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A mate can't sing the high range any more. He's tried de-tuning his guitars but the sound is mushy. I suggested a baritone but with 4 guitars arriving in the mail in the past 5 weeks, he's worried the next delivery will be divorce papers.

There's pedals that do this though, right? What are they? Good example recommendations?

Our hero used to have a Line 6 variax which would suit the bill perfectly but any guitar without a use by lunchtime has to be sold.

How far is he detuning the guitars? I would go up a string gauge for each semitone detuned. But I can't imagine needing to detune more than a semitone or two...

Also, those detune things feel seriously weird. Something jarring about the effect and how the strings feel and vibrate. I am not a fan, and the idea of having one 'always on' weirds me out a bit. I tried a Morpheus DropTune, which I think is one of the better ones out there?

CDog demoed us his Digitech Drop at the gearfest, super impressed!!!

hercules wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:51 am How far is he detuning the guitars? I would go up a string gauge for each semitone detuned. But I can't imagine needing to detune more than a semitone or two...

Also, those detune things feel seriously weird. Something jarring about the effect and how the strings feel and vibrate. I am not a fan, and the idea of having one 'always on' weirds me out a bit. I tried a Morpheus DropTune, which I think is one of the better ones out there?

Bumping up string gauges would be my advice if it's a permanent change. I like to play Kyuss and QOTSA stuff which is in C standard and I'll use the detune function on my Helix if my guitar's in E standard. It sounds good but it all feels a bit wrong for more than 1 or 2 songs.

Slowy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:42 am A mate can't sing the high range any more. He's tried de-tuning his guitars but the sound is mushy. I suggested a baritone but with 4 guitars arriving in the mail in the past 5 weeks, he's worried the next delivery will be divorce papers.

There's pedals that do this though, right? What are they? Good example recommendations?

Our hero used to have a Line 6 variax which would suit the bill perfectly but any guitar without a use by lunchtime has to be sold.

Sorry if this is captain obvious, but can he just transpose and learn to play in keys that match his vocal range? I guess it depends on what the songs are, if they depend on certain open strings etc. I have to drop most songs down a tone as my higher range is not that pleasant.

The drop pedal (dgiitech) is pretty good to a whole tone and rubbish after that. They are discontinued though and people are asking silly money for them. If its only going to eb/d ,its cheaper to restring!

Delayman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:19 am

Slowy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:42 am A mate can't sing the high range any more. He's tried de-tuning his guitars but the sound is mushy. I suggested a baritone but with 4 guitars arriving in the mail in the past 5 weeks, he's worried the next delivery will be divorce papers.

There's pedals that do this though, right? What are they? Good example recommendations?

Our hero used to have a Line 6 variax which would suit the bill perfectly but any guitar without a use by lunchtime has to be sold.

Sorry if this is captain obvious, but can he just transpose and learn to play in keys that match his vocal range? I guess it depends on what the songs are, if they depend on certain open strings etc. I have to drop most songs down a tone as my higher range is not that pleasant.

Yeah, this.

Tighter undies?

jeremyb wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:13 am Tighter undies?

Also this.

Kris wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:21 am The drop pedal (dgiitech) is pretty good to a whole tone and rubbish after that. They are discontinued though and people are asking silly money for them. If its only going to eb/d ,its cheaper to restring!

I was also close to getting one of this pedal, until I read the reviews.

Slowy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:42 am He's tried de-tuning his guitars but the sound is mushy.

The problem starts there I think - define "mushy". Does he mean mushy feeling (loose strings) or mushy sounding (muddy, no clarity) - or both? Guitars can be setup for low tunings and sound fine. My Charvel is in drop B with 12-54s and it's not mushy to me... but it is ofcourse a lot deeper and thicker sounding than E-standard - that's just physics.

bender wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:12 am

Delayman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:19 am

Slowy wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 9:42 am A mate can't sing the high range any more. He's tried de-tuning his guitars but the sound is mushy. I suggested a baritone but with 4 guitars arriving in the mail in the past 5 weeks, he's worried the next delivery will be divorce papers.

There's pedals that do this though, right? What are they? Good example recommendations?

Our hero used to have a Line 6 variax which would suit the bill perfectly but any guitar without a use by lunchtime has to be sold.

Sorry if this is captain obvious, but can he just transpose and learn to play in keys that match his vocal range? I guess it depends on what the songs are, if they depend on certain open strings etc. I have to drop most songs down a tone as my higher range is not that pleasant.

Yeah, this.

Some chord progressions and riffs do not retain their character when transposed to another key. Likewise many fingerpicked passages do not change key and remain playable; not for folks with skills less than Danny Gatton.

Slowy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:11 am

bender wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 11:12 am

Delayman wrote: ↑Tue Dec 13, 2022 10:19 am

Sorry if this is captain obvious, but can he just transpose and learn to play in keys that match his vocal range? I guess it depends on what the songs are, if they depend on certain open strings etc. I have to drop most songs down a tone as my higher range is not that pleasant.

Yeah, this.

Some chord progressions and riffs do not retain their character when transposed to another key. Likewise many fingerpicked passages do not change key and remain playable; not for folks with skills less than Danny Gatton.

It'll sound better than rattly slack strings

StrummersOfThunder wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:21 am
It'll sound better than rattly slack strings

Yep. Hence the search for a pedal that does what a Line6 Variax guitar does.

Slowy wrote: ↑Wed Dec 14, 2022 5:11 am
Some chord progressions and riffs do not retain their character when transposed to another key. Likewise many fingerpicked passages do not change key and remain playable; not for folks with skills less than Danny Gatton.

I definitely get that. I had to transpose about 60% of the Moe Show songs for the voice actors to be able to sing- their character voices made their ranges unpredictable. Transposing down I’d often lose open string chord voicings, not to mention hammer-ons that would be part of the character of the original idea.

If a detune pedal doesn’t work out or you just can’t find one, another thing you could try is transposing up with a capo and then dropping the melody an octave. That worked reasonably well for me for some songs. You have to transpose up quite far (5-7 semi tones) for that to work so it’s a bit hit and miss though.