CAN A LES PAUL DO DROP B TUINNG? 

Don't forget Tonny Iommi already tuned to C# on gibson scale back in the day with like .9-.42's. I've recently discovered how he used the string gauge and it broke my mind in a good way and I tried to get to B standard with .10-.46 on my les paul and it's just feels so nice to play like that.

Friendly reminder that rob Barrett of cannibal corpse used various les Paul’s on records with his silver burst in G# for the kill album if I remember correctly.

Maaan, you’ve hit the nail on the head. Great info man. I dropped mine to B and didn’t like it at all. But I love mine too and have it at C standard no problem.

I love your riffs man!

Very educational. I'm just learning about various tunings by Thrash and Death Metal bands so, this is some really great information.

Cool video, doggie. Love talking about this stuff. I used to have my Les Paul set up to drop B with 13/62 (d’addario baritone lights) thinking that more tension on the bottom string would be the way to go. I found that actually using a light gauge contributes to more low end “whomph” (if that’s a word). Allowing the string to vibrate more freely really opens up the low end. And I have a heavy picking band. To that point, I currently have my SG Standard Dark tuned to drop B with D’addario 12-54 (with a plain 20)… I know I know. Turns out a plain g string actually has more tension than a wound G of the same size. I personally like the feel of the wound, but the 12-54 came with a plain G so fuck it. But it never goes out of tune, and intonates great. Try it on your Sg, man! I do however use 13-62 for drop B on my teles. I use the increased string tension to achieve more twang. SRV kinda thing if you will, and I exclusively use the neck pickups on teles. So to sum up, for drop B. If I use humbuckers for a chugging application i go with a lighter gauge. If I use single coils for twang I go heavy. I also have two Les Paul baritones. Had one at some point in drop B with 11-56 and it ruled!!! Might sell them but I’ll never forgive myself. One more comment on scale length…. My buddy in shitstorm (grindcore/power violence from Miami) plays a super short scale 24” all parts mustang in drop A and it sounds fucking killer. You’ll love their new release “only in dade”

I’m doing A standard/drop G on a 50s Les Paul Standard. And it sounds great! I have a 7 string that I use for different purposes, but the custom 57 PAF humbucker set has a lot of great tone and I’m playing it with an Empress Heavy boosted by a Plumes through an Orange Rocker and it sounds incredible.

The first guitar I ever bought starting out was an Epiphone LP 100 and I eventually put an EMG 81 in the bridge position and for the money, it sounded killer. I had a friend I played with when Slipknot first came out and we went down to Drop B. Sounded brutal that low, but you definitely have to play with a lighter touch or put some super beefy strings on it. Now I’m on a Strandberg Boden 6 for normal stuff and an 8 with Fishman’s for anything heavy. They play like a dream.

I played my Gibson scale length gutar in dropped A# with 12-54 strings for years. Worked out fine, as we played slower fuzzy music. But I changed to 25.5 scale and thicker strings recently.

You can thank Ryan Bruce for the Mammoth gauge strings! I have a set of those on my Schecter Omen 6 which is a 25.5" scale guitar and I keep that in C Standard tuning. On my Ibanez RG 7 string I use EB Skinny Top Heavy Bottom. I have a Squire Bullet Strat with a single humbucker that has Beefy Slinkys and I have two other guitars strung with Power Slinky sets. I like Ernie Ball strings, it's their guitars that I don't vibe with.

The most beautiful Les Paul Custom !! The Norlin Custom Natural and the "Les Paul Artisan" are 2 of my dream guitars !

I recently tried stringjoy 11-58's and it does all of the lower tunings so well.

I used a set of 10-54 Ernie Balls for drop B on my Epiphone LP and I thought it played really well all around. Stayed in tune and didn’t buzz too much at all. I guess a lot of it comes down to your own technique as far as playability goes

Hey Ray I use the same string gauge on my Harley Benton les Paul copy and my Harley Benton explorer copy in b standard I’ve also used that same string set in drop a as well on both guitars and I’m a lead guitarist awesome vid and yeah I can agree shouldn’t go any lower

Good video. What do you prefer for Drop C, another video about Drop C would be cool 🤘🏻

Bjorn Gelotte, plays a LP custom tuned to drop A#, and seems to have no problem riffing and shredding.

