12 String Guitars

[Mikey Brown]

A bit vague, I know, but any tips out there?

I've recently picked one up, sounds great but seem to spend an awful lot of time tuning it. I'm not sure if it's the usual combo of knackered strings, cheapish guitar/heads? Ive read various conflicting things about how you should tune a 12 string (order you tune the strings, tension, alternate tunings etc.) and I'm just curious if we have any experts here? There seem to be a good few guitarists and I don't know shit about guitars anymore.

[oldbackrow]

Mikey, I use Ernie Ball light gauge 12 Earthwound strings (tried D'Addario and had similar problem with tuning) but more likely it is your machine heads that need tightening/replacing.(get mine from Strings direct.com)
As far as tuning goes:
12th/6th - octave above normal /normal E
11/5 - octave above normal/normal A
10/4 - octave above normal/ normal D
9/3 - octave above normal/ normal G
8/2 - normal B
7/1 -normal e
Plenty of tuner apps and cheap but good tuners out there.
Hope this helps!

[Mikey Brown]

Thanks for that, I've seen both Ernie Ball and any lighter gauge strings recommended so I might give them a go. I guess I just don't know at this point how much it's the strings, the guitar, the setup or just me being a spaz. I've no issue with the tuning itself but it doesn't seem to last. I'm currently playing with the whole thing dropped a tone, supposedly taking a bit of the extra tension off the neck. But again that might not really be doing anything for me.