Baritone Guitar

[crazycloud]

On 13/04/2022 at 02:10, Frank Blank said:

Get an Ibanez SRC6, more fun than a crack addiction.

I love mine, close to the best money I ever spent on an instrument. 

[Bigwan]

I had the SRC6 and RGIB6 at the same time. Both great instruments but I sold the SRC6 and regret it now. If you're looking at tunings lower than A I'd definitely go with the SRC6.

 

Check out the Bunn on youtube for baritone reviews, even if his particular style of music isn't your thing...

 

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheBunn

 

[carlitos71]

I have a baritone guitar for sale at the mo

based in London, feel free to contact me if you'd like to try it (if possible for you)

[stewblack]

23 hours ago, carlitos71 said:

I have a baritone guitar for sale at the mo

based in London, feel free to contact me if you'd like to try it (if possible for you)

Very kind, but London is a bit too far for me

[carlitos71]

3 minutes ago, stewblack said:

Very kind, but London is a bit too far for me

Thanks if you’re interested we can look at delivery options…

[BigRedX]

On 06/05/2022 at 10:25, carlitos71 said:

I have a baritone guitar for sale at the mo

based in London, feel free to contact me if you'd like to try it (if possible for you)

 That looks interesting but the scale length and pickup placement say more "Bass VI" than Baritone to me. What tuning have you been using on this?

 

I might be interested. Can you let me know the following measurements:

1. Width of the neck at the nut

2. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the nut

3. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the bridge

 

Thanks! 

[carlitos71]

14 minutes ago, BigRedX said:

 That looks interesting but the scale length and pickup placement say more "Bass VI" than Baritone to me. What tuning have you been using on this?

 

I might be interested. Can you let me know the following measurements:

1. Width of the neck at the nut

2. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the nut

3. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the bridge

 

Thanks! 

Thanks for your interest.

 

you might be right about bass VI 

 

Currently tuned in B

 

Will take measurements and send over today or tomorrow 

[stewblack]

9 hours ago, carlitos71 said:

Thanks if you’re interested we can look at delivery options…

Apologies I was responding to your offer to try not looking to buy right now

[carlitos71]

14 hours ago, stewblack said:

Apologies I was responding to your offer to try not looking to buy right now

No need to apologise and sure you’re welcome to try no probs

 

BTW when measuring the string spacing, do you do it from the inside, outside or middle? 

[stewblack]

1 hour ago, carlitos71 said:

measuring the string spacing, do you do it from the inside, outside or middle

The gap between the strings I assume. So middle is my guess. 

[Woodinblack]

1 hour ago, carlitos71 said:

BTW when measuring the string spacing, do you do it from the inside, outside or middle? 

 

Middle. But the easiest way is to measure the middle of the end two strings and divide by the number of strings - 1

[carlitos71]

On 07/05/2022 at 12:04, BigRedX said:

 That looks interesting but the scale length and pickup placement say more "Bass VI" than Baritone to me. What tuning have you been using on this?

 

I might be interested. Can you let me know the following measurements:

1. Width of the neck at the nut

2. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the nut

3. Distance between the highest and lowest strings at the bridge

 

Thanks! 

Here they are:

 

2 - nut: 3.5 cm 

3 - bridge: 5.3 cm

[BigRedX]

3 hours ago, carlitos71 said:

Here they are:

 

2 - nut: 3.5 cm 

3 - bridge: 5.3 cm

 

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately that's too narrow at the nut for me. I'm looking for a distance of at least 40mm from the centre of the lower sting to that of the highest. 35mm is the same as my Squier Bass VI which I find borderline unplayable. I'll most likely end up with a second Eastwood Hooky.

[carlitos71]

3 hours ago, BigRedX said:

 

Thanks.

 

Unfortunately that's too narrow at the nut for me. I'm looking for a distance of at least 40mm from the centre of the lower sting to that of the highest. 35mm is the same as my Squier Bass VI which I find borderline unplayable. I'll most likely end up with a second Eastwood Hooky.

Cool no probs

[rmorris]

On 13/04/2022 at 16:51, Woodinblack said:

 

and a traditional baritone is a 4th down - BEADGF#B -

 

You've left a loose G in there !

[Woodinblack]

21 minutes ago, rmorris said:

 

You've left a loose G in there !

 

I keep a spare 7ths string in case I need to pull out anything fancy

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I bought a Harley Benton GuitarBass (pretty much a Fender Bass VI clone, but with a fixed TOM style bridge, and a much larger (flatter), almost 14" (350mm), fretboard radius) recently, a few months back, and I absolutely love it.

