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View Full Version : I Fell in Love With Baritone Guitars



No Pride
03-05-2015, 01:36 PM
I played a baritone guitar for the first time the other day. It sounded f***ing awesome! And it was just one of those cheap Danelectros that don't even have truss rod access. I only played it with distortion for a short while. It sounded cool but playing clean chords was much cooler; love that sound!

Did a little web surfing and it seems as if there's not a lot of them out there. Fender used to make one in the form of a Mustang, but I don't think they make it anymore. Gretch has a pretty cheap one. Hey, at least you can adjust the neck on it!

Anybody have any pertinent information on baritone guitars?

Zeuhlmate
03-05-2015, 02:12 PM
To my knowledge the Mustang has the ordinary short scale, I think you meant the Jaguar or the bassVI?
Fender makes them again:
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/series/blacktop/blacktop-telecaster-baritone-rosewood-fingerboard-classic-copper/
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/squier/series/vintage-modified/squier-vintage-modified-baritone-jazzmaster-rosewood-fingerboard-antigua/
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/series/pawn-shop/pawn-shop-bass-vi-rosewood-fingerboard-3-color-sunburst/

Why not an 8-string?

100423
03-05-2015, 02:20 PM
I know Schecter makes one:
http://www.schecterguitars.com/component/virtuemart/blackjack-sls-c-1-ex-p-detail

Also PRS has a SE model baritone:

http://www.prsguitars.com/semikemushokbaritone/

The PRS is a substantially longer scale.

Koreabruce
03-05-2015, 06:53 PM
Here's a write-up about the baritones. Very interesting... and lots of very cool-looking axes, too!

http://www.premierguitar.com/articles/20455-deep-6-a-brief-history-of-the-tragically-underused-electric-baritone-guitar?page=1

trurl
03-05-2015, 07:16 PM
Bari-s are cool as heck. I know I guy with a nice custom one. I borrow it for tunes now and again.

No Pride
03-06-2015, 09:52 AM
To my knowledge the Mustang has the ordinary short scale, I think you meant the Jaguar or the bassVI?
Fender makes them again:
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/series/blacktop/blacktop-telecaster-baritone-rosewood-fingerboard-classic-copper/
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/squier/series/vintage-modified/squier-vintage-modified-baritone-jazzmaster-rosewood-fingerboard-antigua/
http://intl.fender.com/en-DK/series/pawn-shop/pawn-shop-bass-vi-rosewood-fingerboard-3-color-sunburst/

Why not an 8-string?

I like that Tele Baritone; if I ever get a bari, I think that would be the one because I'm a "sing, sing, hum" kinda guy. They're pretty rare; couldn't find one at Sweetwater, Musicians Friend or American Musical Supply. Finally found one at the Guitar Center site.

8 string: no thanks. Too many strings, neck's too fat and I'd have to get used to a different tuning. One of the things I like about the baritone is that it's tuned just like a guitar, only a 4th lower.

trurl
03-06-2015, 11:02 AM
The Fender Bass 6 is pretty sweet too, and easy to play but it doesn't have the twang of a baritone.

Zeuhlmate
03-06-2015, 11:41 AM
Allan Holdsworth: describes the Gonan DeLap Baritone guitar: http://www.truthinshredding.com/2010/11/allan-holdsworth-describes-gonan.html

100423
03-06-2015, 12:27 PM
Those are ridiculously long scales. :D

Zeuhlmate
03-06-2015, 05:06 PM
But the tone... :D

100423
03-06-2015, 05:57 PM
With my fingers only half as long as Allan's it would be decidedly uncomfortable from the 1st to 7th frets. :cool

No Pride
03-07-2015, 12:39 PM
Allan Holdsworth: describes the Gonan DeLap Baritone guitar: http://www.truthinshredding.com/2010/11/allan-holdsworth-describes-gonan.html

I could be wrong, but I think he only used it on the "Wardenclyffe Tower" album. Yeah, it's quite a long scale length and the balance must've been pretty weird. Then again, I've heard the Synthaxe was a very uncomfortable instrument to play. Those kind of things never seem to get in Holdsy's way though.