I play A standard and drop G on my Eclipse. I use D'addario baritone strings. Sometimes I switch between the light and the medium packs. Mostly the light because I do alot of bends and play leads as well as rhythm. Been a couple years since I ditched baritone guitars. Was an expensive waste of time for me. Plus regular sized axes are just more comfortable to play. Roller bridges or roller saddles are a plus. Graphtec black tusk nut, I can't express enough the importance of a properly filed nut. Locking tuners adjust your neck and you should be good to go. I removed my pickup rings and direct mounted the pickups straight into the cavity. This thing is a bad mthrfkr now.

I'm a huge Bill Steer/ Carcass fan, he plays a variety of LPs in B standard

Thank you for making a very useful video. I recently purchased a GIBSON 1968 Custom. I'm planning on using this guitar as a Drop C, but I have a few questions. 1. Is it okay to use the Custom 68 pickup as is? Your sound is fantastic. I wonder if that kind of sound will come out with the original pickups. 2. Is separate nut processing required? It seems difficult to use a thicker string than 011 without processing.

Well said about the wound third.

My SG is in drop A with 48-11s and it sounds and plays great lol. I’d like to put Fishmans fluance in it even tho I’m a emg 81/60 fan. Bc of the all mahogany body’s deep in the low end, needs a bit more bite but reasonable. I’ve installed blackouts in my George lynch and uhm yeah the cleans were dooodooo lol.

I got mine in Drop B and it’s amazing. Sure needs a overdrive pedal now but a pack of magnum slinky’s did it for me. I like my strings a little lose.

Used to go b flat standard on mine because I hated my seven string but loved the tuning . Mammoth slinky as well.

Just watched They Live on Tubi! Long live Rowdy Roddy Piper.

They live 💯 🕶️

Hell from salem oregon puts an sg and an lp in i believe drop g and will routinely drop that g down even further to d for some songs

I agree, a short scale length is not the best in drop b, but I tryed out drop c and that was ok with the regular slinky and power slinky strings for riffs and lead guitar... But there is something magical in a shorter scale length, the response and the playability is different in comparison to a bigger scale length... 🤔🤘

Man Xander writes some cool riffs

Absolutely it can! Sevendust, mudvayne’s 1st album, etc

I played in drop A for YEARS on a Gibson sg voodoo. I've since moved to baritones and never looked back.

My Epiphone LP is always in drop B. It sounds and plays great with .62 strings and the Jim Root Daemonum pickups

I tune to drop A# at 432hz and use 58-44-32-18-15-11 on my 24.75 scale ESP. Works great 🤘

Okay so I have several Les Pauls and Gibson scale guitars in drop C, so not quite B but close. And depending on the individual guitar, either the Zakk Wylde set of 10-60 or 11-56 are almost perfect for that tuning and you can do both lead and riffage extremely well. Why I say almost is because those are readily available sets and I think if certain individual string could be optimized in both. So that is not drop B but I'd argue that coming from either of those sets could be a great starting point to find a better set than the 12-56 (I agree the plain 24 is very odd) or the 12-62.

Roy Z used a 1970something (I guess) LP custom in drop A on Chemical Wedding and he was shredding like crazy on it, so... It is possible to go even lower and still make it work. But you gotta pump up your string gauge a lot... I mean, both Jesper and Bjorn from In Flames have used and use Gibson scale in drop A#, but they are/were using 13-68 strings...

If I remember right Gasoline by Audioslave was a Drop B song that Morello played on his burnt Budweiser Les Paul.

You can make it happen. Setup is almost everything... apart from string choice (go stringjoy). People think about tunings kinda weird sometimes... Consider this: Drop A is actually just E standard shunted a string over the fretboard... 5/6 of your string don't even change... and something like a .64 to .68 for the A on the bottom end. BUT: You need a good bridge and a professional setup to make it happen properly, it's big jump to that low string. I love my baritones, but sometimes going down on the shorter scales can rock hard too, especially for the more doom and sludge genres... you can still play leads for sure, but I'm not really a "shredder" in the first place, but id agree the 25.5" does make a big difference.

Nice shirt

do you have to install a new nut? do you just cut the nut slots wider? do you do it yourself or take it to someone? I'd like to have heard about getting those giant stings in your LP nut a little bit in the video.

