Altered Tunings | String Gauges Chart:
For Steel Phosphor Bronze-wound Strings

NOTE 1: I've discovered McDonaldStrings.com has a much easier-to-use chart than the one I have below, so ... you can still use my chart below if you wish, but I suggest you check out The McDonald Patent Universal String Tension Calculator by Clicking Here!

After much discussion on the Fingerstyle-L group, my good friend Chuck Conliff mailed me a copy of an article from Acoustic Guitar Magazine (December 2000) and I put this chart together from that information - for my own personal use ... of course, being my guest here, you may also enjoy this wonderful info!
:o)
Special thanks goes out to the author of the article, Rick Turner, for this hard-to-find resource!

There are three things to observe in calculating your string set:

Pitch: The note you wish to apply.
Gauge: The string gauge/size to use.
Tension: The pounds of pressure being applied to the bridge with this pitch and guage.

WARNING!!: A standard set of light gauge strings will apply a total of 179.2 pounds of pressure on the bridge ... if your guitar was built for light gauge strings, you may do damage to it by applying a heavier gauge - so apply these gauges with care, eh? The idea is to take the Tension amount of each string in your tuning ... add up the total ... and arrive somewhere around the following figures:

156.2 pounds for extra-lights
179.2 pounds for lights
197.5 pounds for mediums

NOTE: The common scale length on a guitar, from nut to bridge, is 25.5 inches ... if your instrument has a shorter scale length, the tension will be lower ... and, naturally, if the scale length is longer, the tensions will be higher.

EXAMPLE A:
Using my Open G tuning, which is (low to high) G G D G B D ... I find the following gauges and tensions from the chart below ... using the center column for Lights.

D: .014 ... 25.2
B: .016 ... 23.3
G: .025 ... 32.8
D: .034 ... 34.7
G: .047 ... 29.3
G: .047 ... 29.3

Totaling the tension amounts of each string, I arrive at 174.6 ... a "safe" number for light guage set ups.


EXAMPLE B:
If I wanted to apply an Open D tuning, which is (low to high) D.A.D.F#.A.D ... I find the following gauges and tensions from the chart below ... using the center column for Lights.

D: .014 ... 25.2
A: .020 ... 28.9
F#: .026 ... 31.4
D: .034 ... 34.7
A: .045 ... 34.0
D: .059 ... 25.6

Totaling the tension amounts of each string, I arrive at 179.8 ... again, a "safe" number for light guage set ups.

Now I know the correct gauges to order ... I order those gauges (see link below chart) ... put 'em on and twist 'em up, and I have the altered tuning I want without creating uneven pressure or causing damage to my instrument.

Bolded listings refer to standard guitar strings:

Pitch	Extra-Lights ||| Tension	Lights ||| Tension	Mediums ||| Tension
F# - 370.0Hz	.010 ||| 20.4	.0105 ||| 22.5	.011 ||| 24.7
F - 349.2Hz	.0105 ||| 20.0	.011 ||| 22.0	.012 ||| 26.2
E - 329.6Hz	.011 ||| 19.6	.012 ||| 23.3	.013 ||| 27.4
D# - 311.1Hz	.012 ||| 20.8	.013 ||| 24.4	.014 ||| 28.3
D - 293.7Hz	.013 ||| 21.7	.014 ||| 25.2	.015 ||| 28.9
C# - 277.2Hz	.014 ||| 22.5	.015 ||| 25.8	.016 ||| 29.3
C - 261.6Hz	.015 ||| 23.0	.016 ||| 26.1	.017 ||| 29.5
B - 246.9Hz	.015 ||| 20.5	.016 ||| 23.3	.017 ||| 26.3
A# - 233.1Hz	.016 ||| 20.7	.017 ||| 23.4	.018 ||| 26.3
A - 220.0Hz	.017 ||| 20.9	.020 ||| 28.9	.022 ||| 34.9
G# - 207.7Hz	.020 ||| 23.5	.022 ||| 28.7	.025 ||| 36.8
G - 196.0Hz	.023 ||| 27.9	.025 ||| 32.8	.027 ||| 38.4
F# - 185.0Hz	.025 ||| 29.2	.026 ||| 31.4	.027 ||| 38.4
F - 174.6Hz	.026 ||| 28.0	.029 ||| 35.8	.030 ||| 38.3
E - 164.8Hz	.027 ||| 27.1	.030 ||| 34.1	.032 ||| 38.4
D# - 155.6Hz	.030 ||| 30.4	.032 ||| 34.3	.034 ||| 38.9
D - 146.8Hz	.032 ||| 30.5	.034 ||| 34.7	.036 ||| 38.9
C# - 138.6Hz	.034 ||| 30.9	.036 ||| 34.7	.036 ||| 34.7
C - 130.8Hz	.036 ||| 30.9	.036 ||| 35.8	.039 ||| 35.8
B - 123.5Hz	.036 ||| 27.5	.039 ||| 32.0	.042 ||| 37.7
A# - 116.5Hz	.042 ||| 33.5	.042 ||| 33.5	.045 ||| 38.1
A - 110.0Hz	.042 ||| 29.9	.045 ||| 34.0	.047 ||| 36.9
G# - 103.8Hz	.042 ||| 26.6	.045 ||| 30.3	.049 ||| 35.6
G - 98.0Hz	.045 ||| 27.0	.047 ||| 29.3	.052 ||| 35.7
F# - 92.5Hz	.047 ||| 26.1	.049 ||| 28.3	.053 ||| 32.8
F - 87.3Hz	.049 ||| 25.2	.052 ||| 28.3	.053 ||| 29.2
E - 82.4Hz	.049 ||| 22.5	.052 ||| 25.2	.056 ||| 29.0
D# - 77.8Hz	.053 ||| 23.1	.056 ||| 25.9	.059 ||| 28.7
D - 73.4Hz	.056 ||| 23.0	.059 ||| 25.6	.062 ||| 28.2
C# - 69.3Hz	.059 ||| 22.8	.060 ||| 23.6	.064 ||| 26.8
C - 65.5Hz	.060 ||| 21.0	.062 ||| 22.4	.066 ||| 25.3
B - 61.7Hz	.062 ||| 19.9	.064 ||| 21.2	.070 ||| 24.8

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JustStrings.com
Once you know the string gauges you want to use, you can head on over to JustStrings.com ... click on single strings ... on the wound strings, be sure and select phosphor bronze ... and order your set(s) as you please!