Rickresource Rickenbacker Forum

I hate tuning down, because I always thought that tuning down affects the neck somehow (Paul W, can you confirm this?), perhaps on a vintage Ric?

Tuning down gives a song an entirely different feel. Whoever wants to tune down can do it, I'll just play barre chords, in a different key or with a capo, thank you.

A while back, I tried tuning my Rick down a semi-tone (a la Roger McGuinn) and it did change the sound of the guitar a little (even with a capo on), as well as requiring adjustment to the intonation and bridge height. I didn't adjust the dual truss rods. It didn't sound worse or better, just different. It was a little bit easier to play too, I guess because of the lower string stiffness. However, the next time I changed the strings, I tuned the new set back to standard tuning and reset the intonation and bridge height, which is where it is now. I don't think it hurt my Rick at all - I have a 2002 Rick 360/12 with the dual truss rods. It might be an issue for older pre-1984 Ricks? (Someone else should comment on that) For me, it was novel for a while, and the different tuning almost makes the Rick a different instrument.

I've never heard of tuning down or tuning to an open chord "damaging" a guitar. Plenty of top-end players have done it. Besides McGuinn, Stevie Ray Vaughan and Eddie Van Halen come to mind. Granted, they're not playing a 12 string. It may be a more technical question for someone at RIC to answer to be absolutely sure as I am no RIC engineer, but I say, just do it.

I've de-tuned plenty of guitars, including my 360/12 (one or even two steps), and tuned others to "G" and "A" (for slide work mostly) and I don't think I recall ever having to adjust anything, except the tuning pegs! Much more and you will probably have a serious set up problem. I must admit my 360/12's action is pretty dang low so taking it down a full step might cause some buzzing that I'm not getting now, but I've done a 1/2 step no problem.

And, if for some crazy reason, de-tuning causes you to have to change string gauges, which inherently will cause you to set it up again, or you just feel it's really out-of-whack then, just say no. Try it, you might like it once you get used to it--a lot of people do.

+1

Matt Clark wrote:And, if for some crazy reason, de-tuning causes you to have to change string gauges, which inherently will cause you to set it up again, or you just feel it's really out-of-whack then, just say no. Try it, you might like it once you get used to it--a lot of people do.

It certainly helps to change string gauges if you're going down a few steps. For one thing, the strings will buzz and become too slippery if you use the normal gauge for lower tunings. For 1/2 or 1 step down, maybe not, but even with six string guitars, tuning down often requires higher gauges. It doesn't mean you have to re-set up the guitar, however. I'm not exactly sure about the physics behind it, but the higher gauges shouldn't increase or decrease tension a great deal on lower tunings; they're suppose to feel the way you would normally feel if the guitar were at 440 with normal gauges (.12 for short scale Rics, .10 for long scale Rics, I believe).

I haven't messed with my 620/12's tuning, as of yet, because I'm still learning/getting used to it. With Ric's quality, I doubt very much that my guitar will need adjusting with a 1/2 step lower tuning. My other guitars certainly don't.

Ain'tGotNoPokemon wrote:
I haven't messed with my 620/12's tuning, as of yet, because I'm still learning/getting used to it. With Ric's quality, I doubt very much that my guitar will need adjusting with a 1/2 step lower tuning. My other guitars certainly don't.

That may by true for your 620/12 with its 21 frets, but for my 24 fret 360/12, I needed some (admittedly very) minor intonation adjustment after tuning down. Seems everyone has a different sensitivity to intonation anyway, but I play a mix of open chords and up the neck, so that kind of thing really bothers me.. The action on my Rick was very low so I had to raise the bridge a little bit too to prevent fret buzz, etc. Again, everyone's sensitivity to this is probably different. I guess I'm just a sensitive guy!

stsang wrote:

Ain'tGotNoPokemon wrote:
I haven't messed with my 620/12's tuning, as of yet, because I'm still learning/getting used to it. With Ric's quality, I doubt very much that my guitar will need adjusting with a 1/2 step lower tuning. My other guitars certainly don't.

That may by true for your 620/12 with its 21 frets, but for my 24 fret 360/12, I needed some (admittedly very) minor intonation adjustment after tuning down. Seems everyone has a different sensitivity to intonation anyway, but I play a mix of open chords and up the neck, so that kind of thing really bothers me.. The action on my Rick was very low so I had to raise the bridge a little bit too to prevent fret buzz, etc. Again, everyone's sensitivity to this is probably different. I guess I'm just a sensitive guy!

It's understandable that you had to adjust the bridge, because the Ric action is pretty low to begin with.