I have a cheap Les Paul that I'm setting up for lap style playing. I'm going to have a higher, flat nut made for it. I was wondering how heavy I could go string gauge wise without breaking the neck. I know it depends on the tuning and right now I'm in open E, but I wouldn't mind tuning down in order to be able to use heavier strings. Also, what open tuning do you find most versital for lap style playing. I'd like to find one tuning and stick with it instead of retuning all the time.
I've used 12s in Open E a lot, and haven't had any guitar damaged by that yet. That's a pretty versatile tuning.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
I was figuring 12s for open E, or maybe 13s for open D, but I wasn't sure if the higher nut would put more stress on the neck due to the angle. Have you ever messed with DADGAD for playing slide?
Yeah, I've tried DADGAD. I can't do anything useful with it.
"A cheerful heart is good medicine."
D*A*D*F#*A*D is my tuning of choice for lap steel. You can out .013's on and if the guitar has a solid neck joint it should be fine for open D or even E. I have .013's on my SD Curlee and have it tuned to open E.
