D'Addario

PreacherBob

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Oh man, I'm loving Open D Tom. I get bored in standard tuning anymore. I'm actually working on a song for my grandson in Open D.

West
West I thought I had a good idea of what open tunings were, but still had to just google it to make sure. Ive never thought about doing it, just straight forward tuning. I did a couple of country songs with a drop D years back, but I don’t think that counts. All you guys amaze me with skill sets. I’m nowhere near your levels🥺Maybe now I’ve retired, I can go a bit further. Most songs I do are in Gmaj, or I’ve transposed them to G, or at least the G shape. For the key of A, I throw that capo on second fret and play chords in G on the fifth fret. Guys use to call me the “G man”. My only other MO is to capo around and go to the key of Emaj chord shapes so I can used open barred chords. So that’s it, two ways; key of G and it’s chords, key of E and it’s chords, plus a capo when needed. Now that’s probably boring to most I’m sure. But I’ve always been employed as a front man or lead vocalist first, since late 70’s then as a rhythm guitarist second, always a plus as well. And at 59, my focus is trying to remember all the dang words! With only having to remember words and the chord progressions in only two keys, I might can get through a song without having to sing the first first twice, because I can’t remember the second! I did that in heavy metal bars and clubs in the 80’s, but I forgot words due to other forces outside of my control…...🤔🥃🍸🍹so thumbs up to all you guys👍
 

hearth_man

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Great to hear of above and beyond customer service! I've used only 80/20s on my acoustics and Chromes on my electrics for many years. Affordable and good quality strings.👍
 

Wellington

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Jim, just FYI, I'm pretty sure Guild has been using EXP-coated strings for a while. Not quite sure, though, what they used pre-New Hartford.
Correct, my D40T came with EXP PB .11's.

Daddario are great and dependable, I throw a set on now and then. I'm a huge fan of DR these days, but honestly I like most strings, there's a few I dislike, like aluminum bronze for instance.
 

Heath

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Open and alternate tunings literally saved guitar playing for me. I became so bored in standard and as a good friend of mine once said, and I’m paraphrasing, standard tuning is like painting on a blank canvas. Alternate tunings are like discovering color.
 

Westerly Wood

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Open and alternate tunings literally saved guitar playing for me. I became so bored in standard and as a good friend of mine once said, and I’m paraphrasing, standard tuning is like painting on a blank canvas. Alternate tunings are like discovering color.
Interesting, and glad you found a way to keep the joy of playing going.
I went the other direction. I was in alternate tunings for so long, now I have returned to standard tuning for the most part, with occasional drop of the E string to a D. I guess using your friend's analogy, I got so bored of color, I had to return to a black and white tv set to keep the joy going :)
 

twocorgis

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D'addario have been my go to strings for quite a while now (via Strings By Mail, another good company, IMO). I do splurge, though, by using Thomastik-Infeld flat wounds on my X175. Nice to hear from so many D'addario fans!
I'll support any company that pays and treats their employees well, all while providing excellent customer service. I love Costco for the same reasons, and it's proof that you can do it, and still make a lot of money.
 

West R Lee

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West I thought I had a good idea of what open tunings were, but still had to just google it to make sure. Ive never thought about doing it, just straight forward tuning. I did a couple of country songs with a drop D years back, but I don’t think that counts. All you guys amaze me with skill sets. I’m nowhere near your levels🥺Maybe now I’ve retired, I can go a bit further. Most songs I do are in Gmaj, or I’ve transposed them to G, or at least the G shape. For the key of A, I throw that capo on second fret and play chords in G on the fifth fret. Guys use to call me the “G man”. My only other MO is to capo around and go to the key of Emaj chord shapes so I can used open barred chords. So that’s it, two ways; key of G and it’s chords, key of E and it’s chords, plus a capo when needed. Now that’s probably boring to most I’m sure. But I’ve always been employed as a front man or lead vocalist first, since late 70’s then as a rhythm guitarist second, always a plus as well. And at 59, my focus is trying to remember all the dang words! With only having to remember words and the chord progressions in only two keys, I might can get through a song without having to sing the first first twice, because I can’t remember the second! I did that in heavy metal bars and clubs in the 80’s, but I forgot words due to other forces outside of my control…...🤔🥃🍸🍹so thumbs up to all you guys👍
Bob, just like you, other than the occasional Drop D, I'd never played with alternate tunings. There's an old Clint Black song that I like and about a year ago, started to learn it, and it is in Open D. Well the tuning to me ear is the most beautiful guitar tuning I've ever heard, so now I just keep one guitar in Open D. Right now, that's the D1A. But the really cool thing about Open D is that not only do you get a free chord (open strings), but a great deal of the chords are 2 finger chords, and they are really pretty simple to learn. From there you can do anything you like......strum, flatpick, fingerstyle.......anything. Try it Bob. An online guitar tuner will put you on Open D.


