I usually tune my steel guitars to D6 with G bass (G B D F# A B D F#). The Bohlen-Pierce tuning below uses the same string gauges with a BP fretboard designed by Andy DePaule. I simply place the fretboard over the standard one and retune to play in BP.
If you use a Peterson Strobe HD tuner, you can install the BP tuning table from the “Uncategorized” list at petersontuners.com/sweeteners/shared. That’s a lot easier than eyeballing the cents numbers on a traditional electronic tuner.
| BP note | 12 EDO Tuning |
| H | F -39 |
| G | Eb +14 |
| F | C +22 |
| Db | Ab -17 |
| C | Gb +37 |
| A | D -2 |
| H | Bb -41 |
| F | F +20 |
Here’s some ambient music played on it:
Hi Bob,
Looks interesting. Do you remember the string gauges you used for this?
Might be a good idea to publish the drawing of the fretboard so others can print it out to try?
I’ll send you those files when I wake up a little more.
Is that lap steel a 24.25″ scale?
The lap steel I made my own fretboard for is a 22.5″ scale.
Best wishes,
Andy
My string gauges for this lap steel are .013 .015 .018 .020 .026 .034 .038 .050.
Yes, it is a 24.25″ scale.