drop d tree (headed detuning system)

[ajent__smith]

heres an idea for going to drop d quickly:
have 2 trees on your headstock the low E string, one on top of the other, or at leas at different heights. have the bottom one (The E Tree) removable, so that when you remove it, the string moves up and rests on the "D" tree. one of the trees would have to be adjustable, so you could get both the E and D tone in tune.
this would probabily work best on a lefty neck, that way you have enough room for both trees on the lowest string. I know that Langley has a headless drop-d tuning system (www.langleyguitars.com/DHead.htm), but for the rest of us with a headed guitar that frequently switch between drop d, a contraption like this would be great. does anyone have any comments or ideas on the 2 tree idea?

I've looked for a manufactured system for quickly detuning and have yet to find one (other then the headless system). does anyone know where i could find one?

thanks in advance,
ajent_

[RJB]

Hipshot Guitar Extender. Lever actuated E to D drop. Or the Hipshot Trilogy. 3 stops for EACH string individually. 729 possible combos!

Or Keith Richards always used "banjo" tuners with their fixed stops.

[TooManyWires]

I don't know about fixed bridge guitars, but I know that you can get a thing for floyd-rose guitars that ataches to the bridge and lets you flip the lever to change the tuning of the low e string to a d note. It also seems to me that I've seen similar things for stopbar bridges, like you'd have on a Les Paul, so you may consider looking for a bridge based tuner as opposed to a headstock based one.

Although, if you wanted to have something on the headstock, you might take a look at something like a capo. For example, I have one of these: www.shubb.com/capos.html and it seems to me, that if you could attach the middle section permanently to the back of the headstock, and then keep it clamped down tight over the low e string all the time, except when you wanted to be in drop d, then you'd un-clamp it. You could use the adjustment screw to tighten it down to the right note. Un-clamp it and tune with the tuning key to a d note, and then clamp it down and tighten the screw until you have an e note. I'm not sure if you'd be able to get enough pressure on the string behind the nut to make a d into an e, but it might work. There are a few songs which you actually use the technique of bending a string by pressing on the string on the headstock side of the nut, mostly I've seen versions of Iron Man which call for this, so it is plausible, I suppose. You'd probably have to do some modification to the capo, or else build your own device to fit that worked in a similar manner. Anyway, just a thought, hope it helps.