RE: Baritone Options

[scarello]

Hello All. I just picked up a Baritone guitar and was curious what would be needed, and if it was an option, to be able to use regular strings and tuning on it as well as anything I may need to be concerned with.

Thanks,

Steve C - RI

sjcarello@hotmail.com

[Dew_Riffic]

im pretty sure that it will in a truss rod adjustment, smaller guage strings and maybe a intonation.

Hope that helps....

Dew

[darren wilson]

"Baritone" covers a lot of different instruments... what scale length is it? If it's any longer than 27", the tension at standard pitch might be a bit too much.

[scarello]

I grabbed an ESP GL-600MT with a 27" Scale Length.

Kinda new to me, but I can swear I played someone's baritone guitar and they told me it was setup like a regular guitar with regular strings and all.

Steve C - RI

sjcarello@hotmail.com

[whatshisname]

Well, it would be setup, more or less, just like a regular guitar. You still have to adjust the truss rod, and set the intonation, when need. Afterall, it IS a normal guitar, with a longer scale. Because of this, you'd most likely want to use heavier guitar strings.

For example, Ty Tabor's two Yamaha models(one with a 25 1/5 scale, and the other a baritone) He uses nines on the normal one, and elevens, on the baritone. He says that they end up feeling similar to the nines, because of the longer neck. Otherwise, both guitars are identical(body, pickups, ect...)

[darren wilson]

You could probably tune to regular pitch on a 27" scale instrument, as long as you go down a gauge or two in your string choice. (e.g. If you regularly play 9's, you would go down to 8's.)

And, of course, as already stated, adjust your intonation and neck relief accordingly.

[whatshisname]

Yeah, you probably could, but, wouldn't there be problems that would arise from doing so? It would be similar to the problem of using a high A string, where you wouldn't have much room to bend, before the string snapped. That's what I figure, anyway.

Heck, try it, and let us know how it works out for you.


What's odd to me, is that on a shorter Gibson scale, you'd use thicker strings, to make up for the loss of tension. How does it work, where using thicker strings on a substantially longer scale, that it would feel more like LIGHTER strings? It's the reverse of what you'd normally think... Isn't it?

[revsharp777]

Why would you tune a baritone guitar to standard tuning? Kind of defeats the purpose, right? On my baritone, I use 13-56 gauge in Drop A tuning.

[dot-dot-dot]

Originally Posted by whatshisname

What's odd to me, is that on a shorter Gibson scale, you'd use thicker strings, to make up for the loss of tension. How does it work, where using thicker strings on a substantially longer scale, that it would feel more like LIGHTER strings? It's the reverse of what you'd normally think... Isn't it?

It's all about the pitch/tension/scale equation.

Gibsons have a shorter scale, so to get the same tension at the same pitch you need heavier strings.

To tune lower on any given scale length you need heavier strings to get the same tension.

On a baritone, you have a longer scale length. With the same string gauge and tension this will give you a lower tuning - but typically only one or two steps lower. Adding heavier strings too means you can keep decent tension but tune even lower, and intonate properly too.

Tuning a baritone to Standard (E-E, I'm guessing) means you get more tension on the strings, plus the longer scale inherently gives you better note definition and clarity. I wouldn't normally bother, myself, but there are sound reasons for doing it (I once tried a Yamaha Drop6 in standard and it was pretty darned cool).

[power freak]

You also get more space between frets, this could be desireable or undesirable depending on the person in question. I know Allan Holdsworth used a baritone for that very reason.

[BlueGrot]

Originally Posted by revsharp777

Why would you tune a baritone guitar to standard tuning? Kind of defeats the purpose, right? On my baritone, I use 13-56 gauge in Drop A tuning.

Because the tone of a baritone guitar is completely different. My RG was really tight and punchy, alot more punchy than other, higher end RGs.

[felipe82]

Has anyone ever done the opposite?
I'm thinking in putting some .011s in my AX1220BBK and tune it to C.
Any advice?

[Walker]

My first IBZ was a 470xl 27 in. It's always in standard tune
Unless your guitar has an edge trem stay away from the heavy strings if your staying standard, they will dull the trem edges.

The longer scale will provide higher string tension, thus lower possible action, My american master won't get the action of my 470, though close.

I used to swear by heavy strings, but now my technique has changed more to playing lead style, I stick with ernie hybrid slinky, or DR 9 - 46's

Brad
P.S. my american master will be up at the ibanez register this week, the first listing with good pics