Tips, Techniques, Examples about my favorite musical instrument, the Twelve-String Guitar.
If you play guitar check out Playing Technique, or Strings / Setup. There are also some interesting posts about guitars at, you guessed it, Guitars.
If you want to spread your musical talents around, you will find some good info at Recording.
Marketing - meh - I'm probably the world's best bad example. Although you could find funny stuff there.
I've made some music videos through the years, and you can find them and other interesting music at Music I Like, Music I Play.
If you play guitar check out Playing Technique, or Strings / Setup. There are also some interesting posts about guitars at, you guessed it, Guitars.
If you want to spread your musical talents around, you will find some good info at Recording.
Marketing - meh - I'm probably the world's best bad example. Although you could find funny stuff there.
I've made some music videos through the years, and you can find them and other interesting music at Music I Like, Music I Play.
Tuesday, March 3, 2009
Action - how low can you go?
I put the LKSM-12 down very, very low. Lower than most guidelines I've read. The 1st course is about .045 inches. The 6th course is about .055 inches.
It doesn't buzz - as long as I don't pound the strings.
Tension is also very low. Today I'm using heavy Elixirs; they are tuned down a fifth from concert pitch, thus they pull about 250 pounds. When I use Elixir mediums, I tune it down a minor third. This pulls about 210 pounds.
Then I took out the relief until the top strings start to "sizzle", which is how I describe the very slight buzzing against the frets. I think this is the treble equivalent of the "growl", which is the buzz of low strings on the frets. The relief is non-existent to almost negative. It's very easy to play.
The downsides are:
- some lack of sparkle due to the low tension
- difficult to get the room to respond well to frequencyies under 70 hertz
But I'll sacrifice some clarity to ease-of-playing; lately my hands are kind of sore.
1 comment:
Interesting. A couple of thoughts:
-Taylor sets up their 12-strings at 3/64" on the treble side and 5/64" on the bass. You are at about 3/64" and 4.5/64" so not too far off.
-Tuning the Elixir heavies where you do makes sense. That is a LOT of tension at 3 half steps down.
I've been tuning to DADGAD dropped down to B. I recently put a new nut on my old Taylor 555 and strung it up with my usual set and tried going another half step down. On this guitar, with the D all the way down to Bb, it has a beautiful piano-like tone.
Check out my vesion of "Jesu, Joy of Man's Desiring":
http://www.youtube.com
/watch?v=33Fav0BLrn0
I enjoy your insights.
-John
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