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I want to set up a Nylon string guitar with the Gambale half-Nashville tuning. Any thoughts on what strings to use?
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03-19-2024 12:25 AM
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what is that and why would you want to do it?
Originally Posted by jsaras
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What is the Gambale half nashville tuning? I assume certain strings up an octave?
I did that on an old tele I had for a while, put the D string up an octave. Made for very cool voicings, but the intonation on that string always sucked (3 barrel bridge)
I guess I would worry about that possibly being an issue on nylon too?
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Lowest 4 strings up a 4th, b and e down a 5th:
A D G c e a
Last edited by Ukena; 03-28-2024 at 06:15 PM.
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It is not tuned up. It functions as a primary tuning. Again, I want to do this with a nylon string.
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Why "half" Nashville? Isn't it a "whole" Nashville tuning transposed down a fifth?
As far as the necessary string gauges go, maybe ask someone who plays classical guitar and/or various types of lutes... Rob Mc Killop?
I'm not familiar with classical guitar string gauges. Sorry.
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Ok, so it makes sense now...it's a cool idea, definitely makes for cool close voicings.
So the 6-3 string is probably just "take a set and discard the low E," maybe low tension since that second string (now the 3rd string) is going up to a C.
You're probably going to need to stay with plain strings here to get the right sound...this poses an issue for the E...Probably has to be a "g" string tuned down. Might be flabby sounding...probably a high tension string here, or maybe a composite? Those always seem a little thinner to me, less "tubby" sounding. I don't think a "D" string tuned up here is a good option, the wound string has a different timbre, and I don't think the effect of the tuning will be as good...and also, more tension, not great.
Then for the A, Probably another high tension "B" string, tuned down...or I suppose a "G" tuned up...
What kind of nylon string are you doing this on? If it's like a crossover with a truss rod, I say go for it, but the change in tension might definitely mess with your current setup.
If this is a nice, lightly built classical, I don't think I'd recommend this experiment.
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If one listens to the video of Frank Gimbale demonstrating on an acoustic guitar, it does sound kind of flabby... Originally Posted by mr. beaumont
The video in black a few threads before, which says it can only be played on Youtube, is the one to which I refer.
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Throw away the E string, then go
A2 - A string
D3 - D string
G3 - G string
C4 - B string, up a 1/2 step, it'll be fine
E3 - D string up a step
A3 - G string up a step
That's what I would try, I don't like floppy strings.
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I asked Google’s AI and it recommended: Originally Posted by AllanAllen
High E: 40, A: 29, D: 20, G: 16, B: 28, Low E: 19
Do these gauges make sense? I’ll be using a cheap Fender classical guitar.
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I dunno. I don’t even know what gauges were on my classical. But it was also a budget and the strings were loose enough that I didn’t worry going a step up. Guitars are more durable than people think. Originally Posted by jsaras
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Famous last words… Originally Posted by AllanAllen
This doesn’t have to be guesswork, and it shouldn’t be. I’d use a tension chart to see how the alternatives compare to the tension of standard strings and tuning.
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Never played in that tuning, but i know it is same pitches as standard, with just different octaves. So you get different sounds with the same grips. It sounds wonderful. Here's a clip from a friend guitarist that is using that tuning.
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^ That does sound glorious Alter. I see it was recorded in Chania, Crete - I spent 3 months on the island years ago, mostly in Heraklion and Agia Galini. Good memories. Would be great to know the string gauges Yiorgos used. I'm wondering about possible intonation issues with that big, wound 2nd string, though would probably give it a go anyway.
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The Houses sounds like it's an octave lower than Frank Gambale's' tuning, making it sound like a baritone guitar.
It does sound lovely, though, and less "flabby" than Frank's own acoustic sound.
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If it was half Nashville tuning surely it would be tritone?
FRANK HAS TAKEN US FOR ABSOLUTE
FOOLS!!
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Yiorgos' tuning is really nothing like Gambale's (which I'm not initially drawn to). It seems more like Pat Metheny's half/pseudo/whatever Nashville baritone tuning (in A? - I think Yiorgos is in B), but here's the thing: if it's just a case of "tuning the 3rd and 4th strings up an octave", leaving all else the same, what's the deal with the wound 2 string? I haven't had time to sit down with this to analyse it.
Last edited by Peter C; 03-29-2024 at 05:29 AM.
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It does indeed sound like Yiorgis' low string is a B.
So with half-Nashville style tuning, from low to high:
B: heavy E string tuned down to B?
E: regular E string
A: regular A string
D: regular D string
F#: wound G string tuned down half-step
b: B string
But it looks like the 3rd string is unwound, which makes me think maybe it's an e string tuned down a step. The whole point of Gambale's tuning, as he explains it, is to be able to play note clusters, since some of the strings are closer in pitch than in regular guitar tuning. This puts the first and third string much closer together in pitch than usual.
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Even the heaviest baritone sets (eg 16-70) generally seem to come with a plain 2nd string (tuned to F# or E ?) of max. 22 gauge, the exception being some Newtones, apparently (22w). But the 2nd string on Yiorgos' guitar looks quite a bit fatter. Could be wrong*.
*Edit: it seems that a 24w has a similar tension to a 22 plain tuned to the same pitch, so mystery sort of solved. I was under the impression that the difference would be greater.
I like Frank Gambale's concept, not so much the pitch of his tuning.Last edited by Peter C; 03-29-2024 at 06:38 AM.
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Regarding the OP and the Gambale (not baritone) tuning, I guess you could just discard the bottom (E) string and move strings 5-2 (A-B) down one place, as already suggested. That's going to give you A-D-G-C. For the octave-down tuning of the first 2 strings (E-A), the D'Addario tension chart may be of help - scroll down to "Classical Guitar" to find matching tensions: https://www.daddario.com/globalasset...hart_13934.pdf
You may also want to calculate the total tension of the resulting set for comparison if your guitar doesn't have a truss rod, to see if it's doable.
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I asked Yiorgos, he believes it's tuned down to B, doesn't really remember though!
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Those are steel string gauges, absolutely irrelevant to your needs. Originally Posted by jsaras
If you want to tune your classical guitar according to the Gambale model, follow Mr Beaumont's suggestions in post #7. Using strings A down to B from a light tension set, get a single G and a single B from a higher tension set and tune them down to E and A respectively (I think). You may have to experiment with slightly different tensions there.
If you don't know what you're doing and try to tune up the wrong strings, the bridge on your guitar may be catapulted into the stratosphere, never to be seen again.
@Alter - thanks for asking. "Ta léme"
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