High Strung Guitar (Nashville Tuning) - The case for cheap guitars 

having a Nash-tuned acoustic around the studio is a favorite hiding-in-plain-sight production weapon, I love it so much... "we need a Mando but not a Mando" 😂 ... nice stuff, Jon

I just got a cheap guitar (that came with a bunch of accessories, including a stand, cleaning cloth, tuner, etc.) specifically so I could put it into Nashville tuning and layer it in my recordings. the whole thing was not quite $120. watching your videos where you simply fingerpick it and get that lovely shimmering sound makes me extra happy I made that choice. thank you!

I bought a set of Nashville high strung strings by mistake and put them onto an electric guitar. I got very confused when I saw them and thought they must have made a mistake in the factory. I'd never heard of "high strung" strings before. Anyway thanks to this video I was able to solve the mystery. I put them onto an old dreadnought that needed new strings anyway, tuned them up high and started playing....and wow! What an amazing sound... so inspiring. I can't wait to start making music with this "new" instrument. Thanks for this brilliant video.

Been playing guitar all my life and this is the first I've heard of Nashville Tuning ! Can't wait to try it out !

Taylors (even the cheapest of cheap ones) lend themselves to Nashville strings beautifully. That brightness really shines through. Great explanation and video, I'll check out more of your content as well.

just found your channel. I'm a professional audio engineer and very amauter guitarist. love almost everything I've watched so far. And this restores my hope in my Taylor Baby that was thinking of trading away. Keep the content coming!

TRIVIA - It was Chet Atkins who suggested to Ray Edenton to try expanding the octave up for all 4 of the "bass" strings, and not just the "G", or "High 3rd Tuning", as it was labeled by Ray back in the fifties ... ;-)

More than 20 years ago I made my vintage Fender Mustang an always-high-strung, studio, secret weapon. Now it's no longer a cheap guitar (I paid $150 in the 80s) and I'm thinking of recommissioning it to standard and getting a new cheapie. But that Mustang works SO well in Nashville.

Always a pleasure Jon. Love Nashville tuning, it sounds like snow looks when it’s glinting in the sun, completely magical. And yes, mine hangs ready strung on my old, much loved but beaten up Martin, ready to play when the inspiration strikes. Everyone should be fortunate enough to have a Nashville strung guitar hanging around, it just makes the world a better place. 😉😎

Huh….bought these strings by accident for my $80 used Yamaha I travel with. Thought they were Bluegrass strings. I just put them on anyhow and wow. It’s like a whole new instrument. Instead of an otherwise boring $80 guitar. Fun! Thanks for the video.

I love playing with alternate tunings as well. My standard tuned guitar is a Taylor Jars of Clay Signature Model. I also have a Taylor nylon string guitar in standard tuning. I have a Taylor 8 string baritone that is tuned from B to B. I have a GS Mini that I keep in Nashville tuning. My latest one is a Baby Taylor that is tuned A to A, like a standard guitar with a capo on the fifth fret. I used strings from a 12 string set, but not where they were intended to be, to get it tuned that high without overdoing the string tension and breaking the guitar or the strings. As you can tell, I love Taylor guitars.

Great video! I high-strung a guitar once as I was helping a friend with a cover of Comfortably Numb. I fell in love with it, so it's definitely a tuning I revisit from time to time. At the time, I was using a dreadnought and I found that there was a fair bit of low-end whooshy noise that we had to EQ out in the mix, so there's probably an argument that Nashville tuning actually sounds *better* on a smaller guitar!

I watched this video and decided to put my little Martin LX1 (basically Martin's version of your baby Taylor) in Nashville tuning...and I have barely put it down since. Thanks for the inspiration!!!

Nice work on setting up the comparisons in various scenarios.

I love to play Bach pieces in this tuning (same fingering), They become really magical.