Karda Estra
03-15-2015, 02:57 PM
By coincidence, I came across a great video last weekend that demonstrated putting 013 - 056 strings on a standard guitar, tuning down to B and getting quite a decent baritone sound, so I had a go at doing it myself on a Squier Strat that I don't use a couple of days ago. I made a little demo of the sound. I think it's a great little idea - I need to work on things to get it sounding really great but there's definitely potential. If you have a spare unused guitar hanging around and fancy a go, please read the notes below which also include a link to the original guitar tip video. Loads of fun for the price of a set of strings.


http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=q8--n1XGvL0


Spaghetti twang doodle.

WARNING - contains excessive reverb! Recently I saw a great video by guitarist Jake Kelly about putting D'addario 013 - 056 strings on a standard guitar and tuning them to B to get a baritone guitar type effect. His video is here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qGxBoGOJaHM I tried it out on a Squier Strat I have but don't really use much at all and thought it sounded great. He just asked if I ever did a video of how it sounded, send him the link. So here is an off the top of my head doodle. I went straight for a Morricone / Spaghetti OTT reverb sound (sorry about that!) because that's what I think would initially go well in my own music. I need to work on getting the lightness of touch and working out where the sweet spots are on the neck for chords but for a first go, the potential is great. Certainly a good way to make an unused instrument get plenty of play. For anyone wanting to try it themselves, I didn't have to make the slots on the nut wider - the low B doesn't sit totally in but it certainly can't pop out and I thought the slightly higher action as a result would help with the heavier string gauge. I found virtually no buzz, all I had to do was a little intonation. The tuning seems to take a bit longer to do - I needed to check the strings a few times but they may still have been bedding in. I look forward to trying all sorts of ideas and effects on this set up. Cheers, Jake!

Richard

No Pride
03-16-2015, 03:47 PM
^
Though I think that's pretty cool and definitely thrifty, I think I'd much prefer having a real baritone guitar with the longer scale length and fatter strings. Gosh, I use .012s in standard tuning on my jazz guitar, I can only imagine how floppy and weird .013s would feel tuned down a 4th. So not only would the nut slots need to be cut (or perhaps the nut replaced), but I've seen frets pop up and need to be filed down from moving to a heavier string gauge. Then going back and forth between adjusting the bridge and the truss rod... too much work for a lazy man such as myself. Still, the price was right, can't knock that! :)

Karda Estra
03-16-2015, 05:23 PM
For sure, a real baritone would be far more stable and the feel would be better. But the Squier was unused so now it's fine for a bit of recording only experimentation! I only use 009's on my electrics, so these 013s are a novelty to me! When you say lazy though, I really just slapped 'em on with no change to nut, truss rod - anything haha - I set a bad example (apart from a bit of tweek on the intonation) . Hang on - I think I can hear a cracking sound coming from my music room!!!

When you settle on a baritone, you'll have to post your result - keep on a twangin'!

Pekka
03-17-2015, 04:50 PM
Here's my six string bass that can be used as a baritone with a capo. It's an modified Aria SB-700 and if you wonder why there's nine tuners of bass and guitar sizes it's because it was originally (or when I bought it) a 9-string bass tuned eeE-aaA-ddD. Poor man's 12-string bass. :) Since then I've acquired proper 12-string basses so I had a new nut made for it and it works! Tuned E-A-D-G-B-E and 'cause it's a long scale in contrast to most baritones or old style 6-string basses like Fender VI I can use fairly light strings and get plenty of twang especially when using the pickups near the neck and bridge (they have their own output too). Very inspiring instrument.

https://dl.dropboxusercontent.com/u/4322198/IMG_2492.JPG

100423
03-17-2015, 06:17 PM
Here's my six string bass that can be used as a baritone with a capo. It's an modified Aria SB-700 and if you wonder why there's nine tuners of bass and guitar sizes it's because it was originally (or when I bought it) a 9-string bass tuned eeE-aaA-ddD. Poor man's 12-string bass. :) Since then I've acquired proper 12-string basses so I had a new nut made for it and it works! Tuned E-A-D-G-B-E and 'cause it's a long scale in contrast to most baritones or old style 6-string basses like Fender VI I can use fairly light strings and get plenty of twang especially when using the pickups near the neck and bridge (they have their own output too). Very inspiring instrument.
Cool! I dig it! :)

