Orange Amps Forum

Anyone have any experience with baritone guitars? I'm really interested in getting one of these sometime and maybe a higher powered amp to play it through. I like the idea of it sort of being a bass and guitar in one. It might be a neat addition to my band's sound on some songs. Sometimes two six string guitars is overkill. I'll show our bass player who's boss. ha.

This Gretsch one looks cool:



Or maybe this Eastwood?

I've played the Eastwood before and found it to be a great guitar. I would definitely recommend it over the Gretsch.
There is also the Fender Jaguar Baritone Custom and the Fender Bass VI.

The only downside can be the change in string gauge from what you are used to and the sound of your overall tone. A lot of people find playing a Baritone to be a bit muddy but generally it just needs a bit of tweaking.

Cool. Thanks for the reply. I do like the look of the Eastwood. I'd like to have the Jaguar, but I can't find any for sale, and I'm guessing they cost more than these do. This would be a sort of experiment so I don't want to sink too much money into it.

Bah, add another Eastwood guitar to the list of things I'd like to own. I've been into the concept of baratone guitars since hearing And the Glass-handed Kites. Love that album, love the krang and punch of a baratone guitar.

I played one of those Gretsch baritones once. I swear they must make them out of lead. It must have weighed about 16 pounds. The damn thing was so heavy that my leg was a bit sore after playing it in a seated position for a while. I say if you want to play notes in that register you need to decide if you want something twangy sounding or with low-end warmth. If you want twang, get something with less mass, like a Danelectro or similar guitar. If you want low-end warmth, just play bass.

I'm thinking of building my own. Seems I could just buy any Fender body and buy a Baritone neck from Allparts.

baytamusic wrote:I'm thinking of building my own. Seems I could just buy any Fender body and buy a Baritone neck from Allparts.

That'd be a fun project... I just finished a tele project but almost got a baritone conversion neck for it cuz i saw one for super cheap. Anyways maybe it's time you built that surf green tele!

No kidding, right? haha. I might use a Jazz/Jag body though. Where's the pics of your Tele?

I'll take pics over the next couple days, don't worry! A jag/jazz baritone would be sweet, especially one with jazzmaster pickups, that'd be sweet.

I know Fender Japan just started reissuing the bass VI (I believe in black, white, red, sunburst), but with shipping I think they're going for about $1700 new. That said, they should be an ok deal buying used in the US after they start to trickle in. $1700 is just kinda ridiculous though, especially for a niche instrument. I was hoping for like $1k.

Anyways, here's a pic from japan's version of NAMM:

Isn't the Bass VI tuned E-E, basically a 6 string bass with a tad lighter strings, while a baritone is B-B?

Yeah, that's the normal difference. Also, I think the Jaguar Baritone Custom is B-B and 28", but a Bass VI is E-E and 30" scale.

I thought that most 6-string basses were B-to-B, so the Bass VI might be a bit more useful if that's the case.

The Danelectro Wild Thing is only $299 if you want to experiment with an extended-scale guitar on the cheapz.

Randy Bass wrote:I thought that most 6-string basses were B-to-B, so the Bass VI might be a bit more useful if that's the case.

The Danelectro Wild Thing is only $299 if you want to experiment with an extended-scale guitar on the cheapz.

It may or may not be more useful. I'm wondering if you'd be stepping on the bass players toes having the ability to go down to the same octave on notes like the low E, A, B, C, D?! We tune standard. The B-B might be super confusing though. Man, I need to just get one and see if it's useful. I'm thinking we could have a few songs with a really unique sound if I can come up with a somewhat unorthodox way of playing it. I usually don't like chorus effects, but I bet it would sound cool on a baritone.

Saw that Wild Thing and thought about it. I wish it wasn't so ugly. I like pretty out there looking stuff too, but man that thing is an eyesore! Ha!

I agree about the Wild Thing being ugly. I like guitars that are non-reverse-Firebird ugly, but not B.C. Rich-ugly . It's too bad Squier doesn't make a Bass VI yet.

taylor does a baritone acoustic that looks really interesting. to prevent muddiness, they double up on the D and G strings (like a 12-strings), making it an 8-string baritone. not sure how it sounds, and it definitely doesn't apply here, but still. check it out.