Any love for baritone guitars?

[JHutchinson81]

I just got one of these Jericho Guitars!

Made here in Vancouver by a guy who works at Prestige Guitars, check it out, its the Tele scale but looks hella sexy,

www.jerichoguitars.com, i cant link their photos for some reason

 

[mefgames]

Building a 27.5 scale Baritone for my son. It's on hold until he decides on pickups.

 

[String Tree]

I own a '99 Dano Bari.
Paid a Luthier $95 to set it up after owning it all these years.
Glad I did. It plays like Buttah now.

Played an Eastwood Sidejack the other day.
Shorter scale length than the Dano but, played very nice.
Might have to add one to the Herd.

 

[terrybellcountr]

Yes. There is love in the air. I bought a conversion neck from Warmoth and put it on my -06 american std. Put on 13-72 strings tuned it in B with drop A. sustain and cool as #€%&&%€#€

 

[Tele Jack]

I have the blacktop tele baritone. Great rich, brassy, almost orchestral tones. I play in a duet with a singer and stripped back backing tracks. I find with the lower range and playing in a two part style, I can give the music more of a harmonic dimension than I can with a regular guitar. The singer I play with can sing low, almost bartitone himself, so the bari allows me to get chords below him. On the off beats, I do higher chords and fills on the upper strings.

I find the pickups on the blacktop Bari very wild, overwound. One day I might get something tamer in there. But the high output pickups would be perfect for a rock or even a metal context. There's a humbucker in the bridge position.

I'm also thinking of making a Bass vi my next guitar. Gets as low as a bass, but the timbre is completely different. Less boomy and more guitar like. As cello is to double bass.

 

[bluzjamer]

After many years of playing I just started looking at baritone guitars. I wanted to try setting up a 25 1/2 " scale offset to bari but even with the 13 to 56 strings it was not stable at B to B tuning. It sound a little fuller when tuned a full step down to D.
Guy on you tube set up a guitar and it seems to work without rattling the low strings.
Still seems to be a bit of a novelty, unless I can get a deal on a baritone guitar I may just pass. I do like the Side Jack Baritone from Eastwood and a Douglas Hadron from Rondo may be a future purchase. Would like one at least in my collection.
Happy Holidays.

 

[grandstick]

I recently picked up an OLP MM5 Baritone from CL. It has a 30" scale, and is currently tuned B-B. I have been enamoured by Pat Metheny's baritone work on acoustic. This, along with my recent electric acquisition, caused me to buy an Alvarez ABT-60 acoustic baritone.

I have to say, I am in love with the piano-like sustain on both of these guitars!

I may end up going with the "Half-Nashville" tuning on the Alvarez (the two middle strings substituted with plain (unwound) and tuned an octave up).

 

[Doug 54]

30" is very typical for E-E tuning
Try it!!

Come to think of it your MM might be a 29 & somthing inch scale.
Their 20-84 strings are for this bass and it US sista.

/

 

[Gearhead88]

I'd like to try one.

 

[MrBitey]

I just recently got my Danelectro baritone out for some tlc. Restrung it a little heavier, raised the action a little and dropped it down to low E tuning. I had to mix and match strings from my kit bag to get a set that's not too floppy. Not sure what gauge I have on the low E and A now as they came of an old bass.

Ian, if you are reading this, what sort of gauge set do you use on your e-tuned Dano?

Anyway, took it along to a jam session and it sounded great playing neck pickup bass lines along with drums,two regular electrics and a fiddle. Also sounded fab when one guitarist switched to four-string bass and I moved to the bridge, added a little grit, a little slapback and pleyed a bit more of a lead role.

Had such fun that I am on the lookout for another band to join, just so I can play my bari!

 

[Dennis Brown]

After many years of playing I just started looking at baritone guitars. I wanted to try setting up a 25 1/2 " scale offset to bari but even with the 13 to 56 strings it was not stable at B to B tuning. It sound a little fuller when tuned a full step down to D.
Guy on you tube set up a guitar and it seems to work without rattling the low strings.
Still seems to be a bit of a novelty, unless I can get a deal on a baritone guitar I may just pass. I do like the Side Jack Baritone from Eastwood and a Douglas Hadron from Rondo may be a future purchase. Would like one at least in my collection.
Happy Holidays.

I bought a Douglas Ceti 627 for Baritone and sold it off. Two problems: neck was a bit too thick (not that big of a problem) and I discovered that 27" really isn't long enough to do proper B-B Baritone unless you are using huge strings, which I don't want to use. It would be fine for D-D or maybe C#-C#, but that is all.

Obviously I have to use larger strings, but I want to be able to use a standard Baritone set, not telephone poles. Rondo's 30" guitars are not cheap, unfortunately, and not many people make true baritone guitars with 30" scales. The other problem with the Douglas Ceti was the humbucker pickups. I love Rondo's single coils and P90s (have guitars now with both), but the humbuckers in this thing, well, sucked.

I used to own a Danelectro Baritone with the 30 scale and a piece of crap wood bridge. If not for that bridge, I would still own the guitar. I've bid on several Hodad Baritones, which they don't make any more. They are actually really good baritones for the price, if you can find one. The Danelectro lipstick tube pickups sounds amazing for baritone. Very much that twangy, spaghetti western tone.

 

[fraser]

what sort of gauge set do you use on your e-tuned Dano?

i have a dano u2 baritone,
tune it e-e as well.
using ernie ball 6 string bass strings
gauged 20-90
i love that thing.

also put together this baritone partscaster using a warmoth conversion neck

 

[El Reclusa]

I had a Dano Hodad Bari for years. Loved it, though the pickups were kinda "meh" and it felt like a toy. Sounded ok, though, and played well. I really want a Bass VI, maybe I'll pick up a new Squier someday. Right now, I get my bari fix (almost, sorta) from a '60s Kawai guitar strung with .013s tuned down to C. The intonation is whack, but it actually sounds pretty good.

 

[fezz parka]

Dano bridge? Replace with Tele half-plate:

 

[GuitOp81]

Dano bridge? Replace with Tele half-plate:

Sorry for going off topic: is that a tele with P90 on the neck and jaguar/jazzmaster tremolo?
Now that's genius!
How does it sound? Any more pics will be appreciated.

 

[fezz parka]

Sorry for going off topic: is that a tele with P90 on the neck and jaguar/jazzmaster tremolo?
Now that's genius!
How does it sound? Any more pics will be appreciated.

It's a LP jr style pine body.

 

[GuitOp81]

It's a LP jr style pine body.

Great!
Looks like the best of 3 or 4 worlds. I wish I could try it.

Apologies to the OP for the interruption.

I do have a baritone and like many others already said, no matter how much I like it it is difficult to find an opportunity to pick it up instead of a regular guitar.
The problem probably is that the guitar, being a transposing instrument, is already covering a lot of very low frequencies.

The only time I really played it was when I decided to use just that for a while.

 

[Chris Clemens]

This is the reason that keeps me in doubt if I want one... (to cool, but might it become my #1?)

 

[MrTwang]

Doubleneck is a great way to go if you're the only guitar player. It's cool to jump on to the other neck for a low twangy solo or some tic-tac bass riffs and then back on guitar in time for the next verse. Best of both worlds.

Personally, I've never had a problem with the wooden bridge - I think that might be part of the reason (along with the body construction and lipstick pickups) that the Dannos sound so much better to my ears than the Fender Bass VI and if it's not broke, don't fix it.

 

[El Reclusa]

Doubleneck is a great way to go if you're the only guitar player. It's cool to jump on to the other neck for a low twangy solo or some tic-tac bass riffs and then back on guitar in time for the next verse. Best of both worlds.

Personally, I've never had a problem with the wooden bridge - I think that might be part of the reason (along with the body construction and lipstick pickups) that the Dannos sound so much better to my ears than the Fender Bass VI and if it's not broke, don't fix it.

I agree- the aluminum nut helps, too.

For me, the Bass VI and Dano are almost two different things- I don't think the VI is better or worse, just different.