Alvarez Baritone at a blowout price at Musician's Fiend

[L20A]

Fiend as in enabler?

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

BT, another couple of sets of strings you might want to try are the John Pearse baritone sets: the 3260L Light "Standard" Tuning (.015, .022, .030, .043, .054, .068,) and the 3280M Medium Gauge "Standard" Tuning (.017, .024, .032, .045, .056, .070.) By "Standard" tuning for the baritone, a B to B tuning with the same intervals as standard tuning of a regular guitar is what's meant.

I use the medium gauge set on my McAlister baritone. It works perfectly.

You can also get a few low B strings in various gauges and use them in combination with various regular guitar sets, putting the high E string from those sets aside. That sort of experimentation is what led me to the gauges I use, which John Pearse then put into regular production for the medium baritone set the company now sells (I'm a John Pearse strings & accessories artist endorser.)

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

Also look at the Pearse Weissenborn sets. (A lot of the orginal Weisseys were longer scale, up to 27." There are Baritone Weissenborns, of course as well.)

The PB D-tuning set that I have on my old Kay Squareneck (27")is .017, .022, .027, .045, .054, .068. The second is unwound. I rather like a wound second on my Beneteau Baritone, myself.

[Earl49]

I ordered one of these, and it came last Friday. So far I am pleasantly surprised and duly impressed. In fact, I plan to order the JC-1 hard case for it too while the coupon code still works.

I formerly owned a 2012 Taylor six string baritone 416-LTD in solid ovangkol b/s, GS body size, and 27" scale length. That was sold after about 2½ years due to some hand issues. It was nice, but I simply could not play it for very long, and decided to move it along. But for $300 delivered during that SDOTD sale, there was not much to lose getting an ABT60 -- I could always just give it to a baritone-curious friend if it didn't work out for me.

I happen to be really enjoying it, although I need to limit play time to about 30 minutes or so to avoid fatiguing my left hand. If anything, I like the sound even better than the Taylor too, but "tonal memory" is a fickle thing. It seems brighter and bolder, but that could be strings or just the true jumbo body size. Maybe the guy who bought the Taylor from me will stop by again and we can face off. Probably shouldn't for his sake. At the moment mine is tuned Bb to Bb (one half step down from "normal") for slightly looser tension and I'm liking the playing feel. I may capo at the first fret to both shorten the scale length and get back to B-b pitches. A-a was too loose and the strings got too floppy and buzzy. Once these EXP strings are used up, I will experiment with others too. The EXP's are quite bright in tone -- not a bad thing for a baritone -- but feel abrasive under my fingers, and SQUEAK like crazy.

I just now ordered the JC-1 hard case to go with it, $76 delivered with the "holiday" coupon. So for a total for $375 I get the ABT-60 with sunburst & electronics (yet to be tested) and a matching Alvarez hard case.

[Mortimor]

After reading the comments in this thread and looking at baritone alternatives in the market, it looks like I really missed a good opportunity passing on this deal.

In any case, it's great to see people enjoying their new guitars so much!

[Wade Hampton]

Mortimor, they're still a bargain at their regular price.


whm

[Mortimor]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Mortimor, they're still a bargain at their regular price.

It certainly appears so! I'm sure I'll end up getting one at some point.

[Musket]

I bought one three years ago. The electrics were B Band 600 with low and high Z outputs, no need for a d.i.

I believe they use something different now.

It’s been a wonderful instrument and well worth adding to any collection. I’ll be selling mine early next year though because it convinced me that baritone suits my voice, so I’m having one made, an 8 string fan fret as I play a lot in modal tunings.

[CT77]

Originally Posted by Mortimor

After reading the comments in this thread and looking at baritone alternatives in the market, it looks like I really missed a good opportunity passing on this deal.

As Wade said, they are definitely still a bargain at their regular price. Matter of fact, the difference is surprisingly small. This particular deal was a STOTD at $300, but all MF specific models and pretty much their whole selection of Alvarez instruments are frequently offered with a 15% off coupon anyway, so keep your eye out, especially near "Black Friday" and you can easily score one for $340.

[devellis]

I've been toying with the idea of a baritone for a while, just to mix things up a bit. I had a bunch of Rewards Points on Amazon, so I was able to get it virtually for free. I just placed my order. I've never bought an instrument from Amazon before and that seemed a bit weird to me, but they're usually good about returns if there's any problem. Should be her by the weekend. Hope it works out.

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

Mortimor, they're still a bargain at their regular price.

Absolutely. There is no other realistic way to dip your toe into the baritone waters for less than about $1500 used. But I recommend playing them with your fingers.....

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by Steve DeRosa

"Alvarez Baritone at a blowout price at Musician's Fiend"

Had some issues with MF, have we...?

No, actually, none at all. I just omitted the “r” once when typing a post and liked the result! I’ve been writing it that way ever since. But it’s not out of malice, just out of my own deeply unacceptable sense of humor...


whm

[Frogstar]

So as I've spent more time with mine, I have noticed a good amount of buzzing between the 4th-8th frets. Guess a setup may be in order.

[5th Element]

Originally Posted by Frogstar

So as I've spent more time with mine, I have noticed a good amount of buzzing between the 4th-8th frets. Guess a setup may be in order.

Have you checked the relief?

[Frogstar]

Originally Posted by 5th Element

Have you checked the relief?

Not yet, suppose I ought to put that on my to-do list.

[DavidE]

I gave in and am having the guitar and case shipped to my local GC. I'll be out of town until the 30th, but my son will pick them up for me.