Ok, I'm sold. I've got a $60 student Samick I found at a thrift store a while back. It's a shorty also - I've got it tuned to standard E, but three frets higher (like a normal guitar with a capo on the 3rd fret). It's a blast to play around with. But after watching this video, I'm thinking I'll try to the Nashville approach on this. I double track most of my guitar parts anyway - this will be an interesting approach! Thanks for making this video!

"Ready to go" is the main religion in my studio! Thanx for another great video! PS - sometimes I just let the Nashville tuned guitar shimmer through the reverb with the direct sound from my regular tuned guitar. There is so many funny options, haha ...

I always tune the low E to an A , makes for a lovely medieval sound

Very instructive and entertaining, thanks very much, Jon! 🙏Benno

Excellent video!

Took your advice and just picked up my own little Baby Taylor this weekend here in Richardson - it's even the Taylor Swift model. Fun! D'Addario Nashville string sets are ordered as well. Thanks, John!

Great stuff!

I put Nashville tuned strings on my used fender acoustic guitar. Put new life into a rarely used guitar

My Luna gypsy parlor mahogany sounds great in this tuning. The guitar already didn't have much low end so accentuating the high end is an amazing sounding and playing alternative that stands out from the rest of my guitars!

Hi Jon! great vídeo! thanks so much

You sir... you are a beautiful human being. I wish we all were more like you. I've got a cheap cajon that sounds amazing.

Niiice! I have a Big Baby Taylor and I’m gonna try this. Very informative. Thanks 👊

I've always found that a cheap guitar's imperfections give them more character, and that an expensive guitar, more often not, can potentially sound boring.

You have a great style of presenting

As far as other cheap instruments, look into building a PVC six-hole flute. The air is what is vibrating here, so the material that causes it to vibrate, whether wood, glass, clay, plastic, silver or gold is (no pun intended) immaterial. Also a great hard-to-damage, robust instrument that is lightweight and easy to toss in a backpack or trunk of a car.

Thanks for the advice on the guitar strings just bought them now saves me money buying a set of 12.😊

I use to have cheap nashville tuned guitar some time ago but sold it for unknown reason, you made me think of buying one again.

I love this kind of thing! My first guitar was an $80 guy off of Amazon. Works like a charm, sounds just fine. But I’ve gotten a better guitar since then, and my old guitar has been restrung with nylon strings. I don’t use it nearly as much as my steel-strung guitar, but it’s a nice thing to have around to add a different sound to a recording. It’s warmer, softer, and just gives a song a different feeling when it’s there. And I love that.

Nicely done! I was going to put a set of high strung on my Epiphone parlour but also have a Taylor Mini and will heed your recommendation. Good idea. Thanks for the advice!

I have an old acoustic that is permanently tuned like this. It sounds great for recording. Play the part on a high strung guitar and pan it hard left, then play it again and pan it hard right. It sounds amazing!

Thank you 🙂, sounds good !

Love this video Jon! You’ve made me decide to buy some strings and get my first acoustic guitar (tanglewood) setup for Nashville tuning

This is like splitting a 12 string in half! 😂😂 I love it!

I love your philosophy of good enough is good enough. I ended up by chance with a Guild 140 by chance, needs a setup, but it's in perfect like new shape with a like new gig bag. It is smaller bodied and I could tune it down a step. I bet Nashville tuning would sound great on it. What do you think? I can't wait to play it that way, and tuned down a step. Very exciting indeed.

Great info! I have to try that. I’ll be looking for an inexpensive smaller body guitar now. New subscriber!

Jon, I bought a backup Ashthorpe acoustic/electric brand new for 79 bucks. It sounds amazing and is a joy to play but sounds bright and is easier to play than my dark sounding Dean koa wood acoustic. You know that feeling I`m talking about. However I have to be careful to be gentle with it due to the cheap tuners or I`ll knock it way out of tune. I want to have my old Samick I learned on and played for nearly 2 decades repaired but that will never happen so I may take the nice tuners off it and put them on the Ashthorpe. I`m not into anything fancy and just love to play and sing. I was a singing drummer for a long time and switched to acoustic guitar. Cheap guitars are my favorite. I never felt right using expensive Martins when I got a chance to play them but I wish I had the Taylor my nephew brought to a birthday party in 2007 but later sold. But someone would have stole it from me. It sounded so amazing.

