New to lap steels, advice re strings/tunings

[nerocircus]

Hi all
Played guitar for around 25 years but never tried lap steel before. Excited to say I’ve just purchased a gretsch black sparkle which I’m awaiting delivery of still.
I’m more interested in playing blues on it so imagining open d or e as being what I’m after. Just wondering if someone could guide me around what strings would be a good bet and, this is probably a silly question, can I just use any set of strings suitable for a particular tuning on the guitar? Ie Any lap steel is able to work for any tuning providing I use the correct strings or are tubings dictated by scale lengths etc?
Can’t wait to get stuck in, better get a bar ordered too but think I will opt for a sp 1 or 2 from what I’ve been reading so far.

Cheers folks

[Pop123]

Hallo Aaron
There is not a correct or standard tuning for lap steel guitars. It is not uncommon for players to make subtle tuning variations to obtain their own sound. The basic Tunings are E G and C6

If you buying from a dealer , the strings on the guitar will probably be just regular medium guitar striges, fender 12/52 , or similar, becous there cheep and widely available. To get the best tone I would suggest you buy a set of strings for lap steel Guitars . There is ,as far as I know, only two British string manufactures that can supply the strings that's Newtone ,that can be bought from a number of different suppliers or https://www.alchemystrings.co.uk , the rest are mostly American Imports.
G is considered a good place to start , for guitar players new to lap steel . The gauges would be .016 .018 026 040 050 058 . Have a look for Cindy Cashdollar . She has some youtube demos and on her web site is a detailed discussion on tunings and string gauges.

Last edited by Pop123 on Thu Oct 08, 2020 2:30 pm, edited 4 times in total.

[Tony Russell Davis]

To back up the previous post, my blues playing lap and slide friends on Tyneside all use open G high bass (lo - hi, G,B,D,G,B,D) and occasionally retune (rarely more than 1 string!) for certain songs. I know of a couple of guys that prefer low bass D (D,A,D,F#,A,D) which you might just manage to get by retuning a G string set, although the bottom string may be rather slack. Start on G before you try alternatives is my advice too. Plenty string sets for G on offer, I prefer nickel to S/S (less "bright") but you'll need to find your own preference.
They all seem to prefer a Stevens (or spin-off) bar, so your choice of SP1 is right on the money for blues.
If you ever try lap steel other than blues you should go with a bullet nose bar and a 6th based (say - C6th or A6th) tuning.
One last thing, many of the guitars currently for sale have a Strat/Tele type bridge, if you has one, make sure all the saddles are straight across, right angle to the strings, and same height. Steel guitars don't need intonation adjustment and a piece of ordinary angle material is all that's really needed. The Strat bridge can be bought in cheap and easily, and saves a production run on "specials".
Enjoy your new journey with our best wishes

[nerocircus]

Thanks for the replies.
I bought it used, it’s literary just arrived and is tuned to c6 when I’ve checked. I’ll look to order some decent strings and going with gbdgbd - I’ve been getting into Larkin Poe quite a bit recently which is what’s inspired me to give this a go, and I believe this is what Megan tunes to. I’ll get some pictures up in a bit. It’s in reasonable condition but the fret markers have worn away in parts and appear to come away with a slight scratch with a fingernail. Will just redo these with a sharpie unless there’s a more elegant way of doing this?

[nerocircus]

Few general pics. Can see little damage near the pickup and on the back edge of the body. Paid 175 for what is a £400ish guitar, I can live with small marks. Not had it plugged in yet, will have to wait until I finish work for the day

Attachments

[Pop123]

Hi
Megan Lovell uses G tuning , as you have pointed out . Your Guitar looks good , the odd knock is normal in a used guitar . I have never played your model of guitar , but it gets good reviews, so unless it proves faulty in some way , it is a good buy .

[Tony Russell Davis]

For fret markers I've used the "pin-stripe" stuff before, it's sold to put lines along car bodywork. The advantage is that you can peel the backing off for 1/4in or so, get it in the right place and pull the rest of the backing away from underneath as you smooth it down: a sharpie might smudge?
I've never been bothered by the odd blemish on a working instrument, I think yours looks fine

[nerocircus]

Me neither with most stuff. My strat plus has visually taken a beaten over the years but I think it just adds to its character.
Like the idea of the pinstripe stickers though, might look into that. Thanks!