drop tuning guitars

[ggmmss]

i have been checking out some of the tunings some of my favorite bands use so i can go after some of their sounds when i record. most of them are tuning down 2 steps. my question is i have a gibson les paul is their any danger of warping the neck or other problems by tuning this low. i thought about tuning down for recording and tuning back to standard after i was done but seems like this would wear the strings out quickly. any suggestions or tips will be aprreciated.

[IntelDoc]

Of all guitars, a Les Paul should be the ONE to drop tune. More than likely the bands are either tracking or playing with a Paul. Floating bridges are much harder to get into DROP tuning. All my guitars are floyd rose bridges and have a hell of a time dropping the tuning because each time you drop the thig, the floating bridge lowers or raises cause a intonation problem. The FIXED bridge guitars have no issues really. I do recommend using heavier gauge strings when you do though. At least 11's. If you can go 12's that is even better. The lower the note and THINNER the string the thinner it will sound. Thick HEAVY gauge strings will get you more tone overall and with a drop tuning NOT affect the meck. Hell man, te PUAL is about the thickest neck out there. NO WORRIES!

Doc

[Greg M]

My son's band plays all of their music (original) with tuning dropped 2 steps. He has a Strat with a Warmoth neck (awesome neck). I put 11's on his guitar (he was originally set up with 10's) and use 5 springs in the bridge and have it adjusted so the bridge is tight against the guitar body. When I set it up for him I needed to adjust the truss rod even with the 11's for proper action (had to adjust to provide some relief). The Les Paul should accomodate the drop tuning, but you still might have to adjust the truss rod for proper action depending on what string gauge you normally use and your original string height. Two steps is a lot, but common.

Greg

[erthquake]

Also make sure you re-adjust the intonation every time you change the tuning.

[spelbring]

shouldn't be a problem with a les paul, tele, strat, or prs as long as you take some care to set them up for the specific tuning. heavier strings and a good tech and your guitars will be happy. you may also want to look into a baritone guitar that'll give you a couple extra frets and handle b-to-b tunings specifically. does wonders for c and drop b stuff.

-s

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