I'm thinking about building a chambered strat baritone guitar, possibly tuned to an octave below standard. Can i use standard guitar bridge and tuners or are modifications necessary because of the heavier gauge strings? I also need some help with the woods and pickups too. I thought about two humbuckers or mini-humbuckers. I'm not a metal player and need to play cleans also. I'm not a tremolo user.
Baritone guitar help
- Thread starter Ian_b487
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i believe the standard hardware will work if you're in common guitar string guage range. I don't know what gauge you'd need to get to an octave below standard on a bari. Are you talking about the 30" 6er they just started offering or the bari conversion neck?
also, I think you're best off going with single coils, unless you build the thing to be very bright in the first place. I can't imagine a humbucker sounding like anything but mud at that range. but i could be wrong. I like uber-clear clean tones
also, I think you're best off going with single coils, unless you build the thing to be very bright in the first place. I can't imagine a humbucker sounding like anything but mud at that range. but i could be wrong. I like uber-clear clean tones
i always thought a p-90 baritone would be awesome... anyway i think a normal baritone can use standard gauge strings (9's to 11's) but if you're tuning a little lower than that you might need some larger strings. i would think you'd be ok with most bridges. you can use standard bridges. the problems you might run into if you have to use 13's or something will probably be more with the nut and the tuning pegs. i tried 13's once just for kicks and couldn't get the lowest string through my tuning peg. i was a little disappointed. they were locking tuners, which always seem to be a little tight on the larger strings anyway. standard tuners might work fine though, i'm not sure.
JaySwear said:
that was the issue i was thinking of. I put a set of 12's on my thinline last week and just barely got the .52 through the tuner, and that's not even that heavy. Depends on the tuner for sure. I had sperzels on my old Carvin and the low string was .58 with no issues. And of course people go lower than that a lot anyway.
definitely! i can't remember the brand mine were, sperzel i think... seems like all the locking tuners i've tried have been really tight! maybe it's done on purpose to prevent slipping, but probably more just because the locking mechanism in them takes up a lot of space
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swarfrat
Guest
An octave below requires a 0.105" E string on a 34" scale at normalish tension. Significantly reduce the tension, or greatly increase the diameter/length ratio and you'll end up with a funky sounding cable that behaves more like a rod than a string.
I've thought about doing the opposite though, stringing light and tuning just 2 or 3 frets down to C# or D, for nice open string positions for singers that have gone through puberty. Should be nice and clear if it's at or slightly higher than normal tension on a looong scale length. Hmmm. I'm cooking a second project before I get the first one ordered.
I've thought about doing the opposite though, stringing light and tuning just 2 or 3 frets down to C# or D, for nice open string positions for singers that have gone through puberty. Should be nice and clear if it's at or slightly higher than normal tension on a looong scale length. Hmmm. I'm cooking a second project before I get the first one ordered.
Ian_b487 said:
again, that's a dependent question. depends on how you EQ, what kind of sounds you're after, what other gear you're using. But they certainly can sound real nice
I personally haven't played one tuned down that low, but with the bari conversion neck you're going to have to put some thick strings on there to get it to pitch, and again i just think that humbuckers would get muddy.
These are mini humbuckers and the clean tone is fairly devoid of high end. That could also be a lot of other factors, including amp, guitar construction, electronics quality. it's not a high end guitar like the fender
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=01JC7y_NvWo[/youtube]
Is a standard bass guitar actually an octave below guitar or two octaves? Like, is this thing in the middle or is that actually just essentially a short-scale 6 string bass? cuz that's what it seems like the fender models are/were
[youtube=425,350]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=51nA8g_t84c&feature=related
[/youtube]
this guy talks WAY too much, but there are some great soundclip moments, particularly right in the middle. Keep in mind i htink this thing is tuned down in bass range, so I'm not sure if that's where you'd be at. And he's playing through a Vox - i think there'd be a lot more grind to that thing running through a modern amp.
[/youtube]
this guy talks WAY too much, but there are some great soundclip moments, particularly right in the middle. Keep in mind i htink this thing is tuned down in bass range, so I'm not sure if that's where you'd be at. And he's playing through a Vox - i think there'd be a lot more grind to that thing running through a modern amp.
bigguspickus
Senior Member
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dNA said:
That's the Bass VI from Spinal Tap! Alright, maybe not THE Bass VI from Spinal Tap, but the only other one made in that color.
"Still got the ol' tagger on it- no wait, now there's a bunch of pick scratches on it."
I'm not a Phil X hater, but I wouldn't want to hang out with the guy for longer than, say, a jam session.
rockskate4x
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You would be tuning to the range of a bass. A bass is one octave down, while most baritones go a fourth down (B to b) or sometimes a fifth down (A to a). The 30 inch scale is somewhat questionable for bass tuning so I'm not sure I like that idea for the Warmoth baritone scale.
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swarfrat
Guest
Okay, I'm in luck and you're out of luck.
The largest wound string D'Addario makes in a guitar series is 0.080", and on a 28 5/8" scale tuned to E 41.2Hz would have string tension approximately equal to a 0.040" tuned to E82.4Hz @ 25.5". So somewhere between a set of .008's and a set of .009's. (Read super slinky) Not to mention wouldn't fit through your tuners and would probably have horrible wolf tones because its so thick and so short.
But a 28.625" scale length tuned to D 73.4Hz is exactly equivalent to the same string gauge tuned to concert pitch on a 25.5" scale length all the way across the board. It's just a 25.5" scale length neck with a -1 and -2 fret. WOOHOOO.
The largest wound string D'Addario makes in a guitar series is 0.080", and on a 28 5/8" scale tuned to E 41.2Hz would have string tension approximately equal to a 0.040" tuned to E82.4Hz @ 25.5". So somewhere between a set of .008's and a set of .009's. (Read super slinky) Not to mention wouldn't fit through your tuners and would probably have horrible wolf tones because its so thick and so short.
But a 28.625" scale length tuned to D 73.4Hz is exactly equivalent to the same string gauge tuned to concert pitch on a 25.5" scale length all the way across the board. It's just a 25.5" scale length neck with a -1 and -2 fret. WOOHOOO.
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swarfrat
Guest
Hmm, I wonder if warmoth would do a custom inlay, the traditional dot pattern, but shifted down the neck 2 or 3 frets, with double dots repeated behind the fret that would be concert pitch with whichever tuning I decide. I wonder would it look cool, stupid, or be confusing? I wonder if my wife would kill me if it showed up at the front door. Dangit I'm not ready to do this guitar, Focus, focus. One project at a time.
dNA said:
so he winds up with a reverse headstock nad no visible side dots, just get a sharpie for the side dots. it wouldnt stop me,
just kidding i know what you're saying, i wouldn't care but i see why if someone was paying that much to put a guitar together they'd want everything to be right.
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