How do you feel about Nashville Tuning? (Poll)

[UlricvonCatalyst]

(For those who aren't aware, Nashville tuning is basically using the light (octave) strings from a 12-string set, with the high E and B strings in standard tuning, as per a 12-string set.)

I've been a 12-string player for most of the years I've been playing guitar, but these days I find myself less interested in playing any of the 3 I have. I tend to fall into old, predictable patterns - i.e Byrds-type areggios or double-stopping - whenever I do, or else just strum it for a richer rhythm sound.

Lately I've been swithering over stringing up one of my many 6-strings Nashville-style, as this would fulfill the latter and avoid the former (hopefully).

The thing is, whenever I consider this option I'm in a quandary: Would it be too great a sacrifice to set aside a nice guitar for this purpose? Should I acquire a cheap guitar for this specialised and seldom-used flavour or should I be using the best guitar possible for it? Should I just do it temporarily when I want that option available or have a guitar permanently strung Nashville-style? What flavour of pickups would I want for this purpose?

The result of all this is that I've yet to try it out for size, a couple of decades after I first heard about it.

What are YOUR experiences with Nashville-tuned guitar?

[Embenny]

Stop torturing yourself over it. Buy a $5 set of strings, put it on one of your guitars, give it two weeks and then decide if it's worth keeping that way.

It's a super cheap, completely reversible endeavor. There's no substitute for experience. Instead of debating buying a whole new guitar for it, live with it for a little while and see if you even like it. You'll also find out if you miss having that guitar in regular tuning.

[UlricvonCatalyst]

You'll also find out if you miss having that guitar in regular tuning.

You might have nailed it in the first post. But it's not all about me - I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences.

[sookwinder]

the advantage of NT is that you can overdub a track of NT acoustic ontop of a regular acoustic track and while the two tracks sort of sound like a 12 string (which is great) the NT acoustic can be playing something slightly different to the regular tuned 6 string which just makes everything even wilder.

Do not use the NT much (I have a B-25 set up specifically with NT), but when it is needed it is great.

[Embenny]

You'll also find out if you miss having that guitar in regular tuning.

You might have nailed it in the first post. But it's not all about me - I'm interested in hearing other people's experiences.

Fair enough.

Here was my experience: I discovered it, was fascinated by it, tried it out with one set of strings, spent a lot of time writing/playing in it, and ultimately didn't find it useful enough for my own purposes. It's been...5 years since my experiment with it and I occasionally consider trying it again, but the reality is that I don't play, write or enjoy the kind of material that seems to benefit from it.

What kind of music "benefits" from it? I'm sure there's plenty, it just doesn't seem to be any of the stuff that comes out of my own fingers, hah. I've certainly enjoyed recordings of other players using it. It's kind of like Gibson guitars. Plenty of great players out there using mahogany guitars with PAFs and P90s to make good music, but I just never seem to enjoy myself or feel at home when playing them myself.

[Ceylon]

If you have 3 12-strings that you don't use much, ever consider stringing one of them up with two sets of octave strings for DOUBLE NASHVILLE TUNING?

[UlricvonCatalyst]

If you have 3 12-strings that you don't use much, ever consider stringing one of them up with two sets of octave strings for DOUBLE NASHVILLE TUNING?

Not a bad idea!

[lizardville]

My Eko ranger has been set in Nashville tuning for the last decade or so. Not that I play it every day but use it regularly in the studio. Mi

[Shadoweclipse13]

If you have 3 12-strings that you don't use much, ever consider stringing one of them up with two sets of octave strings for DOUBLE NASHVILLE TUNING?

I don't know if that is what I'm thinking, but I always thought about getting 2 packs of 12-string strings and using only the thin/high octave for all couplings. I always figured it would be like a baritone mandolin.

I second the idea of putting a set on a guitar and seeing if you even like it. For me, I would probably end up getting a cheap/beater guitar for "novelty" tunings like that. I've never tried Nashville tuning myself. I also thought it would be fun to have a guitar for ONLY Eb/E-flat tuning all the time, so you wouldn't have to fuck with the intonation.

[Unicorn Warrior]

It’s great. Used it on one of the only recordings we ever did in a studio and personally wished I would have used more of it.

I don’t have a Nashville tuned guitar at home. But when I used it in the studio it really allowed some extra chime in the track we used it on. Added a little reverb and delay to make it extra dreamy. For sure would use it again

[mgeek]

Not tried it yet but it sounds brilliant to me, I say go for it

This dude has the best demo, everyone else has a 95:5 talking to playing ratio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJO4V7zAbDc

[UlricvonCatalyst]

Not tried it yet but it sounds brilliant to me, I say go for it

This dude has the best demo, everyone else has a 95:5 talking to playing ratio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJO4V7zAbDc

If that's the non-chatty version, I'd hate to watch any of the others....except this one of the master at work.

The biggest eye-opener of this thread for me has been the bias in favour of NT on acoustic guitar. I figured it was more of a 'lectrick geetar trick, but now I'm inspired.

[mgeek]

Not tried it yet but it sounds brilliant to me, I say go for it

This dude has the best demo, everyone else has a 95:5 talking to playing ratio

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LJO4V7zAbDc

If that's the non-chatty version, I'd hate to watch any of the others....except this one of the master at work.

The biggest eye-opener of this thread for me has been the bias in favour of NT on acoustic guitar. I figured it was more of a 'lectrick geetar trick, but now I'm inspired.

ha! he gets there eventually, I blame my inaccurate description on it being so early I forgot what had happened at the start of the vid by midway through

Yeah it seems like more of an acoustic thing to me? The sound definitely goes with that sort of resonance

[UlricvonCatalyst]

I don't know, I can definitely see it working well as a sparkly, chimey electric tone. I imagine it would work both ways.

[Bradley-Jazz]

Richard Hawley talking about NT on a Fylde acoustic....

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=JZt6yWQW_kY