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SurfGuitar101 Forums » Gear »

Permalink Baritone guitar...

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kick_the_reverb wrote:

Having a few guitars set up as baritones with 30 ish scale length, I have a feeling that you would be better satisfied with a 28 ish scale length. I am basing this around my experience with comparing the harmonic content to my 25.5 JM tuned down a step. The 30" scale length has much more of the fundamental note which leaves the overall tome a bit lacking for my taste.
Also historic examples - Jet Harris recorded "Diamonds" on a detuned Jaguar. Compare that to the tone of the Bass VI in " The Man with the Golden Arm".

YMMV
Good luck,
Ran

Interesting. Thanks!

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Thanks to everyone for your input! I appreciate all your advice. And I promise not to ask another gear question for a while. Big Grin

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Jul 05, 2019 08:51:58

Noel, I have a Gretsch Electromatic guitar with two of their humbuckers and one thing I'd recommend is, if you find the neck+bridge position to sound too similar to the neck position alone as I did, that you reverse the wiring to one of the pickups (easy to do at the selector switch) to put them out of phase in the middle position. Like Peter Green. This yields three satisfactorily unique tones.

You do have to separate the pickup's chassis ground from the negative lead, though. They ground the pickups through that lead so if you reverse it, the guitar chassis becomes hot. It doesn't shock you--it just buzzes really loud when you touch anything metal on it.

Interesting. I haven't experienced this. After I found the sound I wanted through my Ennio Trilogy Fuzz, I haven't looked back. I'm hoping for the same with their Baritone.

image

Redfeather wrote:

Noel, I have a Gretsch Electromatic guitar with two of their humbuckers and one thing I'd recommend is, if you find the neck+bridge position to sound too similar to the neck position alone as I did, that you reverse the wiring to one of the pickups (easy to do at the selector switch) to put them out of phase in the middle position. Like Peter Green. This yields three satisfactorily unique tones.

You do have to separate the pickup's chassis ground from the negative lead, though. They ground the pickups through that lead so if you reverse it, the guitar chassis becomes hot. It doesn't shock you--it just buzzes really loud when you touch anything metal on it.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

I've had a bunch of baritones over the years. As long as they play well, I find most baritones pretty similar tonally. Right now I'm using a reissue Danelectro Dead-On 67 Baritone like this one, but in Cobalt Blue:

Old Reverb Link but sold

Pianos 'N Stuff lists this under used basses for $259.99, but the picture shows the guitar version. Might check with them though to make sure; they might have put up some incorrect stock pics:
Dano Dead-On '67

I like mine - it has tremelo, plays good, sounds good, and they are generally reasonably priced.

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DaveMudgett wrote:

I've had a bunch of baritones over the years...

Since this came up, who else uses a baritone guitar your music? I know Stephen Ulrich of Big Lazy regularly uses one. So does Mike Vivisector of The Vivisectors.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Who am I to stop someone from acquiring another instrument, but I sold my Danelectro Bari after trying a Digitech "The Drop" pedal. Sounds great through a clean fender amp with reverb, tracks quickly, the interval is adjustable, and it can be used on any of my guitars, fixed bridge or trem. I'm sure this pedal was conceived and marketed with drop-tuned metal in mind, but it serves perfectly well for bari sounds.

Since this came up, who else uses a baritone guitar your music? I know Stephen Ulrich of Big Lazy regularly uses one. So does Mike Vivisector of The Vivisectors.

We've recorded a # of songs using a baritone on our 2 CD's.
We have a new CD coming out at the end of the month with 2 more baritone songs, including a version of Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds".
Here is our version of Jet Harris' "Man From Nowhere" from out last CD Surfin The Silver Screen.
Man From Nowhere

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Last edited: Jul 11, 2019 19:53:24

Another baritone tack from our first CD.
The Last Race

I recorded these on a guitar I built myself back in 1997. Back then if you wanted a baritone, your only choices were vinatge Danelectros or Bass VI's.

image

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Reverb17 wrote:

Since this came up, who else uses a baritone guitar your music? I know Stephen Ulrich of Big Lazy regularly uses one. So does Mike Vivisector of The Vivisectors.

We've recorded a # of songs using a baritone on out 2 CD's.
We have a new CD coming out at the end of the month with 2 more baritone songs, including a version of Brian Wilson's "Pet Sounds".
Here is our version of Jet Harris' "Man From Nowhere" from out last CD Surfin The Silver Screen.
Man From Nowhere

I've had Silver Screen quite a while, and it's terrific! "Man From Nowhere" is on my list. I was gonna play it on my Bass VI, but it looks like the Gretsch bari will be better suited. Yours sounds just right. I hope the Gretsch does.

