6-string guitars that can handle being downtuned?

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JimmyDoomsday

JimmyDoomsday

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i play in a band that de-tunes to dropped a. currently, i'm playing a washburn x50pro-fe which was set up to be downtuned that low. it handles the tuning very well, but as time goes on, i'm finding myself less and less in love with the way it actually sounds (emg 85/81 setup running through the lead channel of an engl savage 120).

are there any other 6-string guitars out there that can handle this turning? 7-strings are just too clunky and cumbersome for me. i'm open to baritone guitars, but it's hard to find one that isn't a schecter (which i don't particularly care for). i prefer a stop-tailpiece or string-thru (no floyd rose or other similar tremolos), 24 frets, duncan or dimarzio pickups (or anything else that isn't emg), no v's or explorers or anything. just something able to maintain a full sound when de-tuned and blasted through my lead channel.

some of you might hate me for suggesting this, but are there any les pauls, or other gibsons, that this could apply to? i also saw a fender spalted maple tele that seemed pretty beefy. any thoughts on that? i suppose my budget on this would be $1000-1500, but i'm open to hearing suggestions in all price rainges; higher or lower. thanks in advance!
 
I have two James Root Tele's. One stays in Drop B and one in Drop A#. I find string thru guitars hold a little better than guitars with tailpieces. Les Pauls hold Drop C# OK and even Drop C for a little while. PRS Custom 24's hold drop tunings very well, even with the trem. Ibanez guitars hold up well too.

Steve
 
The Mike Mushok baritone PRS is surprisingly good. As for regular guitars, I had a Gibson SG Special that took downtuning really well. It was solid as can be, took 13-58 strings no problem and the stock pickups sounded great with the downtuning. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Prophecy that sounds great downtuned. The Gibson Dirty Fingers in there are killer.
 
Phrygian":3k8wyu15 said:
The Mike Mushok baritone PRS is surprisingly good. As for regular guitars, I had a Gibson SG Special that took downtuning really well. It was solid as can be, took 13-58 strings no problem and the stock pickups sounded great with the downtuning. I also have an Epiphone Les Paul Custom Prophecy that sounds great downtuned. The Gibson Dirty Fingers in there are killer.
Click to expand...

What he said. Longer scale length helps to keep tension on the strings. Longer scale guitars are called 'baritone', which is generally standard at 27" scale length. The Mike Mushok is even longer than that at 27.7"
 
I run my Gibson Gothic LP (see avatar) in dropC all day long, 10-60
It totally delivers

I've gone down to dropA a few times with success, but didn't stay there long enough to give you a response on the stability
 
was looking into sg's as well. what's a good production year to check out?
 
Any guitar that's setup properly can handle low tunings. It's all about preference. What kind of sound and feel you like.
 
I had my Fender Strat in drop G# for a while and it did just fine. Fooled the guys over at sevenstring.org into thinking I actually had a 7 string. Even had 7 string users asking what guitar I was using because they liked my sound :hys:
 
I have a les paul gothic that I used to do B-standard for years , 14-70. The intonation on the B string was slightly off, but easily avoidable normally. Now I'm doing the drop C thing, and it does that even better.
 
The only way I have gotten a Les Paul to hold anything below Drop C# worth a damn is to replace the bridge and tailpiece with a Tone Pro's, where the set screw will lock them on the posts. String tension will be so low that the stock hardware will actually move on the posts. I usually restrung with 12-58 strings. You will need to file the nut out too on about any guitar.

Once exception, the SEVEN Mick Thomson from Ibanez. It is set up properly from the factory. As a matter of fact, I forgot I still had one. I need to put it on the classifieds.

Steve
 
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