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Regulars
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Several people have told me that it upsets a fiddle to change from one tuning to another. But I don’t know if this is really true or if it’s just an “old wives tale”. I have seen no concrete evidence of this, but perhaps I simply have not found any visible signs of damage or poor performance.
I play some music in standard (GDAE) tuning and I also play some fiddle tunes in AEAE and ADAE tunings.
I have two fiddles, one that I keep in standard tuning and the other switches from AEAE to ADAE, depending on the tune.
Should I expect some deleterious effect from this practice? What negative consequence would I notice?
Regulars
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Cant see it doing anything bad. If it damaged the fiddle dont think you would get as many blue grass players,)
Cant beat a sunny day
Regulars
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🤔... maybe a little hard on the strings (depending on the type of strings), if doing a lot of retuning?
Not sure if once strings 'settle in', if that means they'll keep their tuning no matter what is done to them... or do they need additional 'settle in' time, each time retuned? Or, maybe it's ONLY hard on the Fiddler - who has to check the tuning more often(?)
Just seems easier if you have one fiddle in standard tuning & another dedicated to some alternative (ready to go & settled in).
Don't see how it could be 'bad' for the fiddle... unless doing some extreme over-tightening of all the strings for an extended period. That's extra pressure on the bridge.
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I cross tune all the time, playing cross tuned is another story. It doesn't happen very good
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I know that some people play from a number of different tunings, but I keep one fiddle in standard tuning and one for AEAE and ADAE so it’s just the D string that sometimes is tuned up one full tone to E. I figure that puts very minimal stress on the instrument. As previously noted, I haven’t noticed any ill effects from this practice -- and I don’t even know what to look for.
The greater challenge is organizational. The ## and ### tunes need to stay together and I need to be aware of what-goes-where. This is not a problem in old-time fiddling, which typically plays tunes in one key for a while, then everyone shifts to a different key. But for everyday practice it’s a little more difficult for me to randomly jump around from one tune to another.
But, for me, the benefits of cross-tuning outweigh that inconvenience. The added resonances and possible harmonies make the music richer and more interesting (also louder). I’m partial to Ralph Blizzard’s approach of never playing the same tune exactly the same way, and having the fiddle “correctly” set up for a given tune seems to open up lots of possibilities. It’s probably more efficient to play everything in standard tuning but, gosh, that might be horribly boring, haha...
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