Shortscale Taylors in dropped tunings - okay?

[ewalling]

I have a GC3 that I bought from GC some months ago. As with a few other Taylors I've had, the setup was absolutely spot-on for standard tuning - low and easy with no buzz unless I really dig in. However, I have found that if I go down to DADGAD, the bass E, now D, is apt to buzz a little if hit with anything but a gentle attack. Capoed at the second fret, the bass string buzzes even more. This tended to happen also with a GC8 I owned a few years ago. Has anyone else experienced this - that in standard tuning the factory setup is as low as the instrument can reasonably take without fret buzz, but that there's very little give for detuning?

[mgap]

I have also had this very same problem.  A song in my repertoire that calls for drop D tuning, and capo at the 3rd fret, and it would buzz the frets badly, only with a very light touch would it not buzz.  The only solution I could come up with was to give the truss rod a pretty fair amount of relief.  Now this created high string action, however with it being capoed that would negate that problem, till I took of the capo off. 

I hope you can come up with a better solution.  I you do please share.  Because really this makes that guitar a one song guitar at this point, unless I readjust the truss rod when I am done with that song each time.

The guitar that I use for drop D tuning is a GS and I use medium strings. 

[stringbound]

There's no problem with a Taylor GC and dropped tunings.

I play mostly celtic fingerstyle on my GC5 and GC7.
Tunings I use are CGDGAD and CGDGCD.
Depending on the set up of your guitar and/or the strings you use, notes fretted on the low E-string might become sharp.
You can avoid this by playing medium strings (.13 to .56).

Usual tunings like Dropped D, DADGAD, Open G and Open D are no problem at all for the Taylor GCs.

[Giraku]

I once had a PS12ce. I set it up to have a very low action with a very small amount of relief, and it did not have any buzzing problem with dropped tuning.
That being said, with low action, slight fret leveling problem can be easily detected as buzzing, regardless the guitar size and scale length.
I recommend bringing your guitar to a good luthier for a fret leveling and dressing.

As stringbound said, low E becoming sharp when fretted can be fixed with medium gauge strings. This is a different problem, but guitars with shorter scale length like GC are more susceptible to this problem.

[M19]

My new custom 12-fret SS has no issues with DADGAD and variants. In fact, it is positively SWEET in open D. Uncapo-ed for Dimples, C-2 for Little Martha, C-3 for The Spinning Song, all good.

[ewalling]

I have also had this very same problem.  A song in my repertoire that calls for drop D tuning, and capo at the 3rd fret, and it would buzz the frets badly, only with a very light touch would it not buzz.  The only solution I could come up with was to give the truss rod a pretty fair amount of relief.  Now this created high string action, however with it being capoed that would negate that problem, till I took of the capo off. 

I hope you can come up with a better solution.  I you do please share.  Because really this makes that guitar a one song guitar at this point, unless I readjust the truss rod when I am done with that song each time.

The guitar that I use for drop D tuning is a GS and I use medium strings.

Interesting to hear you've had this issue, too. As regards relief, I took the GC8 I used to have to my luthier/tech, Steve Wildey at Glades Guitars, Pembroke Pines, and he said that the guitar had exactly the right amount of relief. Yet ... there was this buzz when detuned and particularly when capoed at the 2nd fret. I'm disinclined to diddle with the truss rod on my GC3 because it is otherwise perfectly fine, and I do also have a Seagull SWS Mini Jumbo that responds really well to dropped tunings.

[ewalling]

Depending on the set up of your guitar and/or the strings you use, notes fretted on the low E-string might become sharp.
You can avoid this by playing medium strings (.13 to .56).

One thing I tried with the GC8 was to use John Pearse New Mediums, which have a 55 for the bass. With that particular guitar, the issue was not resolved because the added thickness of the string caused it to hit the nearby frets, even though it was perhaps not moving as much as a 53 string did detuned. But each guitar is different, so I might give the 3 a whirl with a bass 55 and see what happens. 

[resonator48]

Last week I played a Taylor 12 fret GC mahogany/cedar that I tuned to both dropped D and DADGAD without any fret buzz. I was even doing medium strumming, but mostly finger style. Believe me, I HATE fret buzz or any kind of rattles going on. That said, a good luthier can correct fret buzz and rattles on any acoustic and still have the action set low. I'm not talking about those who play really hard and heavy handed. You can make any guitar buzz if you want. But for normal finger style, flat pick and medium strumming, a good setup is all you need.

A friend of mine plays a Taylor DDSM (Doyle Dykes) short scale. When he bought the guitar, it had fret buzz with the action set lower. The luthier we both use setup the guitar with extremely low aciton because that's the way Ron likes it. It looks like the strings are painted on the fret board. After some fret work and a good setup, no rattles or buzz and Ron does a lot of alternative tuning.