# Drop F# on a six string baritone?



## distressed_romeo (Mar 25, 2008)

I've been missing my six string bari', tuned to C standard, recently, and while laying in bed battling insomnia last night, I was wondering how F#C#F#BD#G# or F#F#BEG#C# (like Variant's tuning on his transcale guitar) tuning would work on it.

Anyone tried this before?


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## Rick (Mar 25, 2008)

Holy crap, that's low.


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## Desecrated (Mar 25, 2008)

Dare I even ask how thin your strings are ?


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## TomAwesome (Mar 25, 2008)

I don't see why not as long as you get appropriate gauges.



Rick said:


> Holy crap, that's low.



'Round these parts, F# isn't that low


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## sakeido (Mar 25, 2008)

I tune my standard scale SLSMG to GGCFAD with a 56 low G. It sounds woofy though, Sikth style. But is cool for riffs that make nice use of pedal tones. Not very practical for anything fast with galloping triplets, but if I tune it up to Ab it tightens up just enough to play relatively tight. You sacrifice a lot of overtones this way - that gives it the woofy sound with a mid-scooped amp (my Mark IV with the mids fully cut) or a really growly aggressive sound (my Stiletto with mids boosted), but it also makes pinch harmonics on the low string sound boring, even though you can get crazy vibrato on them. But if you lock it in with a bass, it GROOVES. 

If you can keep your picking hand under control, it is 100% usable. Sounds cool. Really makes you think outside the box musically. I love the riffs I come up with in that tuning.. try it out. Its sweet.


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## distressed_romeo (Mar 25, 2008)

sakeido said:


> I tune my standard scale SLSMG to GGCFAD with a 56 low G. It sounds woofy though, Sikth style. But is cool for riffs that make nice use of pedal tones. Not very practical for anything fast with galloping triplets, but if I tune it up to Ab it tightens up just enough to play relatively tight. You sacrifice a lot of overtones this way - that gives it the woofy sound with a mid-scooped amp (my Mark IV with the mids fully cut) or a really growly aggressive sound (my Stiletto with mids boosted), but it also makes pinch harmonics on the low string sound boring, even though you can get crazy vibrato on them. But if you lock it in with a bass, it GROOVES.
> 
> If you can keep your picking hand under control, it is 100% usable. Sounds cool. Really makes you think outside the box musically. I love the riffs I come up with in that tuning.. try it out. Its sweet.



That's kinda what I'd figured. I wouldn't try a tuning like that for super-fast, technical riffery; it would be more for the trippy, wierd-out riffs.

I've just spent this evening djenting away in drop F# on my Hellraiser (F#C#F#C#F#A#D#) and it rocks... It would be pretty cool to have a guitar specially set up for it.

Desecrated: I generally string pretty light. If I was to actually set up my bari' for this I'd probably go for a 70 as the bottom string.


I'll mull it over for a while and decide whether or not I'd miss having a dedicated guitar in C tuning...


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## Rick (Mar 25, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> 'Round these parts, F# isn't that low



I meant on a 6, that's low.


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## distressed_romeo (Mar 25, 2008)

To put it in perspective, there's apparently a death metal band that tunes to F standard on regular sixes, although I can't remember the name...


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## TomAwesome (Mar 25, 2008)

Rick said:


> I meant on a 6, that's low.



My 6 is currently tuned to Bb below that


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## shadowgenesis (Mar 25, 2008)

erm. hate to point it out, but that's basically what Wes Borland did, cept he did away w/ the 2 high strings when he got his customs. I've messed around w/ that before, but not with a proper setup or string set. Even so, i did manage to have a little fun with it and it'd be cool to fuck around with if you've got a guitar free. I'd probably fuck around with the other strings to get some more droney options in there, but i'd def like to hear what you come up w/ if you try it



TomAwesome said:


> My 6 is currently tuned to Bb below that


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## bostjan (Mar 25, 2008)

If you can tune to low F# on a 27" eight string, why not on a 27" six string, given the guitar is adjustable enough? 

I've tuned my seven down to D before, and found it to be a bit sludgey, myself, but TDW at least used to tune to low F on a standard scale instrument.


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## distressed_romeo (Mar 25, 2008)

shadowgenesis said:


> erm. hate to point it out, but that's basically what Wes Borland did, cept he did away w/ the 2 high strings when he got his customs. I've messed around w/ that before, but not with a proper setup or string set. Even so, i did manage to have a little fun with it and it'd be cool to fuck around with if you've got a guitar free. I'd probably fuck around with the other strings to get some more droney options in there, but i'd def like to hear what you come up w/ if you try it



Yeah, I know.  Even though I hate Limp Bizkit, I always thought Wes' four string tuning was pretty cool. Does he still play that guitar?


