Any baritone guitar fans in the house? Let’s talk LOW!
I’ve been obsessed with baritone and other low-tuned guitars for decades, but I’ve never really found a perfect method for setting up a lower-than-standard guitar, so I’m interested to hear about other players’ experiences.
My main issue is pretty straightforward: I can get great tones by simply lowering the pitch on a standard-scale guitar, but the intonation is a nightmare, especially on the fifth and sixth strings. And when I use a longer-scale instrument, I get huge bass tones and solid intonation, but the middle and upper registers feel too thin stiff and stiff — I have difficulty making them sing.
With standard-scale guitars, it seems to help if there’s a length of straight string-pull — like on a Telecaster — between the nut and the tuners. I used a standard Tele tuned down to BEADF#B (like standard tuning, but a fourth lower) on the Tom Waits albums I worked on in the ’90s. Fortunately, the sketchy intonation were a plus in that clangorous context. (His song “Goin’ Out West” is a pretty good example of a cool, but screamingly out of tune, guitar tone. It was played on an old Tele dropped down to B.) (more…)
