30-string Subcontra-Baritone update, part 5

 

In this blog post, I wrote of some pretty radical changes to the registers and tunings for the 30-string Subcontra-Baritone guitar.  At that time, I was still referring to it as the 30-string Contra-Alto guitar, but as the register assignments change, so must the instrument name.

It's been nearly a year since I made those changes to the 30.  In that time, I've used it on at least 14 album recording sessions.  The 30 has virtually become my defacto main instrument, even though I don't think of it that way.   

The string gauges continue to be refined, but the tunings have remained the same for the past several months.  The tunings are:

• 18-string side: Sub-contra A tuning.
• 12-string side: Baritone A tuning.

To further define the tunings: 

The sub-contra A tuning on the 18-string side is a fifth below bass E tuning.  It's the lowest-tuned instrument I have.  The other sub-contra tunings on some of my other instruments are C and D sub-contra.  All courses on the 18-string side are in octaves, except for the high G and C courses, which are in unisons.

Recording session; December 2025

The tuning on the 12-string side is A baritone.  That makes it one octave higher than the 18-string side, and a fifth below concert E tuning. All courses on the 12-string side are in an intervalic tuning, with no octaves or unisons.  This provides for an entirely different set of tonal colors when contrasted with the 18-string side.

Playing two-handed parts on this instrument sounds like at least two simultaneous instruments, and sometimes three or four, depending on how I'm approaching the parts.   

I've given some thought to turning the 18-string side into a re-entrant tuning.  This means that the high G and C courses would go from unison courses to being an octave lower in a diapason/octave configuration like the other courses on the 18-string side.  Not sure if I'm going to do that, but I have and am considering it.

Presently, the 30 is the only instrument that I shed every day.  I used to rotate through six or seven of the instruments so that within a week, I'd shedded on each of them at least once.  My current daily shedding routine is that I'll start with the 30, and then move on to one or two or three of the other instruments.  I feel like I'm still learning the 30 with the new registers, so I'm spending some extra time with it every day. 

I'm really happy with how the 30 has been working out since the radical register changes from last year.  No doubt it will continue to be heavily utilized in the studio.

-kk