Baritone Guitar Tuning Q's

[MrErikJ]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Great. Spent 20 minutes answering the question asked by the OP in a Zombie thread. Why do I bother...

He just posted an update today so it's not quite undead yet.

[H2O]

Originally Posted by Mycroft

Great. Spent 20 minutes answering the question asked by the OP in a Zombie thread. Why do I bother...

I found your post to be quite informative; thank you for sharing your insights. I am still learning the ins and outs of this instrument.

[Wade Hampton]

Since this thread has mainly been about open tunings on baritone, which I don't use, I've stayed out of it so far. But Steve DeRosa, who is unquestionably one of the most knowledgeable and helpful regulars on this forum, suggested using a .080 low string when tuning to A.

Steve, I have to disagree with that suggestion, based on my own personal experience. When I first got my McAlister baritone I experimented with a lot of different string gauges and tunings. One of the low strings that the folks at LaBella ran up for me was a .076.

I put that on my McAlister with the intention of tuning the guitar A to A. The guitar itself is incredibly well constructed, and I'd had no problem tuning a .072 to A.

The .076, however, immediately yanked the neck upwards. Once I realized how unplayably high the action had become, I loosened the strings and removed the .076.

My repairman told me that it was a good thing I slacked off the tension as quickly as I did. Leaving it on there longer might have permanently distorted the neck.

Now, I understand that scale length makes a different: the McAlister has a 28.5 inch scale. Strings that heavy wouldn't necessarily have the same catastrophic impact on a shorter scale baritone. Nonetheless, I strongly caution others about using a .080. I sure wouldn't use one.

Hope that makes sense.


Wade Hampton Miller

[Mycroft]

Originally Posted by H2O

I found your post to be quite informative; thank you for sharing your insights. I am still learning the ins and outs of this instrument.

Thanks. glad to be of help. I had thought that I had just spent 20 minutes answering questions that you already had answered, and felt frustrated. One reason that I dislike zombie threads. I noted the edit to your first post now too. Good idea.

To followup. I agree with Wade as to using a .080. He usually tunes to B to B standard. One reason that I use the gauges and tunings that I do is the tension seems near to what a standard guitar feels like. (I do so from feel. I've never sorted out those tension widgets either.) With my scale and gauges, the Baritone feels like a standard scale guitar tuned to E standard, or down a step to D to D. (I should rephrase that. Most of my guitars are shorter scaled 25" to 24.75" I like may Baritone to feel the same)

So the Open D variant, with the 1st and 6th string at A, feels to me like a similar tension to Open D in standard.

One of my pet peeves is that people will start taking about tunings and strings on their Baritones, but give no information as to the scale length. I think that scale is much more influential on a Baritone than a standard guitar. What is dandy on a 27" may be completely out to lunch on a 28.5."

As I said before, you might want something heavier on the 6th if you want to try Open C. I'd start with a .072, but then don't tune it above A. You might also want to consider swapping out the 2nd string for something lighter, since that is the string that goes up a half step, and most Baritone 2nds are wound.

Do you use fingers, or a pick? I mostly use fingers when I fingerpick, flesh and nail, but I found that I really had to use a thumbpick to get a good tone out of the low strings on a Baritone.

Have fun with your new baby.

TW

[Wade Hampton]

Now to follow up on Mycroft's post, like him what I figured out how to do was to replicate the feel of the strings I normally use. He plays a lot of fingerstyle and uses lights on his standard six strings; I'm essentially an accompaniment guitarist and use mediums. So I use a John Pearse set that goes from.070 to.017, while he uses a set that isn't quite so beefy.


whm