Classic Progressive
05-06-2015, 07:00 PM
Great instruments. I have a Custom Made Ovation Adamas 1 Baritone with the newest electronics and contour body. It is a "one of". I had it made along with another standard Neck Adamas 1 a few years ago. They were the last two Custom Adamas Guitars made by the Conn Factory while still under Kaman. Fender took over right about the time I picked these up at the factory. So sad to see this amazing factory full of craftsmen and women close. But it's like many things today, guitar making has no trade protections and to pay decent "living" wages and overseas companies can simply make them cheaper. So Fender closed the doors.

Booming low end sounds on those original design weave, carbon fiber tops. I use it for playing songs like Dogs or some of Dave Mathews material. Led Zep's "Bron Yr Aur" alternate tuning sounds great on the Baritone. The potential for original song creations as these guitars low tunings allow for different fingering patterns on standard tuned chords and they sound better... (different anyway) Mine can go down to B with heavier string placement and still work well enough but at a certain point there's no point anymore. Drop D or C is stunning.

alex92
05-07-2015, 06:20 AM
http://adenwalls.cf/2/o.png

http://www.prsguitars.com/semikemushokbaritone/

kid_runningfox
05-10-2015, 04:49 AM
I can honestly say that I've never tried a baritone - despite often tuning my 6-string acoustic down to C. I probably should, as Gordon Giltrap regularly uses a Rob Armstrong acoustic baritone tuned to DADGAD down a fifth (I think). Sounds great, and the extra resonance form those bass strings is a wonder to behold. Perhaps something to think about when I return to the UK on a full-time basis...

Roth-Handle Studios
06-22-2015, 03:48 PM
I love baritone guitars. We have three at Roth Händle. A Hagström, a Gretsch and a Danelectro. Wonderful idea instruments...!

// Mattias (Roth händle studios)

Onomatopoeic
10-11-2015, 04:39 AM
The Fender Bass 6 is pretty sweet too, and easy to play but it doesn't have the twang of a baritone.


Some players will go with a lighter gauge on the Fender VI and retune it from the standard E ~ E tuning (1 octave below guitar) to an A ~ A tuning.

You end up with a brighter overall tone and you can play notes well into the standard E ~ E guitar's range with this baritone A ~ A tuning.

Onomatopoeic
10-11-2015, 04:53 AM
I own several extended range guitars that include 6-string baritone, 7-string, and 8-string configurations.

Overall, for baritone, I probably like the Michael Kelly Patriot Baritone. It plays seriously well, sounds excellent, it's very stable, has a 28-inch scale, and it looks absolutely great. There are two Michael Kelly Patriot Baritone models in existence: The original (which is no longer in production) -- with the large Sonic Art bridge and the current model with a standard T-O-M bridge and LP stop tailpiece. The one I own is the original model -- from about 8 years ago -- with the Sonic Art bridge. I tune mine A ~ A.


http://www.yourshoppingnetwork.com/product_images/music/8/1/81C126E4D2634BB8B617A1448D8E9C1E.jpg

https://www.michaelkellyguitars.com/img/products/mkpbaritrb.png

Rarebird
10-11-2015, 02:26 PM
The Fender Bass 6 is pretty sweet too, and easy to play but it doesn't have the twang of a baritone.

It was used by a Dutch band Hank the Knife and the Jets.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kOoV6vIJ8QM

Onomatopoeic
10-11-2015, 03:06 PM
Roy Babbington played a Fender VI in Soft Machine as one would play a typical bass, which is a bit unusual. You basically have to play a Fender VI with a plectrum as the strings are too close for finger picking.

The original bass player in the band Lush (early 90s) also played a Fender VI in the role of standard bass.

http://i.ytimg.com/vi/CKDuevCr90Q/hqdefault.jpg

Pekka
11-05-2015, 07:51 AM
Roy Babbington played a Fender VI in Soft Machine as one would play a typical bass, which is a bit unusual. You basically have to play a Fender VI with a plectrum as the strings are too close for finger picking.

