Custom Customer Concoction | C6 Steel Guitar 8 String 24-25"

C6 Steel Guitar 8 String 24-25"

1st: D4 - Plain 12
2nd: E4 - Plain 12
3rd: C4 - Plain 15
4th: A3 - Plain 18
5th: G3 - N22
6th: E3 - N26
7th: C3 - N34
8th: A2 - N40


Any long scale (24” to 25”) steel guitar. The two steel guitars for which I use this custom string set are an 8 string Fender Stringmaster (Single Coil Pickups), and an 8 string Frypan (horseshoe pickup).

Creator Description:
First off, this is Bobby Emmons’s version of C6 as taught to me by Doug Jernigan. Bobby’s 10 string pedal steel version just has an added 9th and 10 strings in the low end, which would be an F2 and C1. The top string is tuned to D4, but it can also be tuned to a more traditional G4. The G4 will be a bit high in tension, but it’s serviceable. This is the reason why both the D4 and E4 strings are 0.012” gauge. The advantage to using a high D instead of a high G is for solos and improvised lines. The high D affords access to more “linear” types of melodic and solo/improvised lines. It’s nice to contrast that against more traditional chordal types of steel solo ideas. I prefer GHS strings for Steel Guitar, whether plain or wound. For wound strings in general (whether electric guitar or steel), I prefer rollerwounds a.k.a. halfwounds a.k.a. semi flats. In all practicality, the best way to describe what I want in a wound string is "halfway between flatwounds and roundwounds". They are brighter than flatwounds, yet not as harsh, bright, and scratchy as roundwounds can be. Roundwounds have so much space between the windings that you get high pitched scratchy sounds when running your fingers across them. This is especially pronounced when playing steel guitar; the tonebar really makes the windings on roundwound strings standout, which is not pleasant to my ear. Rollerwounds mitigate that issue. To my ear, Rollerwounds are a pleasant compromise of retaining the mellowness of flatwound strings, while being brighter than Flatwounds, and less abrasive than Roundwounds. I used an online string calculator along with trial and error to experiment with string tension. My hypothesis is that given a scale length and a specific pitch, there is an ideal string tension which balances sustain and tone. To test that hypothesis, I experimented using real world trials. From my performance results, I’ve found that anything over 30 ftlbs of tension is way too high in tension. Both the tone and sustain suffer under excessive string tension. The tone sounds "choked out", and the sustain is greatly reduced. Anything under 18 ftlbs of tension is way too flubby. The strings are too loose; there’s not enough tension to dig in, and volume suffers. Ideally I like anywhere from 19-24 (+/- 1) ftlbs of tension. I encourage anyone to go through the same process I did and find what you like! Instead of buying new pickups and guitars, try getting scientific and nerdy about the strings you use! Your tone will improve. Creating balanced sets makes your guitars easier to play, and it costs waaaaay less than constantly switching out after market pickups and doing other modifications. Hunting down the best types of strings you like is literally the most bang for your buck for tonal improvement. I’ve found that the most drastic tonal changes comes from focusing on the physics of how your instrument produces sound. Concerning “bang for your buck”, the biggest improvements and changes in modifying an electric guitar come from strings, scale length, potentiometer values, and capacitor values. While switching out materials: pickups/metals/woods, does produce changes in sound/tone, the differences are not as prevalent, and the financial costs are high. If you do the work and experiment with different types of strings (gauges and nickel vs steel vs bronze), the differences in tone are much more apparent and it’s comparatively much cheaper. If you want better tone, start with your strings!

Created by:
Michael Kiese

If you would like your own custom set, please see the heading of each category for details.

• Model: C3 C6 Steel Guitar 8 String 24-2
• Manufactured by: Strings By Mail C3
• Condition: New