*enters guitar geek mode*

After my first string (high E4) broke from tuning it back from an Open D tuning, I decided to play around with the tunings. What about a guitar that had the chord sound of a piano? A regular guitar chord can span 3 octaves in open position.

I removed both E strings, and took the original set of strings from New Strings Attached, and arranged them like so:

DGBDAB (from 6th to 1st)

The underlined strings were from the old, thick set.

I then tuned them to regular B, or regular E up a fifth, taking the octaves of certain strings, so it became:

B2 E3 A3 D3 F#2 B3

To tune the guitar, the following chords should have the same note, same octave:

b |---------0-
F#|-5---------
D |-------0---
A |-----0-5---
E |---0-5---2-
B |-0-5-------

It feels funny, because the 2nd and 3rd strings are now wound, and the 4th and 5th ones are not. It makes low power chords sound airy and twangy, while high-pitched solos sound low, and unison bends on the 1st two strings will sound (somewhat) like 12-string guitars.

Regular open position chords, like the D major, sounds less high now.

And now, for the compulsory sound demo, with the song every guitar store despises, because every beginner plays it when testing their guitar:

Octave B Tuning Test, octavebtuning.zip, 365 KB (I don’t know what else to call it…)

Perhaps, when I get a new set, I’ll string it like EADGBe (where the EAD strings are dropped GBE’s, respectively.)

Oh, and I was walking past Central Market yesterday, to see two brilliant buskers – one with a regular green cheap Kapok with chipped off pickguard, and a Morris 12-string! Now I wouldn’t know the price of a 12-string Morris, but I’d think it would be beyond the range of a busker…