BARITONE GUITAR

moose209

moose209

Bottom chugger
Dec 6, 2005
282
0
16
london
www.myspace.com
I'm thinking hard of making the switch from Bass to baritone guitar. I'm not a novice but have fallen out of love with the bass professionally. A mate of mine makes fantastic guitars - www.blackmachine.co.uk - but I just cannot afford one of them at the moment.

So I'm looking for peoples opinions on midrange baritone options £500- £1000.

What guitars have you found to be good for Baritone scale length - or maybe what pick ups you've found to be best.

I'm hoping to use a diezel vh4 head as they rock like nothing else in the world, along with a mesa standard cab.

Thanks for the help boys and girls.
 
I use an Ibanez baritone(MMM1). It took me a while to get used to the wider fret spacing, but since you are coming from a bass background I don't think that will be a problem for you. I think mine cost $799 usd when I bought it a few years ago. It's a big hunk of wood, and loves the low end...

The actives worked best for my baritone. I currently use Duncan Live Wires.

I have also played on a Gibson Studio Baritone with EMG's, and that guitar kicked ass.... But I think those are out of your price range....
 
yeah - i'll check out ibanez - my guitarist has a good deal with them - i dunno though i've never enjoyed playing an ibanez - i feel like I'm on the verge of breaking them at any moment - although the thru neck versions are rock solid - i like the idea of getting duncans in there - i love duncan pick ups.

cool thanks.:kickass:
 
Epiphone make a baritone Les Paul, they sound really meaty and you can get them for around £350 - the basic one is even less: CLICK.

You can get ESP Ltd. ones for around £550 too, but only in certain models (the Viper and MH I think). I'm looking to buy ones of these, the one I tried out was really nice.

Steve
 
Yeah that ESP that Steve mentioned is pretty good too... 27" I beleive, and its a 400 series so not too expensive and comes loaded with an 81/85
 
Can you explain me the advantages of a bariton over a regular guitar ? I'm playing 7 strings, tuned to B, but I like my strings to be very tight (often playing E with .60 gauge), so would a bariton help me having tighter strings or does this have no incidence at all ?
 
I use 70's normally - for the sound more than anything - I guess I'll be a bass player at heart always - anyway but I think the longer scale help you to have slightly more tension at lower tuning - although I have been told that you get more tension from a shorter scale by a luthier - which makes no sense to me - but then again neither does simon cowell's career and that hasn't stopped him!:-)
 
Brett - K A L I S I A said:
Can you explain me the advantages of a baritone over a regular guitar ?
Click to expand...

For any particular note, the tension in the string is inversely proportional to it's length - i.e. a short string tuned to E will be looser than a longer string tuned to the same note (assuming they're the same gauge). So you can tune longer strings to lower notes and they'll still be tight.

Think of it this way - on my bass, the 1st string (G) is a .45, and in standard tuning it's tight. On my guitar, the 5th string (A) is a .42. If I tune that down a step to G, it's not as tight as on the bass, despite the the strings being almost the same gauge.

In theory, if you use a baritone, you can tune down to what you would on a 7-string without having to use heavy strings - according to their website, ESP ship their baritones "tuned B-E-A-D-F#-B with string gauges 56-46-36-26W-17-13". My heaviest string is a .56, and once I get below C things start getting seriously slack. So basically, a .60 on a baritone would be tighter than on a 7-string.

Apologies for length!

Steve
 
Suicide_As_Alibi said:
For any particular note, the tension in the string is inversely proportional to it's length - i.e. a short string tuned to E will be looser than a longer string tuned to the same note (assuming they're the same gauge). So you can tune a longer string to lower notes and they'll still be tight.
Click to expand...
Amazing, I understood perfectly, so that's what I want now... Cheers :kickass:
 
Brett - I had a Jackson baritone and got rid of it. The tension was nice, and I could double pick quickly and not have any string flop.... BUT... it didn't sound like a guitar. The increased scale length made it sound like a cross between a bass and a guitar. The overtones were really different from a regular guitar. YMMV, but I did not like it for distorted guitar at all. However, for clean guitar it was awesome, the low notes were big and round and really full, they were just too full for distorted metal sounds...
 
It's interesting that you brought this up--I was going to start a similar thread.

I play at Drop B and I was thinking of purchasing a baritone so I can have tight, smaller strings. Anyone tried this?

FYI I just bought strings that go from 11 to 70. Damn those strings are well-endowed, but sure are tight!
 
Genius Gone Insane said:
It's interesting that you brought this up--I was going to start a similar thread.

I play at Drop B and I was thinking of purchasing a baritone so I can have tight, smaller strings. Anyone tried this?

FYI I just bought strings that go from 11 to 70. Damn those strings are well-endowed, but sure are tight!
Click to expand...


My band plays in dropped B.... The baritone was a must have..... My other guitarist still uses a standard scale 6 string and has massive flop even with heavy gauge strings.....

I still use 11-70, but that's just what I like. My baritone can still goto B no problems on a set of 10-56
 
hi !
i'm going to buy a LTD SC-607B, 7 Strings Baritone. i'm tuned to A, sometimes in Gb. anyone knows this model ? i'm going to new york on 20th of april, hope that i'll find it there...
actually, in France, nobody can have it because of the relations between ESP and distribution. ESP wants to ship guitars only by 6 packs. who will sell 6 SC-607B?! I have to buy it abroad though it's ridiculous.
 
perimetron said:
hi !
i'm going to buy a LTD SC-607B, 7 Strings Baritone. i'm tuned to A, sometimes in Gb. anyone knows this model ? i'm going to new york on 20th of april, hope that i'll find it there...
actually, in France, nobody can have it because of the relations between ESP and distribution. ESP wants to ship guitars only by 6 packs. who will sell 6 SC-607B?! I have to buy it abroad though it's ridiculous.
Click to expand...

Thomann have it in germany and the shipping prices are very cheap, also since it's already in the EU all taxes are already included in the price.
 
Thanks alot guys - your experience and knowledge has helped go in the right direction. My tuppence - From what I've been taught of counterpoint and harmony - the reason why small intervals such as thirds or infact the rule was anything below a fifth in the baritone/bass range will sound muddy and unclear is due to the very close relationship numerically in Hz. i.e the difference between C0 and C#0 is 0.97 hz but the difference between C7 and C#7 is 154.46 Hz - so us being crap at hearing means we can't really distinguish notes down that low.

no emoticon for geek

useless info snippet number 45

thanks again for your help on this matter I think I will take a look at the schecter range - (although I've never played one) as well as the ibanez as I can get em cheap.

Incidentally - what amp heads have you found to work better for that low range - i got a feeling I ain't gonna find a better amp the the vh4 period. But if I've learnt one thing it's that it's always worth asking.

cheer again chaps

Moose
 
yes i've seen it and also a friend can get it in switzerland, that's was my 2nd question : 1040€ in switzerland, 1079€ in germany... 900$ (750€ -seen in musician's friend and music123) in usa but : not sure to find it in a real store (i never been to nyc though) not sure to have problems with customs and taxes once in France, not sure regarding the fact that it will go with my luggages in the plane (even if it's in a strong flightcase)...
what do you think ? i think i'm going to call Lufthansa to know if i cant take a flight case as a carry-on baggage or it must be a checked baggage. :waah:
I'LL NEVER HAVE IIIIIIT !!
 
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