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| Tuning of a parlour guiitar - General Guitar - Guitar - ezFolk Forums | |||||||||||||||
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cactus bum Approved
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I am deciding on which guitar to build. I seem to want to build a clone of a Martin size 5, their 3/4 size parlour guitar. I have read they are usually tuned G,C,F,Bb,D,G instead of E,A,D,G,B,E. I do not understand whether I NEED to tune this way, or if this is just the way ladies tuned their parlour guitars in the old days. I have ascertained if you want to tune normally it is best to have medium strings on the guitar. I guess I want to understand if there is a down side to a parlour guitar regarding this tuning thing. Any help will be appreciated. I am a beginning player.
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theBlackman Approved 
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A good part of it has to do with the tension on the strings. Tune E it takes a great deal more finger pressure to fret the strings. I had a 0015 that I tuned E, and it was a 3/4 (parlour), sized guitar. A good example is the 12 string. At E the tension on the strings is about 12000 pounds, I have been told. Many players (Seeger-Leadbelly-Darling), who played the instrument tuned in C and capoed when they needed an E tuning. At E you really need to work against the tension to chord the instrument cleanly. Ladies of the day were not expected to have the grip of a steveadore. So, C tuning made the instrument easier to play. Last edited on Mon Jun 9th, 2008 03:34 am by theBlackman ____________________ Let each day start as a blank page for life to write upon. http://ezfolk.com/audio/dusty http://cdbaby.com/all/theblackman |
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InTheSticks Approved
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Cactus bum - sounds like a great project. Interesting I did not know they tuned in G. As to the tuning I would assume from what you posted they are tuning up a 3rd instead of down a 6th.This means the tension would be higher in G than E. The string tension is less with a shorter scale though and this will offset some. The 5 has a 21.5" scale according to martins website and may be ok at the higher tuning. It add volume and probably alter the tone. If you are building a kit I would ask the manufacter of the kit how they suggest tuning it or seek advice from a luthier about the specific bracing ect. It is probably designed for standard tuning. If properly built it will not hurt the instrument to play in standard tuning - but may not be what you are looking for tonewise or to match the historical use of the instrument. Don reason for edit - correcting myself Last edited on Mon Jun 9th, 2008 04:17 am by InTheSticks |
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HowlinHobbit Approved 
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theBlackman wrote: A good part of it has to do with the tension on the strings. Tune E it takes a great deal more finger pressure to fret the strings. . .Ladies of the day were not expected to have the grip of a steveadore. So, C tuning made the instrument easier to play. They didn't slack the strings down a whole fourth, they tuned them up a minor third, making them more taut, not looser. They used lighter gauge strings, I'm sure, to adjust for that and keep the grip strength needs down. EDIT: InTheSticks was posting at the same time as I and I think, unlike me, got the lower interval correct. Also I completely forgot the shorter scale thing so you might not have to go much lighter in gauge. Last edited on Mon Jun 9th, 2008 04:14 am by HowlinHobbit ____________________ Howlin' Hobbit Got Uke? MySpace ezFolk UkeLand |
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Will Approved 
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cactus bum wrote: I am deciding on which guitar to build. I seem to want to build a clone of a Martin size 5, their 3/4 size parlour guitar. I have read they are usually tuned G,C,F,Bb,D,G instead of E,A,D,G,B,E. I do not understand whether I NEED to tune this way, or if this is just the way ladies tuned their parlour guitars in the old days. I have ascertained if you want to tune normally it is best to have medium strings on the guitar. I guess I want to understand if there is a down side to a parlour guitar regarding this tuning thing. Any help will be appreciated. I am a beginning player. With a smaller sized guitar, the scale length will be shorter, and the tension on the strings will be lessened. Even a 0.5" reduction in scale length is sometimes used as a selling point; for example, the original Martin 000 guitars such as the 000-28 is advertised as having a 24.9" scale length vs. the 25.4" of the D-28 dreadnought. My Seagull Grand size 0 parlour guitar has a scale length of 24.9" and I tune it EADGBE. Partly due to lower string tension, it is a bit easier to play the Seagull than my other dreadnought guitars. I also have a short scale Samick guitar (36" length) with a scale length of 23" and it is also tuned to EADGBE, but the string tension is quite a bit lower. The Little Martin model is even smaller in size, with a 34" total length and a 22" scale length, but it is often still tuned to EADGBE. I also own a mini-guitar that I bought from Sam Ash a few years ago, which has a scale length of only 19" but it would not stay in tune in EADGBE due to the string tension being so slack, so I tuned it higher to ADGCEA and the extra string tension did the trick. Last edited on Mon Jun 9th, 2008 04:18 am by Will ____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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InTheSticks Approved
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HowlinHobbit - yep and you got the upper interval correct  . Guess both of us got in a hurry. Will - no bellying, lifting or issues with tuning that high? I got one of the cheap tiny first act for my daugher and thought I would be cute and tune it to standard. Popped the bridge right off that sorry outfit. exchanged it and after she got old enough to try again have tuned the new one to Standard but sure would not trust it any higher. Not really designed to be an instrument though. Don
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Will Approved
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InTheSticks wrote: HowlinHobbit - yep and you got the upper interval correct A decently built and braced top and truss rod fitted neck on a guitar made for steel strings should be able to withstand the tension of at least light gauge strings. The reason for the higher tuning on smaller, short-scale guitars is to compensate for the lower string tension of too-slack strings. The only guitar of mine that ever suffered a belly was a 12-string guitar that sounded great because it had a very thin solid spruce top - my local luthier remedied that by installing a "bridge doctor," a wooden device that transfers the string pull from the guitar top soundboard to the bottom end block of the guitar, which flattens out the guitar top. My Carlo Robelli "uke-guitar" is an amazingly good-sounding instrument, considering I paid $30 for it at Sam Ash. I paid more than half that just for the Shubb classical guitar capo (the guitar has a flat fretboard). For good measure, I installed a extra set of solid brass bridge pins that I had. These guitars handle ADGCEA tuning quite well, but they have been discontinued, and the only similar guitars are made by Mahalo, but those are nylon-stringed instead of steel strings.  Here's an earlier thread about these mini-guitars: http://www.ezfolk.com/forums/view_topic.php?id=1059
____________________ Will http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/297/ Loose Change & Friends http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/245/ http://loosechangeandfriends.com The Earth Tones http://ezfolk.com/audio/bands/337/ |
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| ezFolk Forums > Guitar > General Guitar > Tuning of a parlour guiitar | |