I've known about Nashville tuning for at least twenty years and I've heard many examples, but this is the first time I got why it's worth trying

awesome!!! Inspires me!!

I appreciate your video. I don't even know where to begin. I was reading about this tuning while learning about Jumpin Jack Flash. It's interesting to me how musicians will stray away from standard...anything. It then becomes a game with the "experts" to "reveal" what the musician ACTUALLY did on the recording. For me, and my inability to focus, it unleashes MANY hours of practicing... A video like yours will usually land my spaceship. In the process, I just learn about ANOTHER aspect of guitar that I have to ruminate about over and wonder if I really DID miss anything? Again, thanks for the video.

Its a beautiful sound, I'll have to try it with my Taylor gs mini sometime

Awesome, just bought a set of them. Such a cool accent to have on hand! By the way, what's up with that white MS-20 synth!? I have an old original, never seen a white one!

Nice

This is engaging stuff. Thanks. Today I thought, try a Nashville set on the 6-string banjo. So I ordered two sets, one PB & one nickel. Then I thought, been dabbling in open G...what about open G Nashville style? I can't find reference to that on the 'net, so I'll just have to find out how it goes.

Very interesting - good video - Can you high string a nylon classical guitar ? Ps Im going to breathe new life into my travel guitars .

I’m converting both a Takamine G Series acoustic and a Tele Partscaster to Nashville tuning. Strings arrive tomorrow. (Thank you, Amazon!) There are a lot of songs that simply work better in this higher register, and I can’t wait to take a capo real far up that neck!

Hi jon, thanks but what is the name of your Taylor please?

I guess I'm not selling my mini Martin after all. Thanks for the perspective!

heard about this nashville tuning so i took the low strings off the twelve string and it sounded so much better don't know if it's the twelve string headstock for more tone

How much of a Truss rod adjustment is necessary? A bunch or a little?

Shit bro, baby Taylor is a cheap guitar? See my collection lol. Old goodwill saves and a ton of First Act ! Someones gotta love em !

I think it's a little too high for me,but I can see myself occasionally using this tuning.

Good thinking… you know it would sound better, but whether it’s noticeable to the human ear is a different question. I’m going to try these on my Taylor LKSM - I never play it so it’s a good reason to get it off the wall…

Warren Huart recommended buying a cheap acoustic do this so I bought a second hand Yamaha for £50. I bought the D’addario Nashville set too. I’m going to try this with an electric guitar even though I have both acoustic and electric 12 strings as it is such a lovely sound.

for some reason this sounds so familiar.. it sounds? don mcclean? maybe? idk it just sounds like a sound locked deep in my memory

Jhs sent me.

I think it’s worth getting a slightly better guitar for this, even for layering, but especially if you want to use the Nashville on its own - as you suggest. Strung like this, the Baby Taylor sounds a little cheap to me.

Do you need to replace or shim the nut if you go this route?

I have a 50$ yamaha that is getting Nashville strings.. I love her sound be her nut is 11/36 and my hands never got used to that. I'm hoping this is her second act :)

No it is not obvious that a bigger bodied guitar would play higher frequencies better.

Dude...you seem to get caught up in how expensive or not things are. Who are you trying to convince? The track either sounds good and it works or it doesn’t. I know I don’t care what it was played on, most listeners don’t care either. It’s the song...it’s the song...it’s the song. Remember ☺️🙏🏾

You paid $125 for that, but it isn’t a $125 guitar. The viewer can’t count on getting one for that.

You need to research how to pronounce D'Addario.😂.

Great video !