Talk:New Standard Tuning

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Could someone please explain how tuning the top two strings (normally E and B) up does not snap them? I've almost snapped those string by tuning them only one whole step higher -- so how does that work?

Also, it is inconsistent with another page: The tuning is similar to all fifths except the first string is dropped from b' to g'.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guitar_tuning

Sp3z1aL 00:11, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

The strings don't snap because a set with different guages is used - top G .010 or .011; E .013 and so forth. There is also the problem of taking the bottom string from E down to C, which makes it a bit floppy, so a thicker guage would be used there. Sometimes (particularly in the early days) NST would be tuned from EADGBE and, yes, strings would snap.

The statement from the other page is not untrue, but not terribly helpful either.Grangousier 23:38, 5 February 2007 (UTC)

I have switched my strings to compensate for the slack 'bottom' strings. It's all about the gauges. I use .054 .042 .036 .016 .011 .009 with great success and stability on a Ibanez Jem equipped with a floyd rose tremolo. Oddly enough the .016 breaks the most often, mostly due to my unnecessarily violent left hand tremolo technique. Your mileage may vary!--Dukeres 21:10, 13 April 2007 (UTC)

I have since changed gauges and have even greater stability with the gauges: .062 .046 .026 .017 .010 .009... I don't break these .017's. --Dukeres (talk) 02:40, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Based on the comments above, it seems the article could use a section on NST string gauges, along with a caution about OST string gauges being somewhat different; otherwise somebody may read it and break perfectly good strings. --AC 02:10, 25 August 2007 (UTC)

Well, it's like this: regardless of your tuning schemes, there are no right and wrong answers, it's all about the tension you are after, the sort of playing you do. I needed a tighter low end for harder strumming, so I switched to such a massive low-end string. I use strings from a baritone set but there is a set (GHS' 'Zack Wilde' boomers ) that has gauges that make a good 'turn-key' solution that avoids the waste I endure to get most of the strings I want in a single set. My apologies to the community if using a brand name is a faux pas.--Dukeres (talk) 02:40, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

Click on the link on Steve Ball's name. I suppose this footballer Steve Ball is not the person mentioned in this article. —Preceding unsigned comment added by Telep (talk • contribs) 09:17, August 25, 2007 (UTC)

[edit] On deleting the section about tuning, harmonics, etc.

I am deleting the following section since it contains a lot of factual errors and doesn't even make sense:

Because NST is also pentatonic in nature (there are no thirds in the open strings if you consider C or G as the root), its natural harmonics also make it easier to tune than the OST which has a major third (which is technically 'out of tune' by definition in a non-equal-tempered instrument such as a guitar) stuck right in the middle of its open strings (G-B). In NST, tuning is possible via the first harmonic rather than the more-awkward second-harmonic tuning which many OST players use to tune their guitars.

  • It's not clear what "no thirds in the open strings" could mean. There is a major third (plus two octaves) between the C and E strings, and there is a minor third between the consecutive E and G strings.
  • The guitar is equal-tempered, not non-equal-tempered.
  • The equal tempered third (and all other intervals) are by definition in tune, although non-unisons and non-octaves may sound out of tune when compared to a just interval.
  • Either the term "harmonic" has been used when "overtone" would have been correct, or the harmonics are misnumbered. The first harmonic is the lowest pitch the string will vibrate at, i.e., the pitch of the open string. The pitch that sounds at the 12th fret is the second harmonic, also known as the first overtone.
  • The advantage that NST has over OST when tuning with 12th fret harmonics is not made clear; it doesn't seem to have any advantage at all. Tuning with the second harmonic (12th fret) can be done equally well (or awkwardly, as the case may be) in either tuning. In both NST and OST it would usually involve tuning a harmonic on one string with a fretted note on another. (Side note: the 7th fret harmonic is out of tune with the equal-tempered scale, don't use it to tune with any equal-tempered tuning. Further note: the harmonics of all physical strings are slightly sharp due to the stiffness of the string; this is why pianos use stretch tuning.)

Atomota 06:49, 3 November 2007 (UTC)


[edit] Fixing Section on Downside

It seems to me that it's a little unrealistic. It's fairly obvious that your voicing will change when you change the tunings. However, there are still reasonable voicing of 9th chords and 9b5(which is what the article really seems to be talking about). --Capi crimm (talk) 21:35, 24 February 2008 (UTC)

I agree. There is some validity to the section in that indeed, the intervals between strings are longer, but I have no problem making 9th chords, either. The 9b5 is a tricky cluster, but achievable in the space of 2 frets. The biggest problem I have had with NST is OST guitarists freaking out trying to get a clue from what my hands are doing!--Dukeres (talk) 02:40, 4 April 2008 (UTC)

I modified the section to reflect the difficulty in recreating some OST clusters without the attitude present in the old text.--Dukeres (talk) 02:46, 4 April 2008 (UTC)