I'm interested in getting a baritone, tune to A standard

[jkspawn]

I'm looking to get a baritone guitar and have it setup in A standard. Where should I start? One guitar that caught my eye at NAMM this year was the Schecter Hellraiser C-VI baritone. Its setup a whole octave below standard. I was wondering would it be possible to get one of these bad boys setup in A standard? Or should I just go for a 7 string baritone and tune it a whole step down?

 

[Nonservium]

7 String would be the easier and more versatile option imo. If you're set on a 6-er, you might consider the PRS Mike Mushok. It's 27.7" and getting to A standard would be easy.

If I recall, that Schecter is 30" scale and would be a little long for my tastes. YMMV.

Edit: You can also keep an eye on Rondo, they tend to have baritone 6'ers here and there for much less of an investment if it's just something you want to play around with.

 

[Andromalia]

30" is starting to be a big difference, I'd seriously advice you to play one or if it's more difficult, try to make chords on a short scale bass to get an idea of finger positioning and if you feel comfortable with it.

 

[scherzo1928]

Try one of the Mushok sigs, pretty solid guitars, and the scale is more than enough to go down to A. Well, you can tune that low on pretty much anything, but I love the clarity that comes with a bigger scale. Right now I've got my 27.5" scale sixer tuned to drop A, and couldn't be happier with the sound comming out of it... ridonculous.

Oh, and 30" scale might be overkill for what you're looking for (perfectly doable though).

 

[brynotherhino]

The new baritone tele is pretty sweet, the bridge pickup is a wee bit muddy but thats a pretty easy fix.

 

[ras1988]

The new baritone tele is pretty sweet, the bridge pickup is a wee bit muddy but thats a pretty easy fix.

+1 on this it isn't the most refined instrument you can get as a baritone but to try out the concept it is great, you will need to set it up and tweak the string gauges a bit (the unwound D string just sounded wonky and felt unstable). Trading out the bridge pickup may come out to about $120 tops if you go for bkp in the used market but the difference it makes is extraordinary.

There is also the added benefit of having those tele single coils in the mid and neck spanky or pretty cleans and just "wrong" distorted tones. The biggest discovery I had was using the neck and mid in parallel with a decent helping of gain, it yields a sub-guitar/pseudo-distorted bass tone that is pretty unique. I have mine in Bb standard with a 13-60 set and it is working out just great.

 

[jkspawn]

Right on, thank you guys for the feedback. Ill be checking out Mike Mushok's signature and see how I like it. Ill get one if I can get a good deal on it, then install a set of EMG 81/60's.

 

[Rick]

At that scale, it should be fine.

 

[7 Strings of Hate]

warmoth is the way to go

 

[Riffer]

I love the Mike Mushok model. I play literally 100's of them a year and never get tired of pickup one up.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I like the feel of a 7 over the way a 6 string feels. That's not to say I can't play a 6 string, I simply prefer a 7. That said, *I* would go with a 7 and just tune it down a step. More soloing room and you still get the low end result you want.

 

[onionofdoom]

Another vote for the PRS Mike Mushok, they're awesome. Personally though, If you're tuning that low, I'd just get a seven.

 

[jkspawn]

I do have a 7 but I keep it in standard tuning, I guess I could just get another 7 and tune it to A.

Is there a huge difference between a baritone 7 and and regular 7? Ive been trying to wrap my head around the whole baritone thing and what the advantages are of playing one.

 

[Nonservium]

Baritone is usually just referring to a longer scale length on the neck. This makes it easier to keep taught string tension as you tune lower. That's about the gist of it, as I understand it.

On a six string, if its tuned "Standard", its just like playing any ol' guitar in "E" but its lower and the strings, if done right, aren't all floppy. That 30" scale tuned a full octave below is not really different, finger positioning-wise, than any other guitar. It's just much lower and very freakin long. To put it in perspective, my 5-string bass is 34" scale.

 

[Konfyouzd]

I do have a 7 but I keep it in standard tuning, I guess I could just get another 7 and tune it to A.

Is there a huge difference between a baritone 7 and and regular 7? Ive been trying to wrap my head around the whole baritone thing and what the advantages are of playing one.

Imagine playing everything one fret down. It's a little bigger but for me the difference isn't that noticeable except that I feel the upper frets are slightly roomier.

 

[Sir Applesauce]

That schecter comes factory tuned down to E. That'd be ridiculous.
A lot of bands do A standard on a 25.5" 6 string, a 26.5" Schecter
or one of the many 27" guitars out there would do fine.
I have an LTD SC-607b that's pretty awesome for the money, it's 7 strings though.
As people have said, the Mike Mushok is the dog's bollocks.

 

[AkiraSpectrum]

Although I haven't played it I hear a lot of great things about the MM PRS 6 string baritone!

As you were originally looking at Schecter 6 string baritone don't forget about the c-1 EX (26.5") (they've had a lot of different models over the years and now they have this guitar in the new SLS version). The new SLS version looks super tasty -

Blackjack SLS C-1 EX Baritone - Schecter Guitar Research

I think this is a much better choice than the C-VI baritone for you. If you don't like the PRS then definitely check out the Schecter BJ C-1 EX SLS!
I played a c-1ex a long time ago when it was just the regular blackjack model with duncan passives and I really liked it.

 

[Shotgun]

I have a 6 string custom guitar with 26.0 inch neck and it made for my hand (very little hands) and dropA tuning. It works absolute perfect in this tuning, it has tight bass and clear highs, no mud. If you have mahogany or other dark sounding wood you would try the 27.0 inch neck or longer. There's a lot of differences between the baritone guitars. I have a swamp ash/maple and 26.0, it sounds perfect, the mahogany like Mike Mushok has is longer but muddy I don't like it's sound. It depends on woods as well. I think a baritone Carvin DC will be great for you.

 

[infernalservice]

Does carvin make a baritone 6?

 

[Shotgun]

I mean Mayones not Carvin sorry for my mistake. My brain think's a lot about carvin nowadays.