Roy played it with fingers. You could never guess from the sound he achieved on those Soft Machine, Nucleus and Mike Gibbs' "Just Ahead" albums that he played a short scale 6-string bass normally used for more guitar-like things such as "Back In The Saddle" by Aerosmith.

Jack Bruce used a Bass IV for a while too. Both he and Roy were also double bass players which makes it even more interesting.

Mike Rutherford played a Bass VI -type bass for "The Lamb" and (most likely) for "ATOTT". He had a Micro-Frets Baritone guitar strung as a 6-string bass and for the tour he had it combined with a Rickenbacker 12-string. On a later "ATOTT" tour he had another double neck built by Dick Night with the same configuration but the bass looks like a long scale.
http://www.genesismuseum.com/mags/joker77.jpg

Onomatopoeic
11-06-2015, 12:57 AM
Mike Rutherford played a Bass VI -type bass for "The Lamb" and (most likely) for "ATOTT". He had a Micro-Frets Baritone guitar strung as a 6-string bass and for the tour he had it combined with a Rickenbacker 12-string. On a later "ATOTT" tour he had another double neck built by Dick Night with the same configuration but the bass looks like a long scale.


I recall Rutherford playing a Shergold (I believe it was called -- a UK maker no long in business) double neck back in the day after giving up Rickenbacker, but had no idea he ever played a Fender Bass VI. I still faintly recall (maybe incorrectly) that he once had a Les Paul grafted onto a Rickenbacker 4001 bass.

Talking about this brings back bad memories of not going to see Genesis in 1974 and 1975. It seemed at the time that I was too busy. :oops

Onomatopoeic
11-06-2015, 01:03 AM
Roy played it with fingers. You could never guess from the sound he achieved on those Soft Machine, Nucleus and Mike Gibbs' "Just Ahead" albums...



Strangely enough, I recently discovered that Babbington was in fact finger picking his Fender Bass VI.

I was looking at a few Soft Machine videos on YouTube that I had never seen before and saw the fingers in action just as plain as daylight!




https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9gpaMTgBCx0

Onomatopoeic
11-06-2015, 01:30 AM
Well, just for the hell of it, I pulled out my real-deal Fender Bass VI and attempted the Roy Babbington approach to playing a Bass VI.

I can fingerpick the Bass VI without too much problem. However, I can tell you without a doubt that if the strings were a half millimeter closer together it would be 50 percent harder to play fingerstyle.

Normally, I play the Bass VI with a typical guitar flatpick. As a substitute for fingers, I just tried a cork flatpick and it sounds close to playing it fingerstyle.

Pekka
11-06-2015, 07:24 AM
I recall Rutherford playing a Shergold (I believe it was called -- a UK maker no long in business) double neck back in the day after giving up Rickenbacker, but had no idea he ever played a Fender Bass VI. I still faintly recall (maybe incorrectly) that he once had a Les Paul grafted onto a Rickenbacker 4001 bass.

Talking about this brings back bad memories of not going to see Genesis in 1974 and 1975. It seemed at the time that I was too busy. :oops


I meant he played a similarly tuned bass like a Bass VI. It was a Micro Frets Baritone guitar that was strung as a 6-string bass (E-A-D-G-H-E). Like this one:
http://www.vintageandrare.com/uploads/products/21525/244712/original.jpg

And for the "The Lamb" and "Trick" tours it became this:
http://www.genesis-movement.co.uk/photos_memorabilia/berne75/berne3.jpg

I doubt he had a Les Paul grafted onto a 4001 since his doublenecks always had a 12-string guitar neck with a bass neck (4 or six string). Only exception is the Shergold with the detachable necks and only during the "Abacab" tour he used a 6-string guitar neck on it (as seen on "Three Sides Live" video).

Onomatopoeic
11-06-2015, 11:40 PM
I meant he played a similarly tuned bass like a Bass VI. It was a Micro Frets Baritone guitar...


Whoops, I misread your original post. So, no Bass VI for Rutherford.

As far as Micro-frets guitars go, I recall seeing maybe 3 or 4 fairly well-used Micro-frets guitars in the past. They have an odd adjustable nut, which is slightly visible in the above photo. I've never seen a Micro-frets bass, though. They sort of remind me of a Fender Starcaster meets a Danelectro.