Agreed with Josh on starting with medium gauge. I started with classic and changed 3 years into it, and stayed with that tuning ever since.

If you are near other Stick players, I would highly recommend meeting up with them to try their instrument and hear why they chose the tuning that they did.

I didn't ask the question clearly enough.

If I were to (for example) start with MR and want to give Classic a spin, would I need to order a new set of strings optimized for Classic tuning?

That's what I mean by the "added dimension". Light/medium/heavy aside, Emmett has you specify which tuning you're using when ordering strings. This factor doesn't exist in the world of commonplace electric stringed instruments. You choose the gauge you like and go.

I imagine that differences in string set makeup aren't drastic for tunings close to one another (as MR and Classic are). That leads me to believe that such an experiment would not require a string change.

What I don't know is how sensitive the instrument truly is when it comes to these factors. On a conventional bass, no big deal. But the Stick wants the action super-low, and that must make the little details more important.

No, but your intonation will be slightly off

Thanks, that's what I figured... just intonation, and with such a minor jump that won't be much.

As an utter noob, minor intonation issues are trivial. Finding my way around is far more important.

So experimenting just to get a sense of the practical differences in playing the instrument would require nothing but a re-tune, correct?

A decision to go in a different direction for good would of course require new strings and a setup.

I was also wondering about the impact of string tension, especially when tuning down. MR to Classic goes up on the melody side just one step, probably not enough to notice any difference. Trying something like Baritone Melody, however, is a pretty big jump down. I can see the strings getting pretty floppy.

The tension will also change, so you have to calculate which string would be better suited to the desired pitch. A tension calculator will help you with these calculations. I choose "other" instrument when using these calculators.
http://www.stringtensionpro.com/

Sure it does. All modern stringed instruments from a luthier's perspective are highly
sophisticated precision instruments that require specific constraints to produce the sounds
the instruments make. Don't get me wrong, I am a seat of your pants "Just play" kind of musician
but have been lucky to have spent some time with a lot of luthiers and just by osmosis you
find out that "OMG" this thing (the instrument) is refined down to constants that are hard to
see with the naked eye. It is a strange thing but at that crossing point some luthiers rely
on intuition and can perceive conditions and tonal possibilities that no machine or even another person
can understand. And yet at the same level CNC machines are employed that help make
musical instruments faster (for less money) with a margin of error that is very, very slim.

Here is the "factor" or the reason for it that I think that you are talking about. Luthier's are, out of necessity a bit like a scientist/engineer and musician's are artists. We don't always walk in the same buildings or breath the same air. I have noticed though, and it is enough to make a rough estimation, that luthier's, by and large don't really play and that artists, "musicians" don't build. There is a gray area of course but we are lucky with The Stick and with Emmett in that he is both and artist and a scientist .

All that being said don't stress about the tuning. Just getting familiar with how different
the Stick is compared to a guitar or bass is, well, a big adjustment .

jRj
*j*
.~

Greg has a very good video on setting up a Stick.

[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v1ZLQG4_A3c[/youtube]

Fair point, JRJ, but we don't see sets of guitar strings sold specifically for alternate tunings.

That's what I'm getting at. The chosen tuning isn't a selection factor per se in the world of non-stick instruments. Instead, there are broad rules of thumb... tune way down and you'll probably want heavier strings to maintain tension, for example. But finding a set specifically for open E and another for open G? Not so much. Yet this very choice exists in the Stick world. One set for MR, another for Classic, a third for Baritone Melody....

Having zero direct knowledge of the Stick, noting that the string sets vary by both weight and tuning suggests that the instrument is inherently sensitive in a way that a traditional instrument is not. Individual string gauges matter, and it varies according to the selected tuning.

Put another way, there's more to consider than just "light, medium or heavy" and instrument setup tweaks when messing around with different tunings. If this were not the case, there would be no need for bespoke string sets for each tuning.

The consensus appears to be that it's not sensitive to the point of hampering experimentation. Playing around with different tunings ought to work just fine, even if the strings may not be the ideal match.

Your thoughts are exactly mine on this subject and i have done many "experiments" over the years, and you are right to think that the Stick, like the guitar should be able to handle the difference's between tunings the same way a guitar can go between standard, d-standard
and DADGAD without needing new sets of strings just to see if you like the sound and feel of the tuning. It can. The Stick is designed and made to be robust to say the least and that is why
you can take an old beat up stick from the 80's and restore it to better than new in almost all cases. That is not always true with a Martin ...

And:



That is the difference and that difference has been refiened because tapping the strings is a much different affair than strumming or picking.
I am out of my depth trying to explain this because it is essentially physics, but I believe that
it has to do with the kind of energy that is transferred to the string to create a vibration that is strong enough to be "picked up" or detected by the pickup. Using two hands to generate a
sound compared to one finger. So the pickup must be very sensitive, of course, and when
the signals that you are exploring i.e. making sounds with are amplified 'like that' the string
gages make a bigger difference, even between tunings, especially if you want to play subtle passages in both
registers. With the Stick you can hold down the bottom end for sure if that is what you want. But, you can also play all the parts at the same time and I think you need head room not just in both register's but on each string. The Stick is Cool ...

jRj