Workshop: Nashville Tuning
A customer expressed interest in the Martin from the previous post as something to possibly use for Nashville tuning, so I strung it up in that way and recorded the clip (and took the pic) above so he could hear. Gauges are 30w, 18, 13, 9, 16, 12 tuned eadgBE with the lower-cased in that tuning up a whole octave -- as that's what "Nashville" tuning is!
Of course, to make best use of it requires a replacement saddle, thinner and floppier picks (if you're a flatpicker), and some time to adapt picking styles around the new sound. Most folks use it for straight-up strumming where, on record, it'll punch right through a mix and ring-out. I actually think it's under-used for pretty, "second guitar" fingerpicking on recordings, as the re-entrant tuning gives a sweet, chimey, sort-of 5-string banjo expression to the voice.
Comments
I use these babies all the time in my recordings. They're a great addition to my sound set.