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## shadowgenesis (Mar 25, 2008)

distressed_romeo said:


> Yeah, I know.  Even though I hate Limp Bizkit, I always thought Wes' four string tuning was pretty cool. Does he still play that guitar?



he might, but it hasn't appeared on any of the LB or BLB material post Chocolate Starfish as far as i know. Maybe it's floating around on ebay

and admit it. you luuuuv Limp Bizkit.


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## distressed_romeo (Mar 25, 2008)

shadowgenesis said:


> he might, but it hasn't appeared on any of the LB or BLB material post Chocolate Starfish as far as i know. Maybe it's floating around on ebay
> 
> and admit it. you luuuuv Limp Bizkit.



No, really... I hate Limp Bizkit.


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## auxioluck (Mar 25, 2008)

distressed_romeo said:


> To put it in perspective, there's apparently a death metal band that tunes to F standard on regular sixes, although I can't remember the name...



Sikth tunes to G# G# C# A# B D#


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## pardon miasma (Mar 26, 2008)

Pretty sure F standard is Mortician, although they might "only" tune to G.


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## ibznorange (Mar 26, 2008)

I intend to pick up an mhb400 and tune to F# standard at some point.


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## CrushingAnvil (Apr 29, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> I don't see why not as long as you get appropriate gauges.
> 
> 
> 
> 'Round these parts, F# isn't that low



Amen, My 7 string was in Drop G# for a while and It could have definitely gone down another step or step and a half


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## Shannon (Apr 29, 2008)

Just for kicks, I've tried a Low F & Low Eb on my rg7321 I have laying around. String gauges are 13-74. I'm getting mixed results. Oh, how I'd love a 28-30" 7 string right about now.


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## ibznorange (Apr 30, 2008)

Shannon said:


> Just for kicks, I've tried a Low F & Low Eb on my rg7321 I have laying around. String gauges are 13-74. I'm getting mixed results. Oh, how I'd love a 28-30" 7 string right about now.



Yeah i was playing around in G/G# and drop F/drop f# a bit on my 7620 when i had it

Thats why im getting a 28.625" neck made for the S7 
Send me a pm if youre interested in the whole deal (not to buy mine, but to get one lol)


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## Naren (Apr 30, 2008)

As long as the scale is long enough and the string gauge is big enough, it could be a 2-string guitar and you'd be fine tuning it to F#. Has to do completely with the length and gauge, as I'm sure you know.



TomAwesome said:


> My 6 is currently tuned to Bb below that





And I'd be shocked if it doesn't sound like complete shit. Even at a 30" scale with a 96 gauge string, A Bb an octave below a seven's low B is going to sound pretty shitty...

(no offense)


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## TomAwesome (Apr 30, 2008)

Naren said:


> And I'd be shocked if it doesn't sound like complete shit. Even at a 30" scale with a 96 gauge string, A Bb an octave below a seven's low B is going to sound pretty shitty...
> 
> (no offense)



No offense taken, but it doesn't sound half as bad as you'd think. It sounds kind of crappy now, because the strings are several months old, but aside from that my only complaint has been that the lowest string has a little too much of a bass quality (since it is a .080" bass string after all). I had the same gripe when that string was tuned to Eb, though. When I get new strings, maybe a new pickup, and a decent hold over making recordings that don't sound like complete garbage, I'll try to get a clip together.


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## Shannon (Apr 30, 2008)

ibznorange said:


> Yeah i was playing around in G/G# and drop F/drop f# a bit on my 7620 when i had it
> 
> Thats why im getting a 28.625" neck made for the S7
> Send me a pm if youre interested in the whole deal (not to buy mine, but to get one lol)



Michael Dolan built a 28.625" neck for Technomancer's S7. You doing the same thing?


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## ohio_eric (Apr 30, 2008)

It wasn't for Technomancer's guitar it was for urklvt's.


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## auxioluck (Apr 30, 2008)

Yeah, Sikth is down in G#...I was messing around with their tuning to learn some of their stuff. It really doesn't sound all that bad.


