PSA: Used Emerald Baritone at GC - Page 2

AZLiberty · #16 09-23-2018, 02:25 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Earl49

They are fun and different. It is nice to take things down by 4-5 frets to help with the notes that are too high for your voice in normal tuning / keys. One of the best ways to test the waters is the Alvarez ABT-610 or ABT-60. The 610 version is GC and MF specific and often appears for sale at Musician's Friend for around $300.

My wife uses my Baritone more than I do. Her natural singing voice tends to put things in a range where one would capo 5 or 7. Much better to use the Baritone which one can think of as "Capo Negative 5". I tend to play a lot of stuff in Am with a capo on 2, which I can play on the Baritone by transposing to Em and leaving off the capo.

When MF was blowing out the ABT-610 for $299, and then later $279, all of them had the Alvarez 2015 50th anniversary label inside. So I presume that ridiculously good price was them clearing out old stock. Last time they had it on sale (last week) it was $399.

There is an ABT-60 on my local CL for $250.

Earl49 · #17 09-23-2018, 06:27 PM

I don't recall seeing a 50th anniversary label, but I will look next time. I bought my ABT610ESHB (electronics, sunburst) for $299 then a week later used a 15% off holiday code to order its matching hard case after deciding I was going to keep it. $376 delivered, all in for both. I figured at that price it could be flipped for a large percentage of what I paid, but it ain't going nowhere. FWIW I sold my Taylor 416 LTD baritone, and while the two were never in the same place together, I like this one better. Fit & finish and final set up were not as good as Taylor, but the more jumbo size and the scale length that is 3/4" longer seem to make it sound better to me.

The satin finish on the back & sides is a little rough and noisy against the body, but I'm unlikely to record with it any time soon. I might some day use rubbing compound or fine grade Scotchbrite to take some of the grittiness off the finish. It will never polish up to a true gloss, but all I care about is the rubbing noises.