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What changes do you make to a guitar for a person that practices drop/alternate tunings?
Thanks all,

I don't think that I would make any. I would recommend a 25.4 scale instead of 24.9 perhaps so that a drop D would be a little less floppy. For a steel string, getting a nice resonant bass that isn't too "tubby" is the big challenge. So, if you know a way to get that nice bass you would also want to do it on a guitar that is destined to be played in standard tuning too.

Since drop D and DADGAD are "D" centric tunings you might want to tune your back and top so that you avoid resonances that are in the D range. Notes played at a guitars resonant frequencies are louder, which you don't perceive well, but lose sustain which you perceive very well. But, once again, I'd try to do that for any guitar since the key of D is so very common.

I play in dropped tunings all the time. The only thing I specifically for that is in the setup. I make the strings a wee bit higher, and I intonate the saddle in some "happy medium" tuning (DADGAD) in my case instead of standard tuning. That way the intonation should be best in DADGAD, perhaps off the tinyest bit in standard, and perhaps also a little off for even lower tunings like low C tuning, which could be quite a bit off if intonated in standard.

Something else you might consider would be a Novax type fanned fret
layout to stretch that low D out for a more defined attack.

I have made a guitar for a guy who does lots of drop tuning, I made it with a 25.6 scale, that's the only difference. Oh, I made the lower tone bars a tiny bit higher too, but that's it.

The longer scale length allows the string tension to remain "up" or higher when the string is "dropped".

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Paul Asbell has a guitar that I made that he uses in D tuning (it's the one on the cover of his "American Steel String" CD).

The guitar was not originally designed for this so a while back I replaced the bridge with one that had a bit of extra saddle set back to provide a bit more compensation for the very heavy bass string he uses. I would recommend having a good idea of the string guages that will be used and intonating accordingly.

So Guys if you have a customer that wants to use the guitar in DADGAD 90% of the time but wants to keep the 6th sting gauge at .056 and wants to later down the road use the guitar in EADGBE tuning, would you intonate to DADGAD and make a separate saddel and intoneate it to EADGBE?

I get them a strap so they don't drop it anymore.......

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Ann Arbor Guitars

I built a guitar once that had all of it's main resonances on either G or D. The owner played a lot in drop D tunings, and loved it. What can I say....

Intonation is the biggest issue, I think. Be sure there is enough room on the saddle to get that right.

One of my customers, Ken Bonfield, seldom seems to get into 'sandard' tuning. He's got a whole stable of oddball ones and is always switching from one to another. He actually learns everyting in every possible tuning, so that he can decide which one he likes better for the given tune. Anyway, I've found that if the guitar works well in standard tuning, it usually also works well for the drop tunings if the bass is good.

If they are _always_ going to use a low tuning, you might want to make the soundhole smaller to drop the 'main air' pitch to about three semitones above the lowest open string pitch. That's essentially what I did with a guitar I recently made for Ken, that has a 710mm scale on a 16" small Jumbo body, designed to tune D-D. The soundhole is the same size as a classical, and the 'main air' pitch is about F. He says it works well with the outer strings as low as C, and he can tune up from there to the 'drop' tunings.

I get it

[QUOTE=Rod True] I have made a guitar for a guy who does lots of drop tuning, I made it with a 25.6 scale, that's the only difference. Oh, I made the lower tone bars a tiny bit higher too, but that's it.

The longer scale length allows the string tension to remain "up" or higher when the string is "dropped".[/QUOTE]

What Rod said. I've used 25.7" scales on guitars destined for a lot of dropped tuning and it works well for the reason cited.
Also use medium gauge strings to keep the tension up and reduce "floppiness".

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Hank Mauel

I have aspirations to  build a slack key guitar DGDGBD.  I don't care about regular tuning for it.  I also want to build it "two holer" a la Grimes.  So info like this is great!  Keep it coming.  Do I have to give up a 24.9 scale length for this tuning?

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Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA

[QUOTE=Ricardo] I have aspirations to  build a slack key guitar DGDGBD.  I don't care about regular tuning for it.  I also want to build it "two holer" a la Grimes.  So info like this is great!  Keep it coming.  Do I have to give up a 24.9 scale length for this tuning?[/QUOTE]

Nope - just get an old (or new ) parlour guitar with 24.5" scale length, put it open G tuning (your slack key) and listen to it roar!!

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Dave White
De Faoite Stringed Instruments
". . . the one thing a machine just can't do is give you character and personalities and sometimes that comes with flaws, but it always comes with humanity" Monty Don talking about hand weaving, "Mastercrafts", Weaving, BBC March 2010

Dave, right on! I think I'll build me a parlor er... parlour guitar. 

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A higher purpose for wood.
Rich Smith
Issaquah, WA