Leave Resonator Tuned Or Not

[joe101]

On a round neck resonator with GBDGBD tuned down 2 steps. Is it better to leave the guitar tuned or loosen the strings between practice sessions? Which is less strain on the guitar and strings, the constant strain of being in tune or the frequent tightening and loosening of the strings and neck? I have an inexpensive resonator and I use Martin Bluegrass Resonator strings 016 018 026 036 046 056 and i am learning lap style. I would like to keep my guitar neck from bending or seperating.

[54merk]

You are tuned to open G, but two steps, i.e. two full steps, down, so you are in fact tuned to open D#. This cannot be correct, so I think you're confused.

 

If you are tuned to open G you already have less stress on the guitar since this is a "slack" tuning. Standard tuning would be EADGBE, so DGDGBD tuning already has each string except for the 4th lowered a full step. Is that what you mean????

 

Keep it in open G. It will cause no harm whatsoever. You can also use open D, DADF#AD, also a slack tuning. Your cone will thank you because it will be under constant tension. It will also stay in tune better. It's best to keep these things under tension.

 

Those reso strings should sound good and should certainly will not hurt your guitar, however if you are worried you can go to something a bit lighter like these D'Addario Phos Bronze Mediums.

 

EJ17 - Medium

 

PL013 E 0.013

 

PL017 B 0.017

 

PB026 G 0.026

 

PB035 D 0.035

 

PB045 A 0.045

 

PB056 E 0.056

[joe101]

I guess I confused you, What I was trying to say is I am tuning to a dobro lap style open G except 1 note down which I thought was 2 steps. On the GDBGDB tuning for open G, for less strain I am tuning the bottom string 1 note down to C and matching 2nd string to 1st at 3rd fret, 3rd to 2nd at 4th, 4th to3rd at 5th, 5th to 4th at3rd, 6th to 5th at 4th fret. I know this is not scale, I am using this for practice only and less strain on the neck. I know for true pitch I would have to move 1 note higher to D on the bottom string. I was just simply ( I thought) asking if it was better to leave the full tuning strain on all the time or retune each time I practice.

[54merk]

Hi Joe,

Now I think I understand. You are just tuning down from open G when not playing. I assume you are using a fret extender to raise the strings so they are at lap steel height. It's not essential but does make playing easier since you are not playing bottleneck style (hold it like a normal guitar and use a combination of slide and conventional fretting).

 

Open G is just fine for any guitar, as I said before, because it has LESS tension than standard tuning. Just leave it in open G. As I said before it's better to keep a resonator at the same tension it will be played, otherwise the cone will need to keep adapting to tension changes. No harm will be done as long as you don't try to tune to open E or A, unless you use much lighter strings.

 

BTW, this tuning is also called Spanish Tuning.

 

This link describes it and others. Spanish and Vestapol are the most common tunings used for bottleneck playing.

 

http://www.acousticguitar.com/issues/ag75/CoverStorySB.html

 

Good luck!

[Freeman Keller]

Hi Joe.

 

A "dobro G" string set is usually 0.016 to 0.056 (tuned D, B, G, D, B, G) and will exert about 210 pounds of tension on the top of a guitar (normal lights are around 150, mediums about 175 depending on gauge). The spider bridge is designed to spread the string force out so it is not all pressing on the center of the cone - the legs of the spide distributes force to the top of the sound well.

 

On a biscuit bridge the cone supports all the force of the strings - it is possible to crush the cone if too heavy a string is used or if they are tuned too high (a friend borrowed my biscuit reso and tuned it up to open A and crushed the cone).

 

I string both my resonators with mediums (0.013 to 0.056) and tune to "normal" open G or D, or standard two half steps down, for bottleneck playing (I play blues style, not lap style dobro). My spider is over 70 years old and has held up fine, the biscuit is 25 years old. I can't see where it will hurt yours, but why don't you ask over here - these guys are the reso experts

 

AGF - resonators

[joe101]

Thanks guys, I made a typo as you noticed. I meant to say GBDGBD tuning from 6th to 1st strings. Yes I am using a flat nut extender and I am wondering, do I need a flat saddle also on this spider or is the small radius original OK? I am going to leave the guitar tuned and hope for the best.

[Freeman Keller]

Again, I'm a bottleneck player - not lap style, but I like a very slight radius in my saddles. That helps me hits individual strings with the end of the slide (your steel bar), and still barre all the strings. Too much radius and the middle strings tend to fret out, but with your high action that shouldn't be a problem. My spider has a 20 inch radius fretboard while the biscuit is 16 - it is much easier to play clean slide on the flatter board (the saddles are the same radius as the fretboards)

 

You could buy a new maple saddle blank from StewMac but you will need to get a set of nut files to cut the slots. Plus it is a hassle to disassemble a reso to change saddles (if you are going to do that on an inexepensive resonator consider changing the cone too). Best to find a true dobroist and ask him/her how they set their gits up.

[joe101]

Thanks again guys. For the time being I am going to leave everything as is. Later I will get a Quqrterman cone and I will be back for more advice. Good gitpicking to everyone. James