| Author |
Topic: C6 on a resonator |
Andrew Goulet
|
Posted 1 Jul 2021 3:37 pm |
|
I was originally intending to put D6 on my resonator but I think I misjudged the gauges, so I ended up with C6! That's ok. It sounds really good to me, and has a very bright and loud sound. My main instrument is a 12 string pedal steel in D13, with the standard 135613 chunk in the middle, so I was looking to replicate that so my hot licks would transfer.
I know very little about resonator culture. Do many people play a 6th based tuning? I play it more like a lap steel with a round bar, so I miss out on alot of the pull off/ hammer on action. But that's ok because I don't play bluegrass and all my solos are more in the western swing/Mooney territory.
_________________
Marlen S12 and a ZT Club |
|
|
 |
Nic Neufeld
From:
Kansas City, Missouri
|
Posted 1 Jul 2021 4:01 pm
|
|
I'm in a similar place, personally. I play C6 and C13 mostly, and when I got a resonator (Republic tricone) I set it up with C6. I play predominantly Hawaiian style. It's not a common pairing overall...6th tuning and resos...overall. People going for the older Hawaiian acoustic styles of the 20s and 30s often play open A high bass, and bluegrass dobro tuning is almost a standard of open G. C6 really came of age after most of the Hawaiian players had switched to electric. But you do see some players (predominantly the electric players) set up acoustic resos in a 6th tuning. Here's a couple examples:
Jerry Byrd-Chickadee
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nudiAFnbYg0
He's playing this in C6/A7...C6 with a low C#. I have a copy of his (handwritten!) tab for it. Unsurprisingly I haven't mastered it 
Here's another example of someone who played C6 electric style predominantly and strung up a reso. Barney Isaacs on the entirety of this album...still very much his style and sound, just on a resonator:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-MdfHzDCG5U
I'm with you in that I know next to nothing of "resonator culture"...bluegrass players play in a very different style from me. As a new player I tried to sit in on a bluegrass jam a few years ago. It was fun, but I stood out like a pineapple in a Georgia peach tree, so to speak. 
_________________
Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me |
|
|
|
Andrew Goulet
|
Posted 1 Jul 2021 4:59 pm
|
|
Thanks for those links! Exactly what I was looking for. It has a very sweet sound all it's own.
I hear you about the bluegrass stuff. I can't roll with those musicians, really. It seems like it's all about the blazing solos, and I have a hard enough time just doing tasteful fills!
_________________
Marlen S12 and a ZT Club |
|
|
|
Brad Davis
From:
Texas, USA
|
Posted 1 Jul 2021 6:29 pm
|
|
If by resonator you mean squareneck spider cone guitar then some players do use a G6 tuning, especially on 8 string instruments. The instrument is associated primarily with Bluegrass and Country music, where the tunings are mostly open G and sometimes open D, but the instrument can be used for blues and other styles also. Bluegrass players use a steel for hammer-ons and pull-offs, but if a bullet bar suits your style then it will work also.
For steel tri-cone and biscuit guitars, usually with metal bodies, the styles are usually more Hawaiian and blues. A, D and E tunings are common, but I guess you could use a 6th tuning. |
|
|
|
John Viterito
From:
New Jersey, USA
|
Posted 3 Jul 2021 6:41 am
|
|
My understanding is that if you want a 6th tuning on a reso, you'd best go with G6 or A6 (G6 works especially nice on an 8 string reso). Some have told me that keeping a C6 tuning on a reso for an extended period of time can cause stress and possible damage to the cone.
_________________
Emerald Solace acoustic laps and Rukavina steels. Can't play, but I try! |
|
|
|
Fred
From:
Amesbury, MA
|
Posted 3 Jul 2021 9:53 am
|
|
| John Viterito wrote: |
| Some have told me that keeping a C6 tuning on a reso for an extended period of time can cause stress and possible damage to the cone. |
With string gauges appropriate to the pitches there’s absolutely no problem with ANY tuning. I used C6 briefly and the Leavitt tuning for many years. Never any issues.
Fred |
|
|
|
Jeff Mead
From:
London, England
|
Posted 3 Jul 2021 3:08 pm
|
|
| I mainly use my resonator as a lap steel for acoustic gigs and keep it in A6. |
|
|
|
Garry Vanderlinde
From:
CA
|
Posted 3 Jul 2021 10:24 pm
|
|
I've been playing my Tut Taylor Resophonic in C6th for over 20 yrs. and very happy with it with no apparent structural problems. It is very well made.
I use John Pearse Acoustic-Set #300M. 80/20 Bronze Wound Medium Gauge but substitute a .022p for the A string and don't use the .056W.
1. e .013
2. c .017
3. a .022p
4. G .026W
5. E .035W
6. C .045W |
|
|
|
Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
|
Posted 4 Jul 2021 6:51 am
|
|
As others have mentioned, absolutely no problems when strings are sized correctly.
Now, the guitar cone DOES react better in the lower G6/A6 tunings because the fatter strings "excite" the cone much more efficiently.
h
_________________
Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L |
|
|
|
Howard Parker
From:
Maryland
|
Posted 4 Jul 2021 9:25 am
|
|
And while I'm thinking about it, here's an example of G6 voicing on a spider bridge/dobro style resonator guitar!
Little Rock Getaway by the great Mike Auldridge.
This is the LP that got me hooked on G6 8 string.
h
_________________
Howard Parker
03\' Carter D-10
70\'s Dekley D-10
52\' Fender Custom
Many guitars by Paul Beard
Listowner Resoguit-L |
|
|
|
David M Brown
From:
California, USA
|
Posted 5 Jul 2021 5:31 am
|
|
Barney Isaacs & George Kuo - Hawaiian Touch ‎(CD, Album) Dancing Cat Records 08022 38026-2 1995
If I recall the above recording had Isaacs on a C6 tuned resonator guitar. |
|
|
|
