is hard to manage. That'll help you figure out if you can really use fifths well and won't require as much effort - the biggest difference I've noticed after using those tunings for a while is that stretched-out chord voicings, which sound better to me through any level of distortion that doesn't ruin everything, are much more manageable.

Jeff

 

[Morgan138]

Yeah, I was figuring a new nut might be in order but I'd actually forgotten about the tuners. When I used to play in B (different guitars) I had to have the Sperzel factory make me a couple of bored-out low B tuning pegs, so I could see that being an issue here. Thanks guys!

 

[if6was9]

Got an Epi LP here tuned to FCGDAE. My brother calculated the string tensions up on a calculator so the tensions are all great. Very playable. It sounds pretty cool for Devin Townshend type stuff and that low F string is great for heavy stuff. He'd to strip the outer winding off the lowest string(.90 I think) for it to fit in the tuner.

I recommend doing it, if you've got a few spare guitars lying around the house then give it a shot

 

[Morgan138]

Yeah, that sounds kind of tempting but I'm worried the low string would be mush since this guitar is fretless. For now I think I'm going to try DAebf# with no high string since that won't require any serious shenanigans. If I like that, I might try adding high octave strings to the two low courses, since they're kind of muddy now.

 

[JBroll]

I'd drop that down a half step to CGDAE; if you can manage an 8 or 9 on the top string, tune it to G to get Fripp's 'New Standard Tuning'.

Jeff

 

[Metaltastic]

Speaking of Devin Townsend, why not try his tuning? C-G-C-G-C-E

 

[Nuno Filipe]

^ That´s open C, sounds very cool but it´s not easy to do solos.