# Can you make a baritone guitar with a regular-scale neck?



## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Let us say you moved all your strings one slot over - your B becoming your high E, G becoming your B, etc., and you add a .058 or whatever where your .046 low E used to be. Have you effectively made a baritone guitar or is there a need to adopt a longer scale neck?

I know one usually sees longer-scale necks on baritones, but if the same string tension is maintained and nothing is too wobbly, couldn't you make a baritone out of a "normal" guitar? Realistically, it's just a little more than SERV used to do, right? He used heavier strings and tuned down a step. I'm just adding 3 more semi-tones to that.

Or are there things about a 25.5 or 24.75 (especially) neck that warrant against such a conversion? Three things immediately come to mind: less harmonic content for the lowest strings, stability of the neck (i.e., a decent truss rod system), and trying to fret thick strings above the 9th or 10th fret. But, as long as the strings are tight enough, and the neck able to remain straight, it shouldn't really matter.

If you have experience, good or bad, doing such a thing, I'd be interested to know what you thought of it.


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## Budda (May 29, 2007)

Bands tune to B standard on les pauls reasonably often (see: amon amarth, many other metal bands). It works or no one would bother. 25.5" will obviously feel tighter (and sound tighter) with say 12-60 XL's in comparison to a 24.75 guitar.

I used to have my LP studio in C standard for a bit during college, when I was attempting to learn songs by The Black Dahlia Murder and Arch Enemy. I experimented with gauges found 11-54 or 12-60 work best. I used 12-60 in Drop Bb with a metal project on a 25" scale PRS. I'll use 10-52 down to C on pretty much any scale. 

I prefer a tighter low E string no matter the tuning, which is why I stuck with the 10-52 XL set in the first place. 

At a certain point, intonation becomes a real PITA, as well as the string gauge fitting through the tuner peg.


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## mhammer (Nov 30, 2007)

Budda said:


> At a certain point, intonation becomes a real PITA, as well as the string gauge fitting through the tuner peg.


I had considered the one, but fitting through a tuning peg is something that had never occurred to me. Thanks for that!


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## mrmatt1972 (Apr 3, 2008)

Strings are really floppy on regular scale necks, but it works ok.


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## Mooh (Mar 7, 2007)

Gauge up, tune down. To a point, then intonation gets skunky. 

Nut slots, machine head holes, saddle height, neck relief, bridge slots and pin slots (on acoustics), sometimes even neck width at the nut is an issue for folks.

I tried every tuning, gauge, and set-up on a dreadnought before I had www.beneteauguitars.com make me a 27" scale length acoustic, on which I use D'Addario mediums EJ17 for two half steps down and EJ18 for three half steps down. (I also used a .66 or a .70 for the 6th string and then the lowest 5 strings of a medium set for B - B, but gave that up when I didn't need it for a particular band anymore.)

For electrics I generally feel the clean tones suffer greatly at normal scale lengths, though if you dirty it up it's less of an issue. Regardless, if the strings feel or look loose, they won't intonate so well and they roll around under the fingers. Telecasters have been more forgiving for me, but I've not ever left an electric as a baritone.


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## ronmac (Sep 22, 2006)

Lots of issues, as mentioned above. It really comes down to "feel" more than anything, much like tuning a 10" drum to sound like a 14" drum. You may get the original attack note, but you are going to miss the overtones, "bounce" and sustain. 

Of course if you subscribe to the Ry Cooder school of unconventional guitar playing (using a wine bottle as a slide while he strokes strings suspended with nails driven into his living room floor), then what's to stop you?


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