Drop Tunings and Intonation

[Solarmist]

Am I correct to assume that when you drop tune a bass from a standard E A D G to C G C F - you have to reset the intonation on all four strings? The length from nut to saddle will be slightly longer on all four - right?

[Oreomeister365]

Without getting too complex:

yup

[worker201]

What happens if you don't make any adjustments? In the punk band I used to be in, we tuned down 1.5 steps just for kicks, and never made any adjustments. Had to retune every few hours, but that was the only problem we ever noticed.

[lundborg]

Originally Posted by worker201

What happens if you don't make any adjustments? In the punk band I used to be in, we tuned down 1.5 steps just for kicks, and never made any adjustments. Had to retune every few hours, but that was the only problem we ever noticed.

LOL

The higher up on the neck you play, the more you'll be out of
tune (assuming you tune the guitars on open strings).

[knuckle_head]

It's more a gauge thing than a tuning thing - my bet is there will be minimum difference in the proper intonation point. Pitch dive is another matter.

[Turnaround]

Originally Posted by Solarmist

Am I correct to assume that when you drop tune a bass from a standard E A D G to C G C F - you have to reset the intonation on all four strings? The length from nut to saddle will be slightly longer on all four - right? In the punk band I used to be in, we tuned down 1.5 steps just for kicks, and never made any adjustments. Had to retune every few hours, but that was the only problem we ever noticed

You are not likely to notice much of a difference in intonation unless you are doing multiple stops (2 or 3 note chords). Then you may find that the double-stop or triad sounds slightly out of tune - you will hear it in beats caused by the phasing of the slightly out-of tune notes. I doubt very much that this will be even remotely significant in punk music.