EvO:R Entertainment The Ask Rick Andrews Section

Hello, this is Rick Andrews owner of Andrews Guitar and a long time member of EvO:R. This section has been put together to help you with your guitar related questions. I did not agree to do this so I could simply plug my guitars, I did this so you could finally have answers to many of those burning questions you may have had about your guitar.

OK, I do get a small plug!
Join The Team of Professional Choice . . Andrews Guitar! Come In And See What State Of The Art and Quality Is! Let Us Build The Ultimate Dream Guitar For You!
rickandrews@andrewsguitar.com
or call us at (615) 826-3317
Andrews Guitar - 103 Crestview Dr.
Hendersonville, Tennessee. 37075

Can You Suggest a String Guage?

I have a Maton 6string acoustic guitar (with factory pick-ups) and a Fender Telecaster. I tune down half a step (Eb,Ab,Db,Gb,Bb,Eb), with the occasional down tune of the E string to D (Db). Can you suggest a gauge of string that would best suit this set up. I am currently using fairly heavy strings to compensate for the lower tunings, but would like to try lighter strings if possible. Would the guitars need to be set up differently to maintain harmonic integrity and would that then affect the sound of the guitar should I need to return it to concert pitch for other musical projects ?Thanx Steve

Rick Andrews Answers Your Question Below.

Well now that's a different one for me for sure but I will give you opinion about it.

A half step is really not that much. If you think about it this way . . . players using a tremelo tailpiece or as some refer to it as a WHAMMY BAR . . . not to be confused with other bars, the step up or down with those are more than half step by far.

Same string gauge should be fine just as normal. You might have to do a very tiny adjustment to the truss rod if you leave it tuned down for longer time periods, but otherwise I would stay with the strings that you use the most normal.

If anything maybe as you say a slight heavier guage but to me the same as usual would be fine, especially on the telecaster. Interesting stuff there.
Rick Andrews- Andrews Guitars

Comments:
I have to agree with you on this one Rick. I use 10's- 46's onmy Peavey (strat copy) and I've tuned down a 1/2 step a number of times without any noticable issues. I would suggest moving up one string gauge if you plan to stay in that tuning as the sustain (at least on my strat copy) is not quit as good as when it was in the normal tuning (but what is normal now?).. Charlie Harrelson- Solo guitarist featured on Life Without Light and Tracks Across America.

EvO:R is proud to say that we know Rick Andrews personally and we are very excited about his willingness to answer all your guitar related questions.

Visit Rick at Andrews Guitars.com!