I've got my order in for a Railboard, and I'm incredibly excited about it!
However, a couple of options were presented to me that I wasn't expecting. I was all set to order what I currently have - light gauges and Classic tuning. However, Emmett's recommendation was to go with Raised Matched Recoprocal with medium gauge strings, because that combination "seems to work best on the Railboard, providing the rich 'ring' of heavier gauges interacting with the metal beam, while preserving much of the subtle finger expression of lighter gauges." (Email text from Cambria)
I'm intrigued by the choice of medium, and the reasoning for that choice seems sound (no pun intended), AND it's not like I'm leaping from light to heavy, so I said yes to medium strings. However, as I told Cambria, I struggle as it is with Classic; I wouldn't know my ass from my elbow with another tuning! All progress I've made would have to be reset to zero.
But the choice has got me thinking, and so I want to ask opinions from all my fellow Stickists who've worked with different tunings. Exactly how difficult is it to work with a new tuning? And is a reciprocal tuning easier or more difficult than Classic to work with? (As I type that second question, my gut tells me that the answer I'll get, of course, is that it's not a matter of "easier" or "more difficult," but "different.")
If nothing else, I think it makes for an interesting conversation.

Hi Luc,

You're early enough on in learning where things are that making such a change isn't really a problem. The problem you may encounter down the road is if you have two Sticks, each with different tuning relationships to the inlays.

The Matched Reciprocal relationship is really nice on 10-string instruments, expanding each hand's scale positions out from each other by two frets...

I can say from experience that that does get confusing. In any case, it's easy enough to change the tuning back to what you're used to.

I do second the recommendation for mediums, especially when the action is really low as on the Railboard. You'll like the sound a lot.

Hi Luc,
Several years ago I was persuaded by a friend of the advantages of Baritone Melody tuning. On my 10 string, that meant losing a high string and gaining a lower string on the melody side. The bass side stayed the same. I am guessing this is an easier transition than what you are talikng about but it really only took me about a week to feel confident on it. The only big challenge, I thought, was performing songs I had written. I guess because when playing someone elses music, a G chord is a G chord. But in my own writing it seemed more important to get just the same sound( a G chord, played with the same inversion, with the exact high note on top).

I would guess the key would be to only play the instrument with the new tuning until it was firmly established in your mind where the notes are in relation to the fret marker inlays.

I wish you good luck if you decide to switch to Raised Matched Reciprocal tuning. I am sure if the inventor of the instrument recomends something, there is good reason for it.

Mike

Take my advice for what it is worth since my Railboard will be in the next production run and my Stick experience is from listening and reading, not playing. However, the only difference between Classic and RMR is on the bass side: Two half-steps higher. Your melody playing should be unchanged, and unless you played a lot at the old X-fret or fret 1 the bass side should be similar to what it was. If you had hands on both string groups that is where it might be complicated.

Not many songs or (bass amps) get the Classic low C so RMR makes a lot of sense. You get maximum high range and the bass goes where most bass amps can actually reproduce the note.

It is interesting how often the subject of tuning comes up. To an outsider who might not know about the importance of string group relationships, the variety of Stick tunings would be VERY strange because they are so close to each other. It's only a Perfect 5th between Classic and Deep Baritone, after all, but there are 6 regular tunings plus Dual Bass.

Your first paragraph reminds me of another thought I had. I was wondering if anyone knows a college, university, or other educational institution that is looking to include Stick in its curriculum. If so I would most likely sell them my old Stick (provided I like the Railboard enough, of course) at a VERY reasonable price.
Re: your 2nd paragraph: in other words, there's a reduced chance of the hands getting in the way of each other, right?


Fortunately, I have a bass amp and a cabinet capable of reproducing those lows very nicely, so I'm in good shape there.
Thanks for chiming in, everyone. This is all good food for thought.

IMHO that is not the main aspect of finding the most rewarding tuning for a Stick. More important is how all strings imply sympathetic resonance on the currently sounding strings (chord). I once thought "more bass would be more powerful" and tried out DMR on my Grand Stick. But DMR didn't make my Grand sing well so I went back to MR. I also tried light, medium and heavy versions of MR and found that medium gives the best sound (to my taste). Not so much for the higher string tension, I'd guess, but rather for the thinner strings (compared to heavy, that sounded great on the lower frets but up the neck they got ridiculously clunky). The absolutely coolest sound I've had on my Grand is when I tuned up MR a half step (hitting RMR) and adjusted the neck bolt accordingly. That gave a little bit of the singing, chime-like, character I love in the SG12. So all my sound instincts go by Emmett's direction regarding RMR

Per, you make a very good point about finding the spot where the instrument "sings" at its best. (I've been doing that for years when tuning my drums, and I do remember that the regular guitar tuning of EADGBE is NOT where an acoustic guitar actually sounds its fullest and richest.)
I do want to clarify, though, that the main reason I'm staying with Classic tuning is not really sonic; it just happens to be what my head has been trying to wrap itself around for the past year and a quarter. Plus, I want to compare the two instruments I'll have given the same tuning, so I can get an "apples to apples" perspective, and more easily get to know and appreciate their differences.
However, I DO plan to do some exploring with RMR pretty soon after getting the Railboard, because it seems to have found such favor with a lot of people. I'm really afraid of losing whatever little progress I've made right off the bat...but as Greg said, I'm probably not so far down the line that I'll set myself back a whole year.
Thanks very much to all of you for your thoughts!

Hi Luc,

You won't set you back even a week, just belive it...
I myself use MR10 and Classic12 and the only thing that changes is the space between your hands when playing crossed...
All shapes learned so far remains where they are... your right hand skills and your left hand skills will be still the same...
there is no reason that all movements you learned so far will blown away just because RMR...
good luck and congrats to your new instrument...

cheers

I recently switched from 10 string Classic (light gauge) to MR (medium gauge) and didn't have much difficulty adapting to the new tuning.

I like the medium gauge strings, except for one thing - the thickest string is much thicker than its neighbors, sits a bit higher and I find it blocks a bit neighboring string accessibility.
I need to have the last digits of the fingers more bent than before to not get that thump when accidentally hitting the lowest string with the side of my finger.

Maybe I'll try a hybrid - lowest string light gauge.

But all thing said I still recommend it.

I ordered a railboard in baritone melody tuning for the same reason as Luc. My current stick is tuned to baritone. I don't want to get confused when I switch sticks, hence I made them both the same tuning