| Subject: | RE: [RESOGUIT-L] Out-of-the-ordinary tunings | | Date: | Tuesday, November 29, 2005 03:09:09 (-0500) | | From: | Michael Shannon <mshannon @...net>
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That's right, that was Gerry Jean. Gerry is (at least to me) kind of a
figure of awe - he once told me that he's been playing the dobro for about
70 years. That has got to make him the dean of reso players in New
England. When I first started to attend the Groton sessions, Gerry would
take a great interest in the cheesy Fender roundneck I used to play. He'd
always talk about various instruments he had which he'd sell me with a
trade-in by way of upgrading my Fender. However, at that time, I already
had my Gold Tone on order, and intended to re-convert the Fender to a
standard guitar setup (which I did).
As for all these funny tunings, do you think the 5th string on the Gold
Tone will withstand being tuned to B? I may also try tuning the 3rd string
a half step up to G, which would result in a Dsus4 tuning (the famous
DADGAD, though it's actually DAGDAD). That might be fun to fool with for a
bit of a change.
Mike Shannon
Lowell MA
-----Original Message-----
From: reso-man@comcast.net [SMTP:reso-man@comcast.net]
Sent: Tuesday, November 29, 2005 2:16 AM
To: resoguit-l@elistas.com
Subject: RE: [RESOGUIT-L] Out-of-the-ordinary tunings
Mike, you are thinking of my old pal, Gerry Jean, who like myself is an ex
steel guitarist. That 8 string is an OMI, model 63 Dobro. Gerry is liable
to show up with most ANY kind of different tuning, and I think he had some
kinda C 13th, on last Saturday, according to him. Whatever it was, it
sure had some nice "chord voices" built into it......but to my
taste......in a bluegrass setting, unh uh.....no way!
Mike, you haven't seen my "Dolly" Dobro yet. "She" is a '75 OMI 8 string
very similar to the one Gerry had last Sat. night, only much cleaner. My
catalog tells me Dolly is a Model 63, and is "maple hardwoods, top, sides,
bottom", and has a 24 1/2" scale. Sold new for $507.00 Mine had a pickup
factory installed, and that was an extra $99.00. Remember now, this is a
"dot" type of pickup and has EIGHT poles or dots.....obviously custom made
for this particular guitar. Showed this to Mike A., a couple of years
ago, and he'd never seen one like it. Wow huh? "Dolly" also has a
"pointsetta" coverplate and I think she was orderd that way. A really cool
instrument, that actually was my very first reso-guitar.
I keep Dolly tuned to a G 6th. That means the 4th and 8th strings are
tuned to E, so you end up with from lo to hi, EGBDEGBD. I take this guitar
out on rare occasions, but if I want a "faux 6th" sound, I find it's
easier, (if I have new strings on), to just raise the 4th string up a whole
tone on "Blackie", and flail away at it. Beware tho, I break 4th strings
unless they're reasonably new......so your mileage may vary, REALLY applies
in this case. Mike, I've also been fooling a bit with your DADF#AD lo to
hi tuning, and if you raise the FIFTH string up a whole tone, from A to B,
you get that same 6th sound, in this case I believe a D 6th. I feel the
6th gives you a "western swing" sound.
Again, your mileage may vary,
Twangs
Richie Chiasson
Salem, N.H.
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