 

Has become my main instrument of choice.

 

Unbelievably high quality for the money.

 

I have it strung with custom made Newtone nickle plated hex steel core roundwound guitar strings, gauge .080 - .060 - .045 - .034 - .027 - 020 (these gauges chosen for a close approximation to perfectly balanced tension across the strings, which I personally prefer), tuned to G1 standard tuning, as in G1 - C2 - F2 - A#2 - D3 - G3, that is 9 half steps below regular guitar E2 standard tuning, or 3 half steps above regular bass E1 standard tuning.

 

Which I personally found to give the perfect balance between still being able to go deep enough to fill out the role/sonic space of a bass instrument, but exactly tuned high enough so that you pretty much can do complex chords at it's entire range without it getting unreasonably muddy.

 

This is an instrument that really shines for melodic work, being less unwieldy and bombastic, as well as having a wider frequency span/range (except for 6 string bass of course), than a bass, but sounding way more substantial, full and rich than a guitar, and the true single coil, and by the way genuinely great sounding, pickups of this particular instrument, combined with the thicker strings compared to a guitar (thicker strings will have a wider dynamic response/range, as well as they will also respond much better and more naturally to more percussive playing/expressions), results in it having an extremely wide dynamic and expressive range, being unusually sensitive, but very naturally/directly responsive, to your picking dynamics and playing in general, making it amazingly articulate and really allowing for some incredibly detailed nuances that would otherwise be lost if played on a regular bass or guitar, which is one of the main reasons why I love playing this instrument so much, that it really does seem to sound exactly the way you play it, as if there is a very direct and natural correlation between your hand/finger movements and then what actually comes out, down to the tiniest details.

 

That is of course unless you apply heavy distortion or compression, though I've found that a very subtle compression with a low compression rate (I have mine set to 2.5:1, and I would suggest not going any higher, that is 2 to 2.5 ought to work optimally), just the right, relatively high, threshold, and just long enough attack time to let the full transient of the attack through, as well as some light dynamical and touch sensitive overdrive, and ideally in the order: low gain touch sensitive dynamic overdrive -> subtle light compression, so that the overdrive pedal gets the absolute full dynamic range of the instrument to work with, actually can enhance this aspect/quality (the natural sensitivity and direct dynamic response to your picking) even further, 

 

How this works more specifically is the overdrive enhancing the effect of the bite of the attack gradually increasing the harder you pick, while the compression enhances the effect of the snap of the attack gradually getting more and more prominent the harder you pick.

 

Typical true single coil pickups will react dynamically to how much force you apply to your picking, not only in terms of volume, but also in terms of tone, such that softer picking will have less high frequency content, making it sound more mellow, but then with more and more high frequency content gradually being added the harder you pick, making it sound gradually more and more aggressive the harder you pick, an effect which is much much less apparent and not having anywhere near the same range of expression either with your typical humbucker pickup, which predominantly will just react in terms of volume to your picking, but this too again with a much more narrow dynamic range compared to your typical true single coil pickup, overall making humbucker pickups in general sound much more compressed and much much less naturally and directly responding to your picking strength and technique/style.

 

But while I do really think melodic work is where this sort of instrument really shines and works at its absolute optimal potential, it can of course be used for more traditional bass like lines, or chord strumming, like you would a guitar, as well.

 

Though with the reservation that one should keep in mind that fast complex strumming patterns of full chords really does not tend work out very well on this instrument, whereas arpeggios/finger picking chords on the other hand works even extremely well.

 

 

Here's how my Harley Benton GuitarBass looks (including some artistic PhotoShop shenanigans):

Edited August 13, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[Baloney Balderdash]

On 23/04/2022 at 00:01, NancyJohnson said:

I had a Gretsch Electromatic baritone.  Odd thing.  Drawn to it out of a 50/50 mix of curiousity and a desire of ownership.

 

Found it to be neither guitar or bass, on the one side I suppose I wanted to do some odd/dirty drop-B stuff without going the 7-string route, or some kind of twangy Glen Campbell stuff.  Not succeeding with either, I went the bass-six route and that didn't really pan out either, so I sold it on.

 

Sometimes, it's not the having it's the getting that drives these purchases.  Desire satiated, experiment was over. 

 

On the other hand, to offer the opposite perspective, for the longest time, like several years, I pondered on acquiring a Bass VI like instrument, and frequently had periods where I would check YouTube videos featuring such instruments, and I did have a keen eye on the Harley Benton GuitarBass, which had a quite manageable price tag, and judging from reviews I read/watched supposedly being amazing value for the money, some people even being of the opinion that it was superior to the Squier Bass VI that costs slightly over double the money.

 

I was really intrigued by this type of instrument, yet at the same time I wasn't sure I would actually also enjoy playing it, mainly because of the quite narrow, guitar like, string spacing, so I kept postponing the acquisition and used money on other music equipment instead, convincing myself that was money better spend.

 

But then a couple of months back I found myself with a bit of extra unsuspected cash and finally at long last I decided to give the Harley Benton GuitarBass a shot, I could always send it back and get my money fully refunded if it turned out not to be for me.

 

But as it turned out I quickly found myself immensely enjoying playing this instrument, and it has now become my preferred instrument of choice.

 

Like as if this was just the absolute perfect instrument for me, as a bass player who original started out playing guitar, and had continued playing guitar on the sideline all along, and the sort of crossover/fusion guitar/bass, predominantly melodic riff based, playing style that I had developed (and which this instrument basically seems perfectly, as if made specifically, for) for a bass and drums duo I formed with a drummer friend of mine, using my 28,6" 4 string Ibanez Mikro Bass tuned to G standard tuning (which is also how I have the Harley Benton GuitarBass stringed up for and tuned as), as in 3 half steps above regular 4 string bass E standard tuning (or in the case of the GuitarBass 9 half steps bellow regular guitar tuning), that just had been waiting for me to discover it all along.

 

Admittedly I did stumble over the strings with both my left and right hand fingers a lot to start with due to the tight spacing but relatively thick strings, and admittedly I still wouldn't mind the nut width just haven been a couple of mm wider, but I did quickly get used to the tight spacing, and while I still have to be mindful of how I fret the strings close to the nut if I need the string above or bellow to ring as well, not to mute them, but totally manageable with a bit of practice and consideration, and overall I have actually come to prefer the tighter guitar like string spacing (if only they would have made the nut a few mm wider, but I can totally live with that).

 

 

Eventual read the post above this one by me where I sort of elaborate my love for this instrument.

 

 

Edited August 13, 2022 by Baloney Balderdash

[BigRedX]

My first Bass VI, and baritone guitar, were bought entirely on a whim. They came up at low prices that were impossible to ignore and so I bought them. There probably was some degree of an itch to scratch, but I think it most a question of them being available at the right price at the right time. I played about with both but not having particular use for either, I didn't really do anything useful with them. The baritone guitar got used by The Terrortones' guitarist on a couple of tracks when we recorded our album, but that was it for years. 

 

The some years later the guitarist in my next band left, and just for fun I suggested we try to see if we could make the songs work without him, with me swapping from "normal" bass to Bass VI and making more of the synth parts as melodies rather than textures. A couple of surprisingly good rehearsals later and our direction was set. It did become obvious once I started playing it seriously that the Squier Bass VI wasn't really suitable for my playing style and role in the band, and I embarked on a long quest to find something that was, eventually ending up with the Eastwood copy of the Shergold Marathon 6 sting bass. The baritone guitar got sold when I had my last big clear out of unused instruments.

[msb]

Our most popular local buy&sell is kijiji , and after missing out on a Squier Bass VI I started coming down with the gas , and shortly after found a slightly used one at L&M (the major music retailer here in Canada) . It’s the current Classic Vibe version , my only complaint was the lower strings being a bit too floppy , I heard Fender had put out a stiffer Bass VI set. Made a world of difference , had to slightly file the nut at the E string and re-intonate. Huge improvement. I love it.

I mostly do blues and roots gigs so this was not likely to become a gigging instrument , just a guilty pleasure. Next thing I knew I was loading up a pedalboard for it. My wife noted I was spending a lot of time goofing around on the VI. And thought it was money well spent.

And then a Gretsch Baritone popped up on kijiji and this time I managed to snag it . The slightly older 5265T model with the Bigsby. Black sparkle finish! Again Herself approved. I see both as very unique instruments , chords on the lower position on the VI will often get too muddy , they positively ring out on the baritone. I can manage to play the VI fingerstyle , but the Gretsch is just a little tighter , it’s going to take some time.

Gotta say the VI and the bari have been an interesting rabbit hole to go down. Simple fun .

[lownote]

On 12/04/2022 at 11:10, stewblack said:

I'm not in full blown gas, but there's been a small leak