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Baritones have been around for some time, Beatles and Cream used them on a couple songs.
Baritone Guitar scale is 26" to 30" and use a heavy gauge of strings. Some are tuned down an octave from regular guitar while other shorter baritones are drop C, B or G.
Bass comes in even heavier gauge strings and 2 scale groups. Short scale bass - 28" to 30" and long scale bass 32" to 34".
Of course this is just a guide and you can do many variations to this if you can find the strings to do so.
No rules Reg, no rules. Let it rip and show us what you end up with, anxious to see the outcome. Now you guys got me thinking about starting one myself. Have 2-3 others in front that I gotta get going on first, just so many possibilities!
In reply to Chuck Groves, I had not really paid no mind to needing a Truss Rod, now that I seriously thinking about this guitar, the need to build it gets stronger, and that has to be a plus as far as a challenge is concerned. I know the very name Cigar Box denotes one should perhaps be using a 'cigar box' but I really think my effort will need to be a totally new build as far as neck and box is concerned. Things will have to change slightly, I hope to construct this resonator baritone guitar during the summer months, so things have to start soon. I am a tad inspired by the 25litre petrol can bass on the tube, so nothing is impossible....!!!
Sounds like epic fun, Mark and Chuck. I was way out in my understanding haha.
Definitions on what exactly a baritone guitar is seems to vary somewhat, but in general I would describe it as "halfway between a conventional guitar and a bass guitar"
An example I find fun personally is a Baritone Tele, which is a 27" scale and usually tuned either B to B, (which is like removing the high E and putting a low B on the other side, or tuned a fourth below standard E to E.) Some also tune it one more step down at A to A if desired.
Either can be fun. Clean picking with an alternating bass line for self accompaniment or played with some gain induced distortion for some bombing sonic fun for example.
My understanding of a baritone guitar is that it is one octave lower than a regular guitar and one octave above a bass guitar. The scale lengths vary, but the best one I have seen is a schecter six string electric baritone guitar with a 30 inch scale length. Fender and other companies make or have made them and are all six strings. I have a 1955 Gibson bass with a 30 inch scale length but it doesn’t sound as good as my basses with a standard scale length, which is 34 inches. 30 inches, however is great for baritone guitars. At some point, I plan on making a four string “cigar box” baritone guitar but this would require a truss rod and quarter sawn hard wood neck due to the stresses involved in addition to a much larger box than a cigar box.
Thanks for edumacating me on baritone. I never knew and always thought a baritone guitar was just a standard guitar with four strings. Wrong! Thanks again.
If you look into the string pressure that would be put on the cone then if you think it would work you're welcome to it. It's designed for 3 and 4 string builds at 25.5" standard guitar length and is very thin but very resonant aluminium. If you think it's suitable and won't implode though...
Just send me a private message on here and I'll post it to you. No need for recompense though. I've been the recipient of extreme kindness on here myself in the past so just "paying it forward" as the saying goes.
Look forward to hearing from you soon. I'll accept the friendship request now so you can private message me. Have a good 'un.
Bear :0)
Hi Slow Blues Dani & Ol' Grey Bear, Now that is uncommonly decent of you indeed, but first, let me tell you what a Baritone guitar is, or anything baritone for that matter. I am no musician per se, but I have played for many, many years. I have just got into making my own bits and bobs after getting a trifle fed up with Brand Name stuff, it seems a tad predictable to me. Baritone, as far as I can ascertain, is an over length fretboard, a totally different scale length than normal. This gives the depth of sound almost as a bass would i.e. a bass guitar neck is that much longer than a conventional guitar neck. I forget the scale length I wrote down, but it is in the workshop, and it is deuced parky out there at the moment.
May I suggest you take a gander at a Baritone Lap Steel perhaps on Youtube, they sound well, hence a resonator version appeals to me. I do a lot of slide stuff these days due to Arthritic digits, now I prefer it to conventional guitar stuff from a performance angle.. I am not technically proficient on the computer, but I will endeavour to get you an adress and a means of restitution for your kindness. There must be a discreet method somehow. It has to be far better than the cat drinking bowl I was going to use....!!!
I will be in touch as soon as etc..
Hi Reg. I hope you'll forgive my ignorance but I don't know what a "baritone" guitar is. If it's pretty similar to a regular resonator cigar box guitar then I may be able to help, hence this comment.
I have one of these that I'm not using:
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Resonator-cone-set-for-Cigar-box-guitar-...
I'm in the UK too and if you can use it in your build then you're welcome to it free of charge. It has the cone, cover, biscuit, bridge and hand rest so is a complete set. It's by the same person who is selling the one in the link on eBay. It has eight screw holes but I don't have the screws (never came with them) but any small dome head screws would work.
Let me know anyway and I'll be able to post it to you on Monday.
Best of fortunes with your build and best regards.
Bear :0)
hi Paul Craig, that is a very good point which I had not considered at all. Nothing worse than a folding guitar mid gig......!!
I plan on utilising the bottom of a camping kettle for the cone (thin alloy), or maybe something in a similar vein. This time I will have to manufacture the neck instead of re-using old guitar bits..... I must build my own box though, many cigar boxes are just too weak in their construction for my project... so, stronger is not a problem I hope. Piezzo pickups with volume pot as I normally use on my other CBG's, put through a Pignose amp which distorts quite enough for my taste and away I go, excellent time is had by all I trust...!!!
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