Tuning a 34" 6 string to EADGBE

[cfsporn]

I have recently become fascinated with baritone guitars, but after trying one, I found that I was not satisfied with the tension on the low E. I figured this could be fixed by tuning a 34" 6er to EADGBE. However, I have a couple questions before I try this out.

1) Will my neck snap under the tension? I am planning on using my Status Stealth 6 for this experiment as its carbon fiber neck/body design should be a lot more resistant to the increased tension, but I am still worried. Should I be? It has a truss rod if that is any help.

2) What gauge strings should I use? Normally, I use 40-100s on my 4 string basses, so conventional wisdom says that a custom set consisting of .100, .080, .060, .040, .035, and .020 would be the obvious choice, but I have also thought about using the top 6 strings from a 7 string set as well.

 

[cfsporn]

Anybody? Maybe I should post tithe strings section.

 

[Geroi Asfalta]

I've actually been thinking the same thing (except I havent bought a 6 string yet). My estimated guages were 105, 85, 65, 45, 30, 20. If your neck is already a 6 string, it shouldn't have any problems adjusting to new strings. If you try to bring a set of 130-35 up to E-e, you might have some issues there...

 

[Silens]

Have you considered Piccolo strings?

 

[cfsporn]

Have you considered Piccolo strings?

Not until now!

 

[bassbenj]

I have recently become fascinated with baritone guitars, but after trying one, I found that I was not satisfied with the tension on the low E. I figured this could be fixed by tuning a 34" 6er to EADGBE. However, I have a couple questions before I try this out.

1) Will my neck snap under the tension? I am planning on using my Status Stealth 6 for this experiment as its carbon fiber neck/body design should be a lot more resistant to the increased tension, but I am still worried. Should I be? It has a truss rod if that is any help.

2) What gauge strings should I use? Normally, I use 40-100s on my 4 string basses, so conventional wisdom says that a custom set consisting of .100, .080, .060, .040, .035, and .020 would be the obvious choice, but I have also thought about using the top 6 strings from a 7 string set as well.

I don't think there will be any neck tension damage problems (though truss rod may need adjustment). Normal bass strings should work decently on low strings, but upper strings may need some experimentation. I had to do that when I tuned my Carvin AC50 EADGC. The "conventional wisdom" size top string just wasn't right. I had to play with diameters until I got it tweaked in.

 

[MarkA]

Circle K strings would be great for this. Tell them what your bass is currently strung with and what you're trying to do and they'll steer you down the right path. Skip has helped me out lots with string questions, and they specialize in just about any gauge/tuning you can think of. Big thread for them in the strings forum.