Drop B flat is as low as I ever tuned an LP style guitar. I had an old Ibanez LP copy from the 70's that I did that with, and it felt & sounded pretty good. Used the GHS Heavy Weights (formerly the Zakk Wylde signature set and still labeled GBZWLO) on it. That guitar got stolen, so I setup my Talman in C standard/drop B flat so I could still have an instrument in that tuning. That set of strings is almost too slinky on the high strings, but I don't play much lead on that guitar anyway. It's mostly for heavy rhythm parts, but it does that job very well.

ive had my les in drop b for the past 2 years , i love it personally

been usin 11s on a squier strat with a humbucker and its aight

I’ve found that I don’t like going any lower than drop C# on my 24.75 scale schecter. With 10-52. Then I have an Ibanez rgd axion label with a 26.5 scale in drop C with the same gauge. For me and my playing style I find that the schecter does well with rhythm and leads and faster playing in general. Where as the Ibanez is more of a basic bouncy riff machine and big open ambient chords. Given the fact that it’s basically a baritone. So I’ve taken a lot of inspiration from you

I play drop b in my Les Paul studio I gotta use hella thick strings, but it works great. That scale length and baseball bat neck just works for me

Personally, I use the same 10-46 D'Addarios for drop B that I use for D standard on my Epiphone LP. The string tension is... Not great on the low B string, truthfully, but it doesn't feel bad, either, I can still flow with the riffs on tracks like Morrigan by Children of Bodom or Before I Forget by Slipknot. The leads feel much more solid, though my skills don't exactly match 😅 but, practice makes progress

Agreed man, I play in drop A# on my 25.5 guitars, but using an NYXL 12-60 set with a low 70

I have two of the Les Paul Studio “Shred” models with the Floyd Rose Trem. They’re primarily D standard/drop C guitars. I wonder how they’d intonate for drop B. Hmmmmm……

I play DR Pure Blues 12-52 C Standard on LP, perfect :)

I have mine in B standard with 13s and it seemed okay. Intonation not perfect, but fun to play. I'll probably put it up to C# standard until I sell it, though, as I use a Jazzmaster in B standard, now.

Omega mike has video about this when teching wit byd

Regarding the wound 24 issue. A plain 20 is going to hold near the same tension of a wound 24. The tension itself is coming from the core, not the core plus the winding. 100% agree on drop b being the lowest you want to go on an LP, My issue was the huge jump in string size to gain that tension on the low be, it just rolled around under my fingers for me, plus it was getting too muddy in tone for me.

Billy Howerdel from A Perfect Circle makes it work

Yamaha Revstar (24.75'' scale) 12-56 witj wound G-string, Drop-A#

I did drop A on my EC1000 and LPC and it sounded just fine. Just used 11-70 GHS Boomers and let it rip!

I had an Epiphone Les Paul that I kept in B standard/drop A

Did drop B with 13 -52 with no round wound 3rd on my Les Paul for years and no problems, leads included.

Yo Ray! whats up my brother!

Do you change out the nut and adjust the truss rod when you swap out to the drop b string guage?

this video was an ad for Ernie Ball strings

I know metalcore bands have used Gibson scales for years in drop C and B. I feel like Idaho no lower than drop c# myself and use a drop pedal to go down to B.

I had a Les Paul that was my favorite guitar. I basically never tuned that guitar any lower than Drop C#. Unfortunately the strap came off while I was playing which caused it to fall and the the neck to break so I can’t try this anymore 😔

Man I have a AIO wolf lp guitar and I string it up with earnie ball baritone strings. It handles drop B with ease. Sounds chonky with the guitarmory caurtirizer pickups.

How much of a change or an adjustment did you experience with the nut? Obviously going to mammoth gauges this is going to be a factor.

les paul must be headbanging right now

Amon Amarth plays b standard, and they used Gibson scale for years ;) so yea, can be done ;)

Mudvayne made me absolutely LOVE the sound of a les paul in drop B

Honest question but Would it not be more feasible to tune to drop d and use a pitch shifter to go to drop b to retain both rythm and lead capabilities?

I have heard some say an evertune helps even then I still wouldn't which is partly why my guitars are all 25.5" scale and one day some 27" and 28"

Ask Björn Gelotte from in flames....who's been doing it from B to A for years on a epiphone les paul scale not a baritone

I use Ernie Ball 13s for my Ibanez RG (Drop C) and they’d probably be my go to for Drop B too. SRV was an animal using them for E flat.

