Barritone Guitars!

[slyym]

Who here plays on one? What can you tell me about them? I recently heard some songs recorded with a baritone and holy shit they sounded awesome. Super low tuning and super clear sounding. I've been looking around and see that there is more then one scale length. Not sure how that effects the sound and playability. Anyways what do you guys know? Thanks!

 

[Dave L]

Well, I suppose a lot of the extended range and fan-fret guitars that are out there now are sort of short baritones, even if they´re mostly seven- and eightstrings at the same time. The long and short of it is that the longer the scale, the deeper you can tune and still have good tension on the strings. Tuned to a certain pitch, a longer scale will feel stiffer.

 

[JakeAC5253]

I play on a 28.6" 8 string, love it. The extra scale length is surprisingly comfortable and addictive.

 

[slyym]

I play on a 28.6" 8 string, love it. The extra scale length is surprisingly comfortable and addictive.

I couldn't do an 8 string. I'm sticking with 6 strings for now at least. I've seen 27" scale and a 30" scale, which one do you think I should get?

 

[JakeAC5253]

I play on a 28.6" 8 string, love it. The extra scale length is surprisingly comfortable and addictive.

I couldn't do an 8 string. I'm sticking with 6 strings for now at least. I've seen 27" scale and a 30" scale, which one do you think I should get?

I mostly play the top 6 strings anyway lol. 27" or 28.6" would be ideal, 30" for a 6 is overkill IMO. It depends what tuning you want to play in though and what you want to accomplish, but I would say you can't go wrong with a 27" or 28.6".

 

[Dave L]

Yeah, when the baritones started reappearing as a six-string alternative to seven-strings back in the late 90s they were mostly 27". The Jackson DK27 and what not.

 

[slyym]

I'm thinking somewhere around drop A is what I would be shooting for. My only problem would be not being able to play one before buying. Unless guitar center has them.

 

[cardinal]

27" feels ok, but longer than that, the space between the frets starts to feel a bit unnatural to me.

FWIW, 27" is essentially like adding one extra fret behind the nut (ie, if you tune down 1/2 step and then capo at the first fret, the spacing will feel like a 25.5" guitar tuned to standard). 28.5" or thereabouts is like adding two extra frets.

 

[Pushead]

I have two LTD baritones, which are 27". I also have a Warmoth conversion neck which is 28.625 (5/8)".

My band plays in C standard, and my typical guitars are 24.75" scale. I wanted something for recording open string parts that had a bit more tension. For me, the 28.625" was a bit too long. I don't have really long fingers, but I have a pretty good spread. The 28 just was too much.

The 27" scale was a good compromise, for me. For recording, it helped clean up the open string staccato parts, and when playing on the neck, it doesn't feel that much bigger. Or at least, it doesn't take long for me to adapt.

Realistically, the 27" scale is equivalent to adding one extra fret to a 25.5" scale guitar.

 

[misterspockyall]

I play an SG Baritone. I like it a lot, coil tap pickups. I used some super heavy gauge strings, but I think this robbed some of the "cut" for heavy rhythm work. I'm gonna try a lighter gauge.

 

[slyym]

27" feels ok, but longer than that, the space between the frets starts to feel a bit unnatural to me.

FWIW, 27" is essentially like adding one extra fret behind the nut (ie, if you tune down 1/2 step and then capo at the first fret, the spacing will feel like a 25.5" guitar tuned to standard). 28.5" or thereabouts is like adding two extra frets.

So is it even worth the hassle to go from my current guitar which is 25.5" scale to a 27" scale? Would I really be gaining that much tension to make a difference?

 

[Pushead]

It made a difference to me.

I use the same gauge strings on the baritone as I do on the 24.75. I'm using EB .012-.056. The guitars came stock with .013-.058(I think) from LTD, but since I'm essentially tuning the baritone up 1/2 step, I figured it was worth keeping with the 12s.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a baritone LTD at your local GC. It may be a Steph Carpenter guitar, but at least you'd get an idea of how the scale felt to you.

 

[slyym]

It made a difference to me.

I use the same gauge strings on the baritone as I do on the 24.75. I'm using EB .012-.056. The guitars came stock with .013-.058(I think) from LTD, but since I'm essentially tuning the baritone up 1/2 step, I figured it was worth keeping with the 12s.

It wouldn't surprise me if there was a baritone LTD at your local GC. It may be a Steph Carpenter guitar, but at least you'd get an idea of how the scale felt to you.

There is 4 guitar centers in Houston. Guess the chances are good that they'll have something right.

 

[rokket2005]

I have a PRS 277 that I've had for a few months now and it's great. The SE line is a huge bang for the buck, and with the ol new models coming out now you might be able to snag one of the old ones.

 

[cardinal]

27" feels ok, but longer than that, the space between the frets starts to feel a bit unnatural to me.

FWIW, 27" is essentially like adding one extra fret behind the nut (ie, if you tune down 1/2 step and then capo at the first fret, the spacing will feel like a 25.5" guitar tuned to standard). 28.5" or thereabouts is like adding two extra frets.

So is it even worth the hassle to go from my current guitar which is 25.5" scale to a 27" scale? Would I really be gaining that much tension to make a difference?

You can give yourself an idea of it by tuning your guitar down half a step and putting a capo at the first fret. That should give you a sense of how that extra bit of scale length can impact the tension and tone of the strings.

To me, 27" is a noticable difference from 25.5" when comparing at the same tuning.

 

[sg guy]

I play an SG Baritone. I like it a lot, coil tap pickups. I used some super heavy gauge strings, but I think this robbed some of the "cut" for heavy rhythm work. I'm gonna try a lighter gauge.

-one of those all white, big bodied tone monster's I've been lusting for since I played one!!!

 

[maddnotez]

I'm thinking somewhere around drop A is what I would be shooting for. My only problem would be not being able to play one before buying. Unless guitar center has them.

Go find a 30" scale bass to compare, that is what I did.

I had a 27" Agile for a bit and it was pretty cool. Anything longer than that though idk if I could do but I am short and have a short wing span

 

[RockyStar]

You may want to check out the PRS Tremonti baritone model. A lot of great features on it.

 

[JakeAC5253]

27" feels ok, but longer than that, the space between the frets starts to feel a bit unnatural to me.

FWIW, 27" is essentially like adding one extra fret behind the nut (ie, if you tune down 1/2 step and then capo at the first fret, the spacing will feel like a 25.5" guitar tuned to standard). 28.5" or thereabouts is like adding two extra frets.

So is it even worth the hassle to go from my current guitar which is 25.5" scale to a 27" scale? Would I really be gaining that much tension to make a difference?

25.5" to 27" is roughly a string set. So if you normally use 11s on a 25.5", you'll use 10s on a 27". Two string sets for 28.6"

 

[cardinal]

You may want to check out the PRS Tremonti baritone model. A lot of great features on it.

Isn't the baritone Tremonti just 25.5" scale? I remember SSO losing it over a debate whether that was somehow dishonest marketing because it wasn't longer. But it is longer than the typical Tremonti scale.