Replies to This Discussion

Permalink Reply by Dan Sleep on May 23, 2013 at 3:22pm

3-4-5 will work.

Tune the 5 to G

Tune the 4 to D

Tune the 3 to g

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Permalink Reply by Clock The Wolf on May 23, 2013 at 3:25pm

What are the string gauges? Usually somewhere @ the mid to low .40's .30's .20's should work, at least so long as your scale isn't unusually long or short...

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Permalink Reply by Diane in Chicago on May 23, 2013 at 4:18pm

If you know the scale length of your instrument and you know what note you are looking to get, you can use this:

http://www.strothers.com/string_choice.htm

Enter the length, the note of choice and click "calculate".  It will tell you what size you need for that note.  Repeat for all strings.

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Permalink Reply by Slowpaw Steve T on May 23, 2013 at 8:58pm

i tune GDG for 3 strings and GDGb for 4 strings, string gauges i found work the best are 32, 24 and 16 for 3 string and 32, 24, 16 and 13 for 4 string, Ernie Ball highly recommended! (-:

 

http://www.cigarboxnation.com/group/four-string-cigar-box-guitars

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Permalink Reply by Ron "Oily" Sprague on May 24, 2013 at 1:13am

I do the same tunings, except sometimes use A-D-F# as well as G-D-g for a 3-banger. I also have one 4-banger tuned Bb-F-Bb-D. I use the 5-4-3 or 5-4-3-2 from a medium phosphor bronze set, cuz I think they growl better.

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Permalink Reply by Travis Gaines on May 27, 2013 at 1:14pm

Thanks for the info.  I was using the bottom four and that was my problem.  I will  try 3, 4 and 5 and see how it sounds.

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Permalink Reply by Clarky on May 27, 2013 at 11:08pm

Think of it in terms of logic, you want to pick the strings that are closest to the tuning you want to use so for G-D-G you want to pick the A, D and G strings (5th, 4th and 3rd from a pack).  Then you only have to drop the A string down to G and the other two are tuned as expected.  Any other strings will mean either too much tightening or strings that are far too loose.

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