Baritone With Heavy Gauge Strings

[L20A]

My Guild 8 string baritone was a bit muddy sounding so I decided to try lighter gauge strings on it.
I went with a set of heavy gauge string and added a .010 and a .012 for the ocave strings.
Next, I tuned up to C #.
WOW !
I love this set up!
The guitar is now clearer sounding [less muddy]and easier to fret.
The guitar sounds great playing with or without a capo.
I really like the way it sounds with the capo placed on the second fret and leaving the bass string open. [Drop D Style]
My new favorite guitar right now.

[ben]

I do this too with my Collings Baritone 1...heavy strings tuned to C#. It's great when I'm playing with another guitarist who is in standard tuning or is capoed up. In my acoustic trio I play I used it on at least a third of our songs

Depending on the song and what the other guitarist is doing, I find I play it open or with a capo on 1 so that I can borrow my usual bluegrass G-chord-shaped tricks but be in the key of F. Occasionally when I want to play in faux-dropped D with a capo on the third fret over the top 5 strings and then another one on the first fret to bring the bass string from C# to D, and then play in D.

[dylanheeg]

Same thing I do - heavy gauge tuned to C#.

I find B tuning with .70s sounds awful if you do any strumming. Gets muddy, just like you said. However in fingerstyle it seems to sound great. This has been my experience with 6 different baritones I’ve owned, several of which were very high end and a couple which were entry level under 1k.

[A Wolf]

I spoke with James Goodall regarding string gauge on a CJ I had just acquired, and he was pretty adamant about limiting bass string size, feeling that thicker strings lost their clarity. He mentioned designing his baritones using thinner than typical baritone strings (I don’t remember exact gauge, but more like a .056 as a max.)

[tadol]

Thats kinda the fun about baritones - you can go all the way to short-scale bass in terms of scale length, or as short as a standard scale guitar. The string-gauge choice and tuning preference is all over as well, and those choices are frequently determined by how you play it. I’ve found that the 27” scale length, and a heavy gauge (not necessarily a full-on baritone gauge) work really well for most of the things and ways I play. That said, I am just trying out Santa Cruz’s light and medium tension baritone sets, and I think they’ve got it figured out really well -

[Oldguy64]

Originally Posted by L20A

My Guild 8 string baritone was a bit muddy sounding so I decided to try lighter gauge strings on it.
I went with a set of heavy gauge string and added a .010 and a .012 for the ocave strings.
Next, I tuned up to C #.
WOW !
I love this set up!
The guitar is now clearer sounding [less muddy]and easier to fret.
The guitar sounds great playing with or without a capo.
I really like the way it sounds with the capo placed on the second fret and leaving the bass string open. [Drop D Style]
My new favorite guitar right now.

I think you may have answered my question.
I have an Alvarez ABT610E.
I just put on a set of D’addario EJ18’s (14-59).
And rather than tuning B-B. I tuned C-F-A#-D#-G-C (according to my Unitune).
And while I’m a little concerned about adding tension,
I’m not AS worried with the lighter strings.
It also sounds better, strums without the flatulent sound, and I can still barre with little trouble.

So…I’m guessing the tension would be higher with a standard 16-70 set tuned B-B?

[L20A]

I went 1/2 step higher than you.
C# to C#.
Love the feel and the tone.
Just ordered more EJ18 sets from Sweetwater.

[drive-south]

C# tuning for me with medium gage .013 - .056 strings.
On a Larrivee BT03.

[icuker]

So, just for my clarification, I have a Walden Baritone with 26 3/4 scale length. Right now I have 16 - 70s on it and the Low B string does lack punch. (the others sound fine). You're talking about regular guitar strings only in heavy gauge, correct? As for string tension how does that compare with what I have now? Also, in C# tuning do you have to use a capo for most common keys? I play a lot in D, G and A.

[ben]

I use D'Addario EJ18s (.014-.059) on my Collings Baritone (27.5" scale), tuned to C#. In this tuning, a "G-shape" chord is actually an E chord and with a capo on 1, it's an F. A "C-shape" chord is an A, etc. I think of it as having a reverse capo that lets me go down 3 frets (or two, with a capo on the first fret).

[L20A]

Originally Posted by icuker

So, just for my clarification, I have a Walden Baritone with 26 3/4 scale length. Right now I have 16 - 70s on it and the Low B string does lack punch. (the others sound fine). You're talking about regular guitar strings only in heavy gauge, correct? As for string tension how does that compare with what I have now? Also, in C# tuning do you have to use a capo for most common keys? I play a lot in D, G and A.

Yes these are regular guitar strings.
My post could be misread and look like I am going with heavier gauge strings than normal baritone gauge.

By going with heavy gauge strings,[,014 to .059] I can get a cleaner sound because I am now tuning the guitar C# to C# rather than the lower B to B standard baritone tuning.

Ben answered your question about tuning options.
There may be some tunings [Keys] that will not allow you to be in the same key as another guitar player. In these cases, just use a normaly tuned guitar.

[j.lee]

On my B1E, for the F# (BEADF#B tuning), I like to swap a light gauge wound G for the unwound string (.024) to add body. Perhaps try that.