Soon to be new Les Paul owner question.

Fret-Shredder

Fret-Shredder

Well-known member
Hey Les Paul guys. I'm finally getting my first Gibson. 60s profile Les Paul Standard Unburst. The guitar is going to come with 10-46 strings in Standard tuning. I like tuning a half step down. Is that going to cause an intonation issue? Should I be able to go back and forth from Standard tuning to a half step down without having to intonate? Sorry for my ignorance but all my other guitars are Floyed based and this is my first fixed bridge. Thanks.
 
De-tune the crap out of that Lester.
This guy's made it work for decades.

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Fret-Shredder said:
Hey Les Paul guys. I'm finally getting my first Gibson. 60s profile Les Paul Standard Unburst. The guitar is going to come with 10-46 strings in Standard tuning. I like tuning a half step down. Is that going to cause an intonation issue? Should I be able to go back and forth from Standard tuning to a half step down without having to intonate? Sorry for my ignorance but all my other guitars are Floyed based and this is my first fixed bridge. Thanks.
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Also don't forget that the LP is a smaller scale than what you are used to, so standard tuning should be a bit easier to play.
 
Geo said:
Also don't forget that the LP is a smaller scale than what you are used to, so standard tuning should be a bit easier to play.
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I use 9-42 on all my other guitars. This is going to be my first 10s guitar so I figured being Im tuning down a half step it will make the 10s strings easier to bend.
 
Findthetone1 said:
No issues at all. I’ve been doing it for years. 10s on a LP 1/2 step down is slinky goodness :rock:
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Sweetwater will be sending the guitar factory set up by Gibson in Standard tuning. So I won't have to do anything to it other than tune it down a half step and I'll be good to go?
 
Fret-Shredder said:
Sweetwater will be sending the guitar factory set up by Gibson in Standard tuning. So I won't have to do anything to it other than tune it down a half step and I'll be good to go?
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I have never received any guitar from Sweetwater that had the intonation correct, never even close.
 
Fret-Shredder said:
I use 9-42 on all my other guitars. This is going to be my first 10s guitar so I figured being Im tuning down a half step it will make the 10s strings easier to bend.
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Like someone said earlier, try the 10s at normal tuning first for a couple days. The shorter scale is quite a bit
less tension. For the longest time I used 9-42 on Strat scale stuff and then 10-46 on LP.
All standard tuning.

The Strandberg that uses the fanned scale is the best of both worlds.
Les Paul on the high E slanting down to a Strat on the low E. I use 10s
on this with standard tuning.

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With .009 gage ,you'll be a bending mo fo :thumbsup:
I dont think he tunes down a half step but doesn't The Rev Billy G use .008 gage?
 
John4021 said:
I don't think he tunes down a half step but doesn't The Rev Billy G use .008 gauge?
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Yup. Or at least he did during the MTV days when hid did lots of interviews.

A lot of guys playing country swear by .008s with pretty low action.
Let's them get the spank all over the neck easily.
 
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I would play with a string tension calculator. If you have a set of strings that you like on a 25.5 scale, it is easy enough to note the tension and then find the needed gauge for a 24.75 LP
But yes, I think 10 set would work well for Eb standard. Note that the standard set will have a tight A string and a floppy E string, so I use that calculator to guide a custom balanced set from Stringjoy
 
Powerchords with distortion and 9's sounds tighter than using 10's for some reason.

It's the single notes on the higher strings that sound a bit thinner.
 
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