Question How to play drop tunings with light strings?

[TobiastheGreat]

There's a guitarist named Jason Richardson that plays in Drop G with an 11-58 gauge on his JP Musicman guitars.
I've contacted Ernie ball and spoke to other guitar techs, and they have no idea how he does it. And of course I can't get in contact with his personal guitar tech.
His strings don't even make the slightest flap, they're really tight for the light gauge strings he's using for such a low tuning.
Does anyone have any idea how he does this?
His strings are cobalt btw.
I don't think it's the amount of springs in his guitar either because when I had 5 springs to my floating tremolo, even drop a with 11-58 was too sloppy.
Here's one of his videos:
Chelsea Grin - "Letters" Play Through - YouTube

 

[SBMM]

Hi Tobias!
I'm Brian from Sterling By Music Man (the one who directed you to this forum!)
Welcome! You should be able to find an answer to this question on here as there are many players of the Music Man and Sterling By Music Man 7 strings on here.

 

[TobiastheGreat]

Hey man!
Thank you for all the advice btw!
Hopefully someone who knows will reply.

 

[Kabz]

I know if you watch his newer videos he has a Petrucci in Buckeye Burl maple top custom made -- I believe I read it was a baritone scale.
On a 25.5" scale with 10-46 I am able to play Drop-C just fine. Dont see Drop A for the 7th being an issue?
Jason also plays the Majesty in drop tuning but I don't know if they are 10s or 11s on there.
He does use the entire guitar and his bends sound too flawless to be 11s, but he's a beast so maybe someone can chime in who knows better?

 

[SpeakingToStone]

Hey!
I have the same problem. Without a long scale (27.5 inch) neck it's near impossible to get the right tension and intonation from A or lower. The best I was able to do was raise the individual saddle on the B/drop A string. This helped to give the string more tension, but I could never get the intonation right. This was tried with a .58, 60, .62, and .64 all with similar results.

 

[Geir Isaksen]

Still no answer to this? I am also searching for string advices for Drop-G tuning on my majesty 7.

 

[christheasian]

when jason was in boo, he was still using 10-56 for drop g. it wasn't until a few years ago that he tried the 11's for the full step down. I've set up a few of his guitars and it's not impossible. he likes it snappy. the buckeye is still 25.5

 

[DrKev]

His strings don't even make the slightest flap, they're really tight for the light gauge strings he's using for such a low tuning.
Does anyone have any idea how he does this?
His strings are cobalt btw.

Looking at that video, I don't think his strings are particularly tight. That low string is really moving and you can hear it flapping acoustically, if you listen closely. BTW, in the comments section someone says he uses M-Steels, 11 - 58 for drop G.

I'd like to clear up some misunderstanding here [physicist hat on]...

String tension is determined by a combination of pitch and scale length and gauge. That means that for a given scale length and gauge of strings, it is impossible to change the tension of the strings without changing the pitch.

There are no two ways about this; whatever tuning he uses, the tension he gets with his strings will be *identical* to the tension you get using the same strings, same tuning, and same scale length.

Adding springs to the trem or changing the height of the saddles might change the feel of the strings a little, especially when bending, but the strings will still be at exactly the same tension overall. That's just how Mother Nature rolls.

[/physicist hat off]

Now, different *types* of strings can have slightly different tensions for the same gauge (because they are made of different materials). Cobalt wound strings have slightly *lower* tension than standard or coated slinkys of the same gauge (their plain strings are identical). However, M-Steels may have slightly higher tension (not 100% on this, can anyone confirm?), so that could be part of the answer. I think the rest of the answer is this - his strings are quite loose, he does get fret buzz, he just not too bothered and he's learned to control things through hours and hours of careful technique and practice.

Now some people add extra neck relief with low tension strings, because they flap around more and they extra room over the frets can help a little. But that extra neck relief can add a little to the string height you measure at the 12th fret. So you might compensate by lowering the saddles a touch. However, that could give you string buzz on the higher frets (~ 17th and above) in which case, you'll have to dial back the neck relief a little and raise the saddles again.