Hi all,

I have an alto and a 10-string and just acquired a NS Stick.

The alto and 10 string tunings are "parallel fifths, offset by a fifth" (kindly devised for me by Greg Howard) and are given at the bottom of this message.

Is anyone in a position to recommend an analogous tuning/gauges for the NS Stick? I ask because I unfortunately have no intuition about how well (or even if) this tuning might transfer across.

Thanks and happy tapping,

Jerry.

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Here’s the alto tuning, parallel 5ths, offset by a 5th, light gauge

ALTO light gauge parallel 5ths

1. G (highest) (.008)
2. C (.010)
3. F (.013)
4. Bb (.024r)
5. Eb (lowest) (.038r)

6. C (same pitch as 2) (.010)
7. F (.013)
8. Bb (.024r)
9. Eb (.038r)
10. Ab (lowest) between bass low E and guitar low E (.056r)


for a 10-string, drop both by a 4th

10-STRING 36”scale STICK Light gauge parallel 5ths

1. D (highest) (same as Classic 1st string) (.008)
2. G (.010)
3. C (.013)
4. F (.024r)
5. Bb (lowest) (.038r)

6. G (same pitch as 2) (.011)
7. C (..018r)
8. F (.030r)
9. Bb (.056r)
10. Eb (lowest) just below bass low E (.096r)

I don't have an answer, but fascinating stuff.

As you'll see from my sig I have also adopted an unusual tuning, arriving at parallel 4ths on both 12 string & 10 string (with a 5th between sides), and going uncrossed too.

Various of the experimental tuning I used along the way are illustrated here. On most of the custom tunings I've mentioned which sets I sourced the strings from. Probabaly not relevant, but maybe there's something of use for inspiration?

I always kind of wondered if anyone was doing "dual" fifths tuning (maybe someone coming up from the violin family)

I'll soon be receiving a brand new NS/Stick from SE that is in the Fifths Tuning (Crafty Tuning). It should be here Friday. I've been playing a Touch Guitar S8 and before that an NS/Stick in that tuning and love it. There's been a charge that normal guitar music is not possible in this tuning and that's correct, but with both hands on the fretboard it's easier to play the normal stuff. Honestly there's enough normal guitar music out there so the Fifths Tuning fits my desire to approach the instrument a little differently. I suspect none of us would be here playing these instruments if we wanted normal, now, would we? The tuning is:

8=Bb
7=F
6=C
5=G
4=D
3=A
2=C
1=D

The most immediate idea that occurs to me is to use your 10 string tuning/gauges but drop the highest pitch string on each side (1 and 6). You'd lose the lowest tappable notes from the 10 string since the NS/Stick doesn't have the extra X fret of the 36" scale 10 string (thus becoming the open string pitches, which of course you can access with the NS damper disengaged), but you could also tune all the strings down a semitone (but that would likely require slightly different gauges).

Normal? I'm still messing with tunings.

I'm not convinced I've finished either? LOL!

However, I think I'm settled enough that I'll not be doing any more experiments till my "ordered in Sept '21" 12 string Grand Stick arrives? Once that's here I might try a more 'spread' tuning on one of the others, i.e. a 9th between instead of a 5th? I had something like that in mirrored 4ths before I went parallel & uncrossed, & it would be at least interesting to have "one of each" to do a direct comparison.

@robmartino many thanks for this: it does indeed seem like a sensible option.
Would you be in a position to recommend gauges (for the non-downtuned option) for this?

Thanks again,

Jerry.

Thanks for posting about this, Jerry, as I have a somewhat related question.

Not to co-opt the original post, but, does anyone know of a similar tuning for 10 string Stick, with the standard/classic 5ths bass, except with 5ths on the melody side? i.e. 5ths instead of 4ths on the melody side with standard bass 5ths tuning.

Is this even possible, or is this why you had to drop your tuning down?

I attempted a forum search recently but the results were overwhelming. If anyone has a link readily available to a thread that covers this, that would be helpful.

Thanks!

Perhaps too obvious to mention, but the approach I've taken in my tour through wacky tunings (mainly in 4ths, so not directly useful to you) has been to try combinations that can be achieved using standard strings either at design pitch or tuned up or down a semitone (or a whole tone at a push, but if so better down than up?).

I've been fortunate in finding what I need from relatively few different standard sets.