Does anyone have any insight on how alternate tunings affect your guitar neck. i have an epiphone studio custom and the first thing i thought when i looked at it was the neck is glued and not bolted in. i was watching a video on youtube for death letter and the guy was saying he was playing in open G over a different open tuning im not sure of due to long term effects on his neck.
If you tune from standard to open A, you're increasing stress on the neck by tuning three strings a step higher. Same principle applies to open E. I tune to open G and open D, then capo up to A or E or whatever.
If I were setting up a guitar for open A or E, I'd probably change string gauges from .012s to .011s.
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Guess I'm safe with .010's and open E, huh?
AC, it's hard to generalize about what is "safe," because every guitar/player is different. All my guitars are set up for .012s with medium-high action in standard tuning -- you can fret or slide on any of them. So if I tuned up to open E I assume I'd stress the necks, and I'm sure I wouldn't like the stiffer action from the tighter strings. A lot depends on your neck, your set-up & your preference as a player. Warped necks are no fun, and I try to avoid them. 8)
And welcome to the forums!
"You can't write a chord ugly enough to say what you want to say sometimes, so you have to rely on a giraffe filled with whipped cream." - Frank Zappa
Thanks for the welcome, Crow. 8)
