Members rw34 Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 Its an acoustic guitar but i figured id post it here as this board is faster and it shouldnt make much difference. Ill be carrying it on the plane, so it wont be in any weird pressure, but I will be on the plane for 14 hours if that makes a difference. So do I need to downtune, and if so by how much? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 No. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benricci Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 You'll be fine. In fact, guitars are often shipped from the manufacturer strung to pitch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ej Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 better safe than sorry, it isn't hard to slack all the strings. Just do it, if anything just to be on the safe side Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members benricci Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 better safe than sorry, it isn't hard to slack all the strings.Just do it, if anything just to be on the safe side Safe side of what? It's actually better to leave the strings at proper tension. From Taylor Guitars website: http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/reference/faqs_answers.html "Many players and repairpersons believe it's best to de-tune a guitar for long-distance flights, due to changes in air pressure and temperature in the baggage compartment. We don't recommend doing so, because if you de-tune a guitar for any length of time, you also have to loosen the truss rod. Otherwise, the neck may develop a back bow, and it could prove difficult to completely correct that. In other words, you actually could do long-term damage to the instrument by loosening the strings and not loosening the truss rod at the same time. On a Taylor guitar, it's best to simply leave it as is, even on relatively long flights. " Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Alecto Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 Safe side of what? It's actually better to leave the strings at proper tension.From Taylor Guitars website:http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/reference/faqs_answers.html"Many players and repairpersons believe it's best to de-tune a guitar for long-distance flights, due to changes in air pressure and temperature in the baggage compartment. We don't recommend doing so, because if you de-tune a guitar for any length of time, you also have to loosen the truss rod. Otherwise, the neck may develop a back bow, and it could prove difficult to completely correct that. In other words, you actually could do long-term damage to the instrument by loosening the strings and not loosening the truss rod at the same time. On a Taylor guitar, it's best to simply leave it as is, even on relatively long flights. " A MASSIVE +1 to this! You could seriously mess up your guitar if you downtune for a long flight and don't adjust the truss rod to compensate. Keep it in tune, just to be safe. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members nanobug Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 You need to downtune for METAL Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ej Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 A MASSIVE +1 to this! You could seriously mess up your guitar if you downtune for a long flight and don't adjust the truss rod to compensate. Keep it in tune, just to be safe. oh. Thanks for the info! I'd been sorely misinformed. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members crashclc Posted February 20, 2009 Members Share Posted February 20, 2009 Safe side of what? It's actually better to leave the strings at proper tension.From Taylor Guitars website:http://www.taylorguitars.com/guitars/reference/faqs_answers.html"Many players and repairpersons believe it's best to de-tune a guitar for long-distance flights, due to changes in air pressure and temperature in the baggage compartment. We don't recommend doing so, because if you de-tune a guitar for any length of time, you also have to loosen the truss rod. Otherwise, the neck may develop a back bow, and it could prove difficult to completely correct that. In other words, you actually could do long-term damage to the instrument by loosening the strings and not loosening the truss rod at the same time. On a Taylor guitar, it's best to simply leave it as is, even on relatively long flights. " Not sure I believe it. Airplane holds get cold - stick your hand in the case right when it comes off the carousel and you'll see what I mean. Everything shrinks. I always loosen the three thinnest strings (G, B, E) by about a turn and a half when I travel. One time I forgot to before I left and the thin E string was broken when I got it back from the airline. That may or may have not been a wear and tear coincidence, but I'm a believer in loosening the thinnest strings a little to prevent breakages and leaving full string tension on the others so the neck doesn't get too "bent out of shape". BTW> I have flown with guitars this way literally hundreds of times without any problems aside from losing a high E that one time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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