What if you can get lp style guitar not Gibson but another brand in a 25.5 " scale ?

With a Drop pedal, it can go as low as you want. ☝️🤓

The first track on Sonic Brew, I think Zakk Wylde played in drop-A tuning? I presume it was a Les Paul he used?

Why don’t you combine strings from both packs so you get the mammoth bass strings and don’t have that wound G? Then you get to do rhythm AND leads! Sweet!

Modern In Flames is Drop A# on a Les Paul, just sayin'.

Never really enjoyed how gibson scales feel tuned down personally i know a lot of older metal guys play them like rob barrett from cannibal plays his deans tuned to A# or G# which still boggles my mind

I made a Gibson sg do drop A at guitar center

That guitar is beautiful

Can a SG do Drop F# Tuning? (no Pitch shifter)

Even lower. 😉

Would it be possible to chug with the Paul on Rythm and use standard tuning for solos?

The cat in the background of the playthrough must be lying down to cope with the massive stank-face induced by that riff

90's Black label society, Zakk goes down to G, A And B on the E string

I use the Ernie ball 7 string power slinky 11-58 for Drop B and I ditch the 18 plain on all my 24.75" scale guitars. Not not too tight and not too slinky for my needs. At one stage I went to a 13-70 ghs boomers Wylde signature set for Drop B and that was the worst

Hey, what pickups are on this guitar?

In Flames and plenty of other melodic death bands did it no issue, but I will watch anyways.

Bjorn from In Flames has been playing Les Pauls in drop B and A for the last 20 years. He shreds too. Les Pauls also have a cool sound with low tuned floppy strings as well (old mastodon). Personal preference 🤷🏼‍♂️.

Am I the only one that hates pick guards? A .56? I use a .60 for whole down and Drop C.

Wata of Boris tunes her Les Paul to A# standard, but on Heavy Rock (or at least Heavy Friends of Heavy Rocks) she tuned it down to drop G#, & even then if several songs of the album Dear, she tunes down even further with the lowest string a D# an octave below the string above it, tho admittedly she seems to use that less as a defined note & more as a drone-y effect Sleep & literally every bluesy stoner metal & sludge band ever tunes to C standard on Les Pauls & SGs, aside from Leagues Beneath where Sleep was tuned to drop B, & Black Sabbath after Iommi’s incident, where he began tuning to C# Sunn 0))) also tunes to drop A & drop G# on a Les Paul & what seems to be an SG like instrument, which I guess is from Peavey but can’t say with 100% certainty but id bet money it has a gibson scale length TL;DR the bassy & slinky nature of big ass strings with low tension on an already wooly instrument is literally a staple of the atmospheric side of metal, saying it “doesn’t work” is literally discounting legends such as Wata, Iommi, or Pike, if it doesn’t for you or isn’t comfortable then don’t do it but those musicians deserve their due respect in building the signature tone of these genres

Why not in drop D and using the Drop pedal I've use it for 6 month and it's amazing

Bill Steer from Carcass plays B standard on a modified Gibson Melody Maker, so…

Finally Ernie Ball is offering proper alternatives to that awful Not Even Slinkies. That unwound 024 g-wire was just unusable imo. The Magnum Slinky set (12-56, with a wound 022) is just so much better. On 24.75" scale guitars it's perfect for Drop C and a feasible option for Drop B for all those who prefer a slightly looser feel.

Drop B on a 24.75" scale is totally doable especially with 54-11 EB Cobalt

Short Answer: Yes

Well Ray, you already did a video showing it can do Drop A 😂😂😂 so of course it can do drop B.

YOU TOOK THE BINDING NIBS OFF???

One word. Mastodon

That one guy from the band Adema tuning his Les Paul to A# standard gives me anxiety

I use 12-56 for C standard and 12-62 for DropB/A# regardless of fender or Gibson scale. Have multiple guitars setup in each of those tunings and love it. You are right though. It comes at the cost of lead playing, but doesn’t make it impossible obviously. If this is something you really want to do, and you really want to play leads you can figure it out with a bit of extra practice bending that G string

Holy sh... I try a 13-72 ernie ball.

I think sunn O))) is in drop A with a Les Paul