Best baritone you ever played

[lppier]

Anyone has experience with the Furch baritones?

[Earl49]

Originally Posted by jonfields45

I have a friend looking for an entry priced baritone guitar. It seems the cheapest options at Musician's Friend are the Alverez Artist ABT60 and ABT60E. Any experience with the ABT60?

The Alvarez ABT is the cheapest way to get into a decent quality baritone. It won't compete fully with a boutique build or even a big name factory model, but will get you 90% of the way there for a fraction of the price. Another option that I have played locally is the Teton baritone here: www.tetonguitars.com/product/stbt100ent/

I have an ABT610ESHB, the MF/GC exclusive version of the ABT60. It does not quite compare in terms of build quality with the Taylor six string baritone that I sold a couple of years ago. But at the going price (mine was $376 including the JC-1 hard case during a Stupid Deal sale about 18 months ago) it would be very hard to equal, much less beat it. My only complaint is the roughness of the satin finish, which is noisy when handled. It sure could have used another sanding or two at the factory, but I will eventually try some 0000 steel wool or comparable grit Scotchbrite pad to lightly smooth the body surface some.

[llew]

Originally Posted by Wade Hampton

I haven't had a chance to play any Collings baritones, unfortunately. There aren't any Collings dealers in Alaska, and the Collings dealers I've visited in the Lower 48 haven't had any of their baritones in stock.

Yet.

Hopefully the next time I visit my favorite Collings dealer, Mass Street Music in Lawrence, Kansas, they'll have a baritone or two in stock.

Here's a photo of a Collings baritone with its little sidekick the parlor model beside it:

Collings Baritone 1 and Collings Parlor 1T

Those two go together like Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Louie:

Quick Draw McGraw and Baba Louie

You'll notice that in this rare photograph, Quick Draw is actually playing a Collings Parlor 1T. (Quick Draw was not all that large a horse - it's just the hat that makes him seem taller...)

Seriously, I looked at the specs on the Collings baritone models, and they have a 27.5" scale length. That's a little shorter than I like for baritone guitars, but in their promotional material Collings stresses that the guitar can be used in group settings, so maybe they got it to be projective without using the 28" scale length that I've found to work best.

Anyway, they're clearly serious instruments, and I look forward to the chance of playing some eventually.

Hope this helps.


Wade Hampton Miller

Perfect analogy Wade! Been a long time since I've seen pic of "Quick Draw and Baba Louie"!

[Wade Hampton]

Originally Posted by llew

Perfect analogy Wade! Been a long time since I've seen pic of "Quick Draw and Baba Louie"!

Well, they’re not exactly at the cutting edge of popular culture these days...

Yes, we’re dating ourselves!

The cartoon show my father used to refer to was current around the same time: “Deputy Dawg.” That’s because, at the time, he was in fact a deputy sheriff. So ever after that, whenever he’d refer to anything that he’d done while in law enforcement he’d preface it by saying: “Back when I was doin’ my Deputy Dawg routine...”


whm