Ultra Low Baritone Recommendations

[Stickman]

Hi all.
I’m in the market for a baritone, but I want to go down all the way to B0.
Why? Because it sounds fun, and when used correctly it can sound absolutely monolithic (see Granite by Sleep Token).
I don’t want a 9 string, my hands are too small and at the end of the day I’m a chugger not a shredder, top strings would only be there for decoration.

So my options are:
1: find a 30” scale sixer, which would be perfect I think but the few that are out there all have their flaws.

2: Get a 28” sixer, which are way more common but not sure if the scale’s long enough.

3: this sounds stupid but bear with me. I get a 5/6 string bass and stick guitar pickups and strings on it. Tell me why it won’t work.

So with these in mind does anyone know of any mass produced 30 inchers that don’t suck, is 28” long enough for B0 tuning, or should I ‘just play bass’ but basically convert it to a guitar?

Oh btw, my budget is £300. Gotta make it a challenge.

 

[John]

300 for everything? Subzero (gear4music house brand) is an option others have tried. But even with some added attention on their own to get things working to their liking, quite a few still wind up in the suck category on account of quality gaffes that are more trouble than they're worth. Same vibes with Harley Benton (Thomann house brand).
That all considered, unless they've suddenly backpedaled in the wrong direction, you can still either get your money back or an exchange if you're adamant with that budget.

 

[Stickman]

Sorry I should’ve said 300 for the base guitar, can upgrade as and when afterwards.
I’ve looked very hard at the subzero and have heard…mixed things let’s say. The thing I’m most worried about would be the TOM as pretty much every guitar I’ve owned is either an FR or hardtail. Im not worried about a bit of diy fret levelling or rerouting, but if I can avoid it I will.

 

[thomas.reuter]

I have a SubZero and had a great setup on it + upgraded the tuners/pickups/nut + a total rewire with new pots and it's really solid

 

[Stickman]

Good to know they can be great with only a decent setup. You think it’ll hold that low a tuning ok?

 

[CM_X5]

SubZero Rogue VI, seems like it will tick most of the boxes. If you don't mind tinkering you can replace the bridge with something a bit more comfortable on the hand and actually be able to intonate the damn thing.

 

[Stickman]

Was gonna ask about the intonation lol.
Does anyone have experience with the Harley Benton JA Baritone? Only ask coz it’s cheap but guessing you get what you pay for.

 

[thomas.reuter]

Good to know they can be great with only a decent setup. You think it’ll hold that low a tuning ok?

mine lives in double drop C# totally fine.

Was gonna ask about the intonation lol.
Does anyone have experience with the Harley Benton JA Baritone? Only ask coz it’s cheap but guessing you get what you pay for.

I've also got the JA and the build quality is considerably worse. I took out the neck pickup and added a kill switch + hipshot locking tuners and got the fret sprout filed down and its a solid instrument and sounds insane but is overall not the most fun to play

 

[Hollowway]

Get an Aria Pro II Jet B’Tone. 30”, HS pups, trem. And it’s only $419 USD new. I got mine for around $300 USD. I specifically wanted a trem because not many things sound cooler than an uber low note being slowly dropped in pitch with a trem. Comes in black, white, or sunburst.

 

[Hoss632]

Subzero Rogue VI, Harley Benton JA baritone, and the Firefly 30inch baritone are the 3 options for you. 2 of them are hubucker guitars while the Harley Benton has p90's.

 

[SeventyFour]

This may be too outside the box but I immediately thought of those concept Ibanez bass guitar hybrids. It won't be £300 but it's 30" scale 6 string bass with guitar string spacing (somewhat). Can only find the multiscale version on their site but they have made straight versions.

I think there's a thread in the bass section that's not too old where someone actually posted one as a NGD.

https://www.ibanez.com/eu/products/detail/src6ms_1p_01.html

 

[Stickman]

I would love one of the SRC Ibanez, people hate on them coz they look to much like a bass but still look good imo. Little too much on the pricey side and iirc they use weird sized emgs so if you want to upgrade a bit of routing would be necessary.
I straight up forgot about the Aria tbh.
Seems like paying a little bit more goes a long way with these things, so the Subzero still looks like the best bet as a 30”.
Am I to understand 28” is definitely out as it’s too short?

 

[twguitar]

Bit of a curveball but the Gretsch? I picked one up on sale last year for 300 quid I think and its blown me away. Not the obvious metal machine but can be done

 

[Hollowway]

Bit of a curveball but the Gretsch? I picked one up on sale last year for 300 quid I think and its blown me away. Not the obvious metal machine but can be done

Yeah those are cool too. And they have one with a trem!

 

[ixlramp]

3: this sounds stupid but bear with me. I get a 5/6 string bass and stick guitar pickups and strings on it. Tell me why it won’t work.

Not stupid at all, i will tell you why it will work
I use 6 string bass guitars as baritone guitars.

If you can live with the string spacing, a 5 or 6 string bass would effortlessly accept and intonate any gauge you could possibly want to use for the B0. No nut modification because your gauges will be smaller than bass gauges. Extremely good tone even for the B0.

Guitar strings are too short to be used on a bass guitar, you would have to use bass strings, but of course much smaller gauges for much lower tension. Bass strings are more expensive then guitar strings, and because they are designed for higher tensions they have thicker core wire so are stiffer, not saying this is necessarily a problem though.

Also keep in mind that almost all basses have medium fretwire. Not necessarily a problem but just in case you dislike medium fretwire. The only exception i have found is ESP basses that have extra-jumbo frets.

 

[Avedas]

If you can find a way to get one used shipped out of Japan, I picked up one of these the other day: https://sago-nmg.com/guitarbass/kotetsu/

33" scale length, plays like a dream, regular string sets are just long enough to be compatible. ~600 GBP brand new, but I've seen some on the used market go for half that. It comes in B1 standard with a 10-46 set, so putting on something a bit thicker it should do B0 easily.

 

[Valdra]

If you can find a way to get one used shipped out of Japan, I picked up one of these the other day: https://sago-nmg.com/guitarbass/kotetsu/

33" scale length, plays like a dream, regular string sets are just long enough to be compatible. ~600 GBP brand new, but I've seen some on the used market go for half that. It comes in B1 standard with a 10-46 set, so putting on something a bit thicker it should do B0 easily.

I just picked one of these up myself on eBay from a reseller from Japan. Haven't seen any tracking yet so it could always fall threw I suppose but if it doesn't I'm pretty psyched!

 

[Hollowway]

If you can find a way to get one used shipped out of Japan, I picked up one of these the other day: https://sago-nmg.com/guitarbass/kotetsu/

33" scale length, plays like a dream, regular string sets are just long enough to be compatible. ~600 GBP brand new, but I've seen some on the used market go for half that. It comes in B1 standard with a 10-46 set, so putting on something a bit thicker it should do B0 easily.

I d searched for those before to no avail. Where are you finding them?

 

[Stickman]

Those things actually look amazing, not sure about the Floyd on a guitar tuned that low but nothing a few blocks of wood couldn’t solve. If anyone knows of a uk seller speak up!

 

[Bearitone]

You are trying to find a niche tool to do a niche job and do it well. Save up for a nicer instrument.

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