Hey everybody,

Yesterday, on a whim, I tried tuning my ten string Baritone Melody stick down a half-step. I noticed that the treble side got a little slinky, which I liked, and the bass side improved its tone. My daughter commented on how pretty a five-note major chord sounded on the bass side. It's subjective, but with someone other than myself noticing, I thought I was on to something.

So this morning, I tuned down another half-step, with my low bass note at Bb now. It still sounded good, and felt easier to play. Also, the treble was really loose now - I could easily get whole-step bends! I tried it with dirty boosted sound, clean acoustic simulator effect, and I really liked it.

But - I can't be bothered to relearn all of these notes on the instrument. So - viola - the Bb transposing Stick! I'm joining the ranks of trumpeters, clarinetists, and saxophonists in reading C as Bb.

R

Interesting. May I ask what gauge strings you´re using? Heavy, medium or....?

Good question! I've been thinking about changing my string gauge.

Right now I've got medium on both sides, and some possibilities are occurring to me: 1) Stay with medium but have 1st & 10th strings heavy guage 2) do #1 and move up to Classic string set, 3) do #1 & #2 and have medium treble side and heavy gauge bass side, or 4) stay with medium gauge and start bending my bass strings as part of my style.

I think I'll start with #4 and keep experimenting along these lines.

R

I use medium gauge myself and baritone melody tuning. I´ve tried both light and heavy gauge but medium feels best and sounds best for me in this tuning. Might feel different tho if tuning down to Bb. I think I might try doing the same as you have and stick to medium as well. Tuning in Bb has benefits if one like me is a bass player from start. Another possibility is to tune down the bass strings to Bb and leave the melody strings as they are. One will get more space between the hands when playing chords in both hands. Isn´t this some sort of inverted Matched Reciprocal tuning with baritone melody.....? Or something.....

Another question. Did you have to adjust the truss on your Stick a great deal now with less string tension?

My Stick was arching (or is it bowing?) a bit,and it was tiny bit high from the 12th fret up. Now that I've tuned down a whole step, the strings are lying closer to the neck. Looks like a good setup now (should've adjusted it earlier, but was lazy).

R

That happens to me as well. Thanks!

Ha ha! I have a 10 string that I am in the middle of converting from Classic to Deep Matched Reciprocal. I got half way and got distracted. It's just waiting in the closet for some fine tuning.

My Grand has always been DMR (with a high bass fourth) with medium strings. I have always played some sort of "Drop" tuning with heavy strings since I started playing in bands in my teens. The low bass has really become part of my personal playing style. I play in a band with a guitar player so I play a lot in E and A. Being able to reach back for the G on the second fret on the eighth string is awesome when playing in E minor, because like the tone better than playing above the the seventh fret on the low bass string and I can kind of walk around a bit between the fret lines. I don't really play below the C, because I feel the tone drops off quite a bit at B.

I have considered going to heavy strings. I think I prefer the sound of the thicker strings. Tom G plays heavies and it sounds great, of course.

From what I've been able to gather from reading Stickiest entries over the last few months, there are two things that influence the dropoff of amplitude - no, three, things that influence the dropoff of amplitude, as you get lower on the bass notes. First, the 34" scale of many older Sticks, as opposed to the 36" scale of newer instruments; second, the response of the bass speaker and its frequency curve (thank you Robstafari!); and third, the first and second frets not being as responsive as other frets.

So, I'm saving my pennies for a subwoofer, and later, a 36" scale Stick. And I may go heavy gauge soon. And get a fEarful cabinet!

It's these little adjustments over time that lead to big improvements in tone. It's a journey of course.

R

That is very much true.

I LOVE the older 34 scale Stick´s with Stickup pups! But they have their disadvantages when it comes to lower notes on the bass side. Prefer a 36 scale any day of the week.