Tuning down for the first time, recommend me a gauge and some strings..

[chadsxe]

I have been playing in drop D standard forever (D A D G B E) and have been using 10 - 46 gauge on a 24.75 scale neck. I now have two of the same guitars and want to not only set one up for a (C G C F A D) tuning but I also want you advice on gaugeing for my standard drop D. So...

Style - Ha METAL. If I had to pick something in the gener it would be in the style of Lamb of God and As I Lay Dying.

Guitar 1 (D A D G B E) 24.75 - What gauging would you recommend? What brand would you recommend?

Guitar 2 (C G C F A D) 24.75 - What gauging would you recommend? What brand would you recommend?

Regards

Chad

 

[AudioPhile777]

DADGBE - 10-46 = fine...

CGCFAD - 11-49... or 12-52...

either way, i use d'addario... never failed me yet and I play the guitar like a drum... no string breakage, ever.

 

[Metaltastic]

+1 for D'addario for sure, though on my ESP EC-400 (also with the shorter 24.75" scale length) I use 11's for E-standard and 12's for D-standard (it's my rhythm guitar so I like real thick strings, whereas my RG is my shredder axe with a longer scale so I use 10's and 11's, respectively). Since you want E-standard and D-standard with just the bottom string dropped, I'd recommend D'addario standard 11's and 12's.

 

[FretsAflame]

The string gauges they mentioned will work well but I'd highly recommend DR strings. Although D'addario and Ernie Ball have always worked well for me I'm really enjoying the feel and longevity of DR's atm.

 

[::XeS::]

DADGBE - 10-52
CGCFAD - I found a drop set from Skull Strings... 11-58. Made for drop C and I think it should be good.

 

[jesus69lol]

I thought D standard was DGCFAD and DADGBE was drop d? Well regardless, I play in DGCFAD and I used DR 11's which seem almost a bit heavy for the tuning but I love those thick strings.

 

[colonel kurtz]

i like to down-tune with regular-gauge strings

fucking tony iommi style, bitches!

 

[Metaltastic]

i like to down-tune with regular-gauge strings

fucking tony iommi style, bitches!

...more like Fieldy-style

 

[JeffTD]

For that scale I'd go 12-56, but I use custom guages.

I have everything set up so that no matter what scale or tuning I'm in, the tension is as close as possible to a 10-46 set in E, on a 25.5 guitar.

 

[carvedones]

Dr 10-56...great strings

 

[colonel kurtz]

...more like Fieldy-style

roll your eyes all you want to fucker, but one of the main components in iommi's evil, sludge tone on the old sabbath shit was down-tuning his guitar with standard gauge strings. even if he only did it because his fingertips got cut off, it still sounded fucking sick.

 

[Glenn Fricker]

Actually, I believe they were banjo strings. They were the only thing that didn't hurt.

 

[JeffTD]

roll your eyes all you want to fucker

Calm down a bit, d00d.

 

[colonel kurtz]

I'M CALMER THAN YOU ARE

 

[JBroll]

Back to the topic at hand, you're less likely to have tuning problems with bigger strings. It's also important to note that the E in any standard or equally-dropped tuning (down a whole, down a third, whatever - not a dropped or open tuning) is already a few pounds of tension under the A so it'll feel and sound noticeably different. Since dropping the low string reduces that even more, I would just skip over the pre-packaged strings and buy a bunch of singles online. If you're using D'Addario, they have a tension guide online so you can just match tensions up with that provided you know how to punch numbers into a calculator. I can't say what I'd be using, because my set in C# standard is 14-70 and I doubt you'll want to jump right to that tension, but I can recommend something like 12-15-18-28-40-54 if you want to be close to 'normal' but not have the low string bouncing all over the place.

I'M CALMER THAN YOU ARE

I honestly can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but cut the nonsense and get back to the topic or we'll break into your house and spray naughty things on all of your clothing in UV marking ink, so you'll think everything is perfectly normal until that one day when some asshole has a black light and all of a sudden little Johnny's mommy has to explain what exactly 'Cuntfluffer' is supposed to mean. You don't want that, do you?

Jeff

 

[colonel kurtz]

well....$5 says you've never seen the big lebowski

 

[Metaltastic]

Ahahhaahaha...I think this says it better than I ever could...vagina face

http://static.flickr.com/75/195983063_e380efd610.jpg

 

[JBroll]

I have, but I couldn't tell if you were serious or not - as I stated.

That'll be $5.

Jeff

 

[colonel kurtz]

you take paypal?

 

[chadsxe]

Back to the topic at hand, you're less likely to have tuning problems with bigger strings. It's also important to note that the E in any standard or equally-dropped tuning (down a whole, down a third, whatever - not a dropped or open tuning) is already a few pounds of tension under the A so it'll feel and sound noticeably different. Since dropping the low string reduces that even more, I would just skip over the pre-packaged strings and buy a bunch of singles online. If you're using D'Addario, they have a tension guide online so you can just match tensions up with that provided you know how to punch numbers into a calculator. I can't say what I'd be using, because my set in C# standard is 14-70 and I doubt you'll want to jump right to that tension, but I can recommend something like 12-15-18-28-40-54 if you want to be close to 'normal' but not have the low string bouncing all over the place.
Jeff

Hmmm...I never really thought of getting a set of strings based on tention. Makes a lot sense to me though. I will look into it.

Regards

Chad