West
 
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davismanLV

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The state of my five currently:

Guild D65S - Standard Tuning
Breedlove (the blue one) - Drop D
Washburn EA20 - CGDFGC (Night Ride Home and many others)
Taylor GC8 - DAEF#AD (Cherokee Louise for one)
Guild DV72 - CGDGCD (Orion in the Sky and my version of Into the Mystic)

This is just the current state, (subject to availability, no warranty implied, tunings could change at a whim, void in the state of VA) :p
 

tommym

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Since we are talking about strings and alternate tunings.

The guitar tech/luthier that set up one of my guitars was less than pleased when I informed him that I typically tune to Drop D on the guitar that he had just set up for Standard Tuning. That's the day I got schooled on the impact of string selection/saddle height and profile/string action/fretboard relief/fret height and profile, etc vs. intonation.

Tommy
 

davismanLV

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Since we are talking about strings and alternate tunings.

The guitar tech/luthier that set up one of my guitars was less than pleased when I informed him that I typically tune to Drop D on the guitar that he had just set up for Standard Tuning. That's the day I got schooled on the impact of string selection/saddle height and profile/string action/fretboard relief/fret height and profile, etc vs. intonation.

Tommy
:ROFLMAO::LOL::ROFLMAO: Just to drop the low E down a whole step to D you need to have your guitar re-set up?? I think that's a bit obsessive, if you ask me. I change mine all the time. Rotate tunings through. The most I'll ever need is a slight truss rod tweak, but usually not even that!! If a guitar has been in a super low tuning long enough I'll notice some buzzing maybe so I just return it to standard tuning and tune the one in standard tuning down to the low one. It all works out fine and no one has been killed yet..... :rolleyes:
 

chazmo

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That's interesting, Tommy. Everyone and their brother plays with alternate tunings (especially drop D). Not sure what a luthier would object to there. On the other hand, it's nice to have a perfectionist working on your guitar(s). :)
 

Heath

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I tend to have my setups done in some form of D. That way if I go down to C it’s not far off, or up to standard it’s also not far off. Even B has been fine
 

Uke

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(subject to availability, no warranty implied, tunings could change at a whim, void in the state of VA)
I once got a lecture from a Virginian about using the phrase "State of Virginia." He, a huge Thomas Jefferson fan, relayed that Virginia was not a "State" but a "Commonwealth." This was more than 30 years ago -- I'll bet he has used tons of toilet paper getting everything 'just right' since then! Huge veer here, I realize.
 

West R Lee

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Since we are talking about strings and alternate tunings.

The guitar tech/luthier that set up one of my guitars was less than pleased when I informed him that I typically tune to Drop D on the guitar that he had just set up for Standard Tuning. That's the day I got schooled on the impact of string selection/saddle height and profile/string action/fretboard relief/fret height and profile, etc vs. intonation.

Tommy
I think I understand what your tech was saying though. I just set up one of my guitars and the first thing I did was to check relief. The relief on my guitar is supposed to be set up at .005" at the 7th fret as I recall, I had .009", so I adjusted the truss rod to get a slight bow out of the neck. When Collings sets up guitars like that, they set them up for medium gauge strings in standard tuning. As you can imagine, with so little clearance between the fret's and the strings, if you go to a light gauge string, or if you tune down, or several alternate tunings can cause buzz with that lack of strings tension as the vibrating strings can hit the frets. I'm guessing that's what your guy is referring to. I've never had a problem with either light gauge strings or with alternate tunings, but I can see how you could.

West
 

davismanLV

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I once got a lecture from a Virginian about using the phrase "State of Virginia." He, a huge Thomas Jefferson fan, relayed that Virginia was not a "State" but a "Commonwealth." This was more than 30 years ago -- I'll bet he has used tons of toilet paper getting everything 'just right' since then! Huge veer here, I realize.
I just threw that in because any offer I've ever seen has always been void in the state of Virginia..... oooops!! Commonwealth of Virgina.... my bad. :ROFLMAO::LOL::ROFLMAO:
 
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