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## MF_Kitten (Apr 30, 2008)

i posted this earlier: http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/re...g-agile-baritone-pod-x3l-octave-e-tuning.html

it´s a song i made with my 28" baritone, tuned to the Sikth-tuning (the lowest string down to an octave below the string after it, you know the deal), but tuned all the way down to E. this is with a .65 for the low E, and it works pretty well. it´s loose, but useable, i even recorded a whole song in drop E tuning, where all the strings are tuned down as well.

if your guitar is 28" or more, you can go down to E without issues. this thing handles F# and F easy. E would be perfect with thicker strings too 

so if your guitar is 27" or more, f# shouldn´t be much of a problem, though i wouldn´t get anything less than 28" myself, but i´m a baritone geek


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## Naren (Apr 30, 2008)

TomAwesome said:


> No offense taken, but it doesn't sound half as bad as you'd think. It sounds kind of crappy now, because the strings are several months old, but aside from that my only complaint has been that the lowest string has a little too much of a bass quality (since it is a .080" bass string after all). I had the same gripe when that string was tuned to Eb, though. When I get new strings, maybe a new pickup, and a decent hold over making recordings that don't sound like complete garbage, I'll try to get a clip together.



Then, why don't you just tune higher (as in "still lower than an 8 string's lowest string but higher than you're tuning right now")? Maybe the E or Eb below an 8 string's F#? That would be a sure fire way to get a better sound out of it.


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## TomAwesome (Apr 30, 2008)

Well, I may or may not keep the low Bb. I wanted to base my baritone's tuning off of my more or less default 7 tuning (drop Ab), so that's why the lowest strings are Eb and Bb. I originally tuned the whole guitar down from Eb to Bb just for the novelty and to see how the strings handled it, but I ended up kind of liking it. Next time I get new strings, I'm not entirely sure if I'll be stringing it up for Bb or Eb tuning. I might give it another shot with Elixers since somebody (I think Zimboloth) said their bass strings sound a lot like their guitar strings.


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## ibznorange (Apr 30, 2008)

Shannon said:


> Michael Dolan built a 28.625" neck for Technomancer's S7. You doing the same thing?



it was urkvlt or whatever it is

http://www.sevenstring.org/forum/extended-range-guitars/53112-new-ibarotor-s7328-625pwh.html

Check it out, paying for it today hopefully


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## Variant (May 2, 2008)

Naren said:


> Then, why don't you just tune higher (as in "still lower than an 8 string's lowest string but higher than you're tuning right now")? Maybe the E or Eb below an 8 string's F#? That would be a sure fire way to get a better sound out of it.



Yeah, the octave jump tuning is pretty intersting since I've started using in on my bari.


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## ARKAEAN (Oct 13, 2009)

Drop-Gb is awesome. Though I recommend using an extended range instrument, to retain the highs that most desire.

I have a twenty-seven fret, 28" scale, sevenstring Agile Interceptor tuned Gb-Db-Gb-B-Eb-Ab-Db. You can go very low without playing at the nut all the time, and with my bass gauges (low .100) I can tune down to drop-C1.


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## MF_Kitten (Oct 13, 2009)

i´ve done this, except i´ve tended towards "open" tunings.

SoundClick artist: MF Kitten - groovy, heavy, athmospheric, moody, ambient
SoundClick artist: MF Kitten - groovy, heavy, athmospheric, moody, ambient
SoundClick artist: MF Kitten - groovy, heavy, athmospheric, moody, ambient

for Dopamine Rush, i did regular drop F, and for the two others i used open tunings:
"F C F C F C" and "f# Db f# Db f# Db"

so yeah, it works fine if you just adjust for it


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## Cheesebuiscut (Oct 13, 2009)

MF_Kitten said:


> i´ve done this, except i´ve tended towards "open" tunings.
> 
> SoundClick artist: MF Kitten - groovy, heavy, athmospheric, moody, ambient
> SoundClick artist: MF Kitten - groovy, heavy, athmospheric, moody, ambient
> ...



Those were awesome!


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## hufschmid (Oct 13, 2009)

I'm using a 27.5'' scale on my new baritone 6 string, I'm also going to build one with the same scale I used for Clive's tele 28.31''

It plays the same as an 8 string, I can tune the 27.5'' scale to F# B E A D G and it rings like a bell...

It all depends which scale you have really on a baritone...

A cool thing would be to make a 30'' scale 6 string as an experiment one day for somebody who really does not want to get into 8 strings and the extra range they offer


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## TheSymphony (Oct 17, 2009)

distressed_romeo said:


> To put it in perspective, there's apparently a death metal band that tunes to F standard on regular sixes, although I can't remember the name...



The swedish death metal band tuned their six strings down to F Standard.. 11 fucking half steps (y)


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