I'm covering a song with my girlfriend, The Coming Curse, by Iced Earth and I was wondering if anyone makes a pedal that will drop my guitar a half step. I use my guitar to study music and want to leave it in standard tuning since the floyd creates a set up issue. I've read about shifters and octave pedals but am not sure if this will succesfully acomplish my wishes. Any insight to my research will be greatly apreciated!

just play it in standard, it wont sound too different, it's just a half step difference. as long as you're not playing along with the song it should sound fine

Just play it a half step above the recorded song and have your girlfriend sing in the same key. An octave pedal would drop you an octave lower, which is FAR too much for what you want.

Well, say he was using a Digitech Whammy. It is possible on a few settings to just inch the pedal forward until it drops the guitar 1/2 step, and just leave the pedal.

However, it sounds like complete ass if you're playing chords. Really only works with one or two notes at a time...the tracking completely fucks up.

But yeah, it'd be far easier to just play it in standard (Assuming you're not playing to the song)

You're recording this? Once it's recorded just use whatever program you are using to drop it half a step.

Yeah, were going to record it when it's done. I have a friend tracking the drums on a Boss drum machine. Once he's done with the drum track we'll start recording. I want to do it in standard tuning but my girlfriend say's it's easier to sing a halfstep down. I don't want her to strain her voice and not be able to do shows.

Then get a pawnshop beater-type guitar to keep 1/2 step down. Honestly any pedal that'll do what you want decently would cost about the same as a cheapo guitar.

Especially if you're playing live. God forbid you break a string on a guitar with a Floyd in a live setting.

Another guitar isn't really the problem either, I have a mim strat right now that I keep around in D# just for yngwie licks but try playing the coming curse on that....ha. It just isn't a thrash guitar, strings are super light and single coils are weak for playing in that style of riffing.

Buy thicker strings and put a humbucker in the bridge? I swear I remember they at least used to route the bodies of the MIM strats at least for humbuckers even though there are usually single coils in them, since they have pickguards and figured it'd be easier to make all the MIM strat bodies on one CNC pattern. Or something to that effect.

The point is mostly that there's more practical and most likely better sounding options than shifter pedals.

I have to second this. A decent humbucker or even stacked single coil and that MIM would be just what you need.

Any recomendations for a stacked single? I've been wanting to switch out the pups in the strat but I'm new to the world of single coils.