Is the Bass Six a Baritone Guitar?

[JazzX]

I was on the Warmoth website and I saw the Bass Six body listed in the guitar category, and wanted to know whether or not it was a Baritone guitar.

:help:

 

[Super Turbo Deluxe Custom]

It's a 30" scale and tuned an octave lower than a guitar.  The baritone is a slightly smaller scale and tuned to A or B, respectively.  If the tuning and string gauge were compensated, technically you could make a Bass 6 just a longer scale baritone.

 

[pabloman]

No. Warmoth's "baritone" designated bodies and necks are 28 5/8" scale while the bass 6 is a 30" scale. Generally a baritone guitar is strung more like the lower 6 strings on a 7 string guitar with lighter gauge strings than a bass 6 and tuned maybe a fourth down or so. A bass 6 is usually tuned an octave lower and start with about a .24 guage string for the high e. Of course this is just a generalization and there is some variation to scales and such from different manufactures but what I said was based on W stuff.

 

[drewfx]

It's semantics, but the word "baritone" generally means either "the second lowest pitched instrument in a family of instruments", or "an instrument pitched between bass and tenor". So technically if you tune a bass 6 to the same low E as a bass, it's a bass guitar, not a baritone guitar.

But in practice, it's strung with strings with lower tension, similar to a guitar, and is often played more like a guitar, so it is what it is.

 

[rockskate4x]

John Petrucci has used music man 30 inch scale guitars similar to the bass six as baritones. I'm sure he is not the first.

 

[Rickgrxbass]

John Petrucci has used music man 30 inch scale guitars similar to the bass six as baritones. I'm sure he is not the first.

Dano's (arguably the "first" baritones) are/were 30", tuned B-b, down a fourth from standard (Or, if I'm being a smart ass, "Orchestral key of E flat").  I'd say they beat Petrucci by a couple years.

Strangely, though, the Hodad baritone reissues, dead-on/Hornet reissues, and the new Wild Thing Bari all range from 27-28" scales. :doh: