Dedicated Nashville tuned guitar

emuhunter · #1 10-15-2019, 06:55 PM

Hi everyone, I've dabbled a little with Nashville tuning and have decided that I want to dedicate about $500 to getting a guitar that I can specifically set up and leave in that tuning.

What would be your recommendations? Thanks!

Brucebubs · #2 10-15-2019, 07:12 PM

Buy something that sounds good with normal strings with normal tuning.
That way if you grow tired of the High Strung sound you can go back to normal strings - also easier to sell it with normal strings if you decide to let it go.

I have one guitar with dedicated Nashville tuning.
I had a nut made for the thin strings but also had the luthier make me a new nut for normal strings in case I ever sell it.

I've tried D'Addario and Martin string sets but GHS CU-BBHT strings are my favorites.

Rudy4 · #3 10-15-2019, 07:13 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by emuhunter

Hi everyone, I've dabbled a little with Nashville tuning and have decided that I want to dedicate about $500 to getting a guitar that I can specifically set up and leave in that tuning.

What would be your recommendations? Thanks!

I think all the usual recommendations as far as price vs. quality of build and resultant sound should be applicable to any guitar regardless of tuning.

If I were to keep a guitar around strictly in Nashville tuning I'd opt for something in the 00 or 0M size since you don't normally want focus on the lower resonance and want to concentrate on the shimmer.

I had a Taylor GS Mini mahogany that I really loved and although I never had it strung for Nashville tuning, it would have been GREAT for that! I'd definitely recommend the GS Mini for a dedicated Nashville-tuned guitar, and you could always return it to stock and play / sell if you no longer wanted to keep a guitar dedicated to the tuning.

pjmacd · #4 10-15-2019, 07:18 PM

I'm currently doing that with a Recording King ROS-06. I guess that they don't make that model anymore, but something similar should do the job nicely.

otto · #5 10-16-2019, 07:43 AM

I use my Recording King ROS-06 also for this!

emuhunter · #6 10-16-2019, 06:47 PM

Thank you all so much for the suggestions and ideas!!

Wade Hampton · #7 10-16-2019, 06:58 PM

A cedar-topped Seagull Folk model is what I would recommend:

Seagull Coastline S6 Folk Cedar

You can buy a new one for under $500, and it's a great-sounding little guitar. It sounds great in standard tuning with either light gauge or bluegrass gauge strings, so if you do decide to sell it at some future date, you should be able to easily enough.

Full disclosure: I do own one of these, which I bought used in Vancouver, British Columbia, and it's just a little jim dandy of a guitar. However, I have no commercial ties to Seagull or its parent company Godin. I just like their guitars.

Hope this helps.

Wade Hampton Miller

jklotz · #8 10-16-2019, 07:00 PM

A while back, I remember playing a used guitar at the local Sam Ash that was designed for only nashville tuning. It was a smaller body, super light and very lightly braced and sounded fantastic. It had a warning label inside not to use regular guage strings. I can't remember the brand, but it'll come to me.

David Eastwood · #9 10-16-2019, 07:34 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by jklotz

A while back, I remember playing a used guitar at the local Sam Ash that was designed for only nashville tuning. It was a smaller body, super light and very lightly braced and sounded fantastic. It had a warning label inside not to use regular guage strings. I can't remember the brand, but it'll come to me.

Wechter, perhaps?

L20A · #10 10-17-2019, 11:13 AM

I kept a Taylor Big Baby in Nashville tuning for a long time.
It was a fun sound but needed to be accompanied by another guitar to get a full sound.
Eventually sold the guitar due to lack of playing time with it.

Larry Mal · #11 10-17-2019, 11:46 AM

I had one of those Wechter guitars that was designed for Nashville tuning. I didn't like it, I sold it. It felt kind of cheap.

But, I have an old Martin D-1 that doesn't quite compete with my newer guitars, but I've had that forever and would never part with it. So I made that be my Nashville dedicated guitar.

It sounds very nice that way.

otto · #12 10-17-2019, 02:30 PM

The absolute best guitar for this is a Martin Terz. Gruhn had Martin make a batch of these buggers. I played one that was Nashville strung for a solid 30 minutes. A great guitarist was trying out a few instruments that day and stopped between guitars to tell me he loved what I was doing! Can't go wrong with a little Mississippi John Hurt.

bufflehead · #13 10-17-2019, 03:59 PM

I've been thinking of trying this with my Little Martin lxk2, but haven't yet ordered the strings. Would love to hear whether someone else has tried this. The D'Addario EJ38H Nashville strings might be a little light for that guitar because of its small scale, since it really wants medium strings.

maxtheaxe · #14 10-17-2019, 04:00 PM

I've been thinking about doing this with one of my guitars, a 1996 Taylor model 412K, which is more or less OM-sized. The guitar sounds very nice capo-ed up and has a bright tone to begin with, so I'm thinking the natural center frequency of this guitar might lend itself to Nashville Tuning.

Seems to me that the neck relief would need to be adjusted to accommodate the lighter strings, along with the new nut already mentioned...maybe saddle as well.

Now you've got me thinking about this again...