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

I just ran across this track on Youtube, which features a baritone really well:

Redfeather wrote:

I just ran across this track on Youtube, which features a baritone really well:

Great find!

1978
1 Saigo no Rakuen - music by Haruomi Hosono
2 Coral Reef - music by Shigeru Suzuki
3 Nostalgia of Island - music by Tatsuro Yamashita
4 Slack Key Rhumba - music by H. Hosono
5 Passion Flower - music by S. Suzuki
6 Noa Noah - music by S. Suzuki
7 Kiska - music by T. Yamashita
8 Cosmic Surfin - music by H. Hosono

Guitar - Shigeru Suzuki(Happy End), Kenji Ohmura, Tatsuro Yamashita
Bass - Haruomi Hosono(YMO/Happy End)
Drums - Yukihiro Takahashi(YMO), Tatuo Hayashi, Shuichi Ponta Murakami
Percussions - Motoya Hamaguchi, Nobu Saito
keyboards - Ryuichi Sakamoto(YMO), Masataka Matsutoya(Yumin's husband), Jun Sato
Flute - Motoya Hamaguch
Sax - HIdefumi Toki
Vocal & Chorus - Tatsuro Yamashita

Producer - Masatoshi Sakai

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Jul 13, 2019 07:18:49

Here's another baritone song we recorded for our new cd.
We actually did three songs where the baritone is the main guitar.
It's a cover of the Beach Boys instrumental Pet Sounds.

bandcamp: Pet Sounds

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Last edited: Jul 24, 2019 18:16:16

Reverb17 wrote:

Here's another baritone song we recorded for our new cd.
We actually did three songs where the baritone is the main guitar.
It's a cover of the Beach Boys instrumental Pet Sounds.

I Like that a lot!

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

This pic doesn't do justice to the intensity and depth of the Black Sparkle finish.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Congrats! It even looks like it sounds deep.
Baritones with vibratos rule. Cool
Happy playing!

Ooh!I want to see the sparkles under the glow of the lava lamp. Congratulations, she's a beauty!

Noel wrote:

This pic doesn't do justice to the intensity and depth of the Black Sparkle finish.

image

After tons of drop-D songs I’m gassing real badly for a baritone. I’m looking at similar models and I’m curious - how would you describe the sound compared to a JM / jag / strat? Thanks!

Dan Izen

Daniel Deathtide

DeathTide wrote:

...

After tons of drop-D songs I’m gassing real badly for a baritone. I’m looking at similar models and I’m curious - how would you describe the sound compared to a JM / jag / strat? Thanks!

Dan Izen

Different obviously - Gretsch-y twang instead of Fender twang. But totally capable of Spaghetti. Bear in mind I play all my Spaghetti through an Ennio Trilogy Good, Bad and Ugly Fuzz pedal. See here for an upgrade to mine. Sounds great overdriven, so its Link Wray kills it. I tune mine B E A D G B, so I don't have to change how I form chords from E to B, which makes my life a lot easier. I just don't have the high E string, which is strangely satisfying when I don't need it. No problem diving down to Bb when necessary, which is why I didn't get a baritone guitar with a fixed tailpiece. It surfs just fine through my Quilter MicroPro, Fender Stage 112SE, and Gomez Surfer amps. The pickups are not very hot, which is okay for me. I Like this guitar a lot.

If I could play like this, I might make it sound like it. I have the inexpensive version, but it should give you an idea, and the sound of Big Lazy's Steve Ulrich on his Gretsch Baritone is what finally sold me.

And... Steve just told me he uses a Dano Baritone. OOPS! In any case, I'm very happy with mine, and I still wish I could play as well as Steve Ulrich.

I forgot to mention this. It's tone is more sensitive to playing over the pickups than my Jazzmaster or Jaguar.

IMHO. YMMV.

The Gretsch brothers.

image

This is Noel. Reverb's at maximum an' I'm givin' 'er all she's got.

Last edited: Aug 05, 2019 12:07:21

Generally I find that low powered p/u's sound better for baritone guitars.

I also have noticed that lipstick p/u's, with their enhanced mid-range bump, work a little better than Fender single coils(strat/Jag/JM). It adds a depth to the baritone sound.

I would think the Gretsch style p/u's would also sound nice in the same way.

TarantinosNYC
TarantinosNYC FB page
The WrayCyclers FB page
Rockaway Beach Surf Music Festival

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