Baritone Inspiration Needed

Hey all. I finally have a baritone neck on a Stratocaster. I wanted to do a Tele, but the price was right on the Strat (free donation from the wife).

Anyway, now that I'm at this point, where do I start? I've been listening to a lot of Josh Turner, as his band uses the baritone a lot. I don't even know what tuning is good for a baritone. I think I heard that the lowest string is a 'B' and the rest are like the lower 5 strings of a 6-string.

Any advice on getting started on a baritone would be greatly appreciated. Let me know some titles of songs that the baritone is prevalent (not metal). Let me know how you've progressed on the baritone.

Little Ways by Dwight Yoakum
Dance Dance Dance by the Beach Boys
La Bamba - Ritchie Valens

Any advice on getting started on a baritone would be greatly appreciated. .

There was some good bari info in this Tim Bowen thread. Check it out:

"Dano Baritones, Spaghetti Westerns, and tic-tac bass"

Ed

Dave Gonzalez of Stone River Boys (and Hacienda Brothers and Paladins)
http://www.myspace.com/stoneriverboys

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-nt5BgMGJyI

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-E7z9c-sEjY


Glen Campbell

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4qoymGCDYzU

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WzaKjAronaM
(Danelectro baritone in background)

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDPuK_tqG-Y

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=az2LlYyuoZQ
(@1:48 with Jerry Jones baritone, and check out that JMI amp!!)

One Quiet Night - Pat Metheny

Yeah, Pete Anderson cut some cool bari tracks with Dwight Yoakam, and the Glenn Campbell six string bass stuff is perfect.

In getting the most out of the growl, the simpler the part, the better. Every time I've carried pre-conceived bari parts into recording situations, I've wound up editing the ideas until they were butt-simple.

I think the default tuning is B-B, although depending on song/key, I sometimes tune A-A. For A tuning, I'm sure my Dano would benefit from slightly higher gauge strings.

Prerequisite listening would certainly include soundtracks by Ennio Morricone for the Sergio Leone (Clint Eastwood) spaghetti western films from the 1960's.

The tic-tac bass and single note spaghetti western sounds are the go-to noises, but a bari is also capable of absolutely beautiful, full bodied, shimmering chords. For such, because of the long scale and generally floppy nature of the string tension, the instrument needs to be well intonated and the fretting hand benefits from a very light touch.

Thanks for the replies. A lot of good stuff out there. I am having a heck of a time getting the neck set up. It doesn't help that the truss rod adjustment is on the body sie of the neck. I have to tune up, check it out, then remove the neck to make adjustments...repeat. Then there's the tremelo system that complicates matters.

Anyway, if anyone has any advice to share about setting up a strat baritone, that would be helpful.