C6 or A6?

Virgil Franklin · From: Indiana, USA

So..
I have this 26" Fender clone...it's currently tuned to C6 as I'm working my way through the
Cindy Cashdollar books...
but would A6 tuning fit it better?
Thoughts?

_________________
Virgil Franklin
Organizer: Southern Indiana Steel Guitar Show www.southernindianasteelguitar.com
2023 Justice Pro-lite 4 x 4,2020 Justice Pro-Lite 4 x 4 , Fender 400 6 x 2, Stringmaster Mk1 Clone, Gibson Console Grande 520, Boss Katana 100 Mk2 with Basslite 2012 speaker

Brooks Montgomery · From: Idaho, USA

Well, like Cindy, you can do both.
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A banjo, like a pet monkey, seems like a good idea at first.

Stephen Baker · From: Lancashire, UK

Myself, I'd have A6 on the near neck and some kind of E9/E13 on the other neck. That's what I have on my main stage steel. BUT!, if you are working through Cindy's stuff, therefore learning, most instructional material is in C6. I always have one guitar in C6 just for the lessons on YouTube etc.

Tim Whitlock · From: Colorado, USA

If your C6 has an E on top you can easily retune to A6 with the same string set. Hi to Low:

C6 = ECAGECAG
A6 = EC#AF#EC#AF#

Nic Neufeld · From: Kansas City, Missouri

C6 and A6 are close enough functionally that I would say, pick whichever is most common in whatever you are learning from. You can as mentioned tune back and forth. Tunings are super personal of course...in my case I don't know that I'd want C6 and A6 on the same guitar because they are so alike (I would rather a different style tuning altogether like B11...B11 being a very easy retune from A6 as it happens), but that's totally an option.

If Cindy's teaching material is mostly C6 I'd stick with that for now. If you learn the basics of C6 and get comfortable A6 is not hard to switch too. It's sort of like...uncapo'ing the steel from an imaginary 3rd fret and then adding an additional string for the 5th on top, but the middle strings will all have the same intervals (just shifted over).
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Waikīkī, at night when the shadows are falling
I hear the rolling surf calling
Calling and calling to me

Dave Mudgett · From: Central Pennsylvania and Gallatin, Tennessee

Jack Hanson · From: San Luis Valley, USA

Both. And more.

Tony Oresteen · From: Georgia, USA

Both. I have pairs of guitars tuned to C6 & A6 - 6 string and 8 string. I just added a third 6 string tuned to G6.

They all have the the same intervals:

L to H

1 3 5 6 1 3

This simplifies song patterns.
_________________
Tony
Newnan, GA

Too many guitars, not enough time to play
'72 Sho-Bud 6139, '71 Marlen 210
'78 Fender Stringmaster Quad black
PedalMaster D8

Paul Seager · From: Augsburg, Germany

I learnt with Cindy Cashdollar's videos and I tuned my instrument as she recommended, I think it had a G on 1st. I stayed with this in my first band as a Steeler until we changed singers. The new fella sang in keys better suited to A6.

By this I mean that most songs could played in the middle of the fretboard (I.e., frets 3-15). This felt more comfortable to me and as my knowledge of the instrument has grown, I've found no reason to change back to C6.

Since then, I've added a B11 derivative to the 2nd neck, not least because strings 1-4 are tuned the same as A6 so many melodies and solos are easily transferred. Then I can choose which neck works better chordally for each song.

I recommend you learn as Cindy prescribes and then, through playing with others, figure what works for the project.

I can imagine A6 on a 26" scale, will be very gutsy!
_________________
\paul

Bayern Hawaiians: https://www.youtube.com/@diebayernhawaiians3062
Other stuff: https://www.youtube.com/@paulseager3796/videos

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