Baritone or VI?

[nix808]

my basstard son
-get in

[TobyB]

I think of them as tools for different roles ...
- Baritone A-a, acoustic or PRS are for chord shapes
- VI (Hellcat) is for melodic bass lines ... Hook'y-stuff?

[Uncle E]

It’s funny that there’s no name for the type of instrument a Bass VI other than “bass VI.” Schecter got around it by just calling their model Hellcat VI. Of course that doesn’t tell you that it’s a bass…

Bass VII would be the way to go, with an added Low B on the bottom.

[GaryG]

oops.

PXL_20230816_201739896.jpg

not the model i linked to but the model above, currently on sale so £199...

30" scale, 24-86 strings, fret ends a bit rough but immaculate besides that, I may look at lowering the action slightly when i change the strings but totally playable, even intonated all ok. Not crazy about the headstock (reverse tuners, why...) but does the job.

[donkey tugger]

oops.


not the model i linked to but the model above, currently on sale so £199...

30" scale, 24-86 strings, fret ends a bit rough but immaculate besides that, I may look at lowering the action slightly when i change the strings but totally playable, even intonated all ok. Not crazy about the headstock (reverse tuners, why...) but does the job.

I looked at one of them before I saw the Revelation daft cheap on ebay. Does look good. Not keen on the old reverse headstocks meself either mind . Never had a badly set up guitar from G4M. They're cheap, but always cheerful.

[jens]

My Squier Bass VIy's low E-String (which it came with) was super-flabby and imo basically unuseable, so I switched to baritone-strings instead - works like a charm - the biggest issue was finding baritone-strings which are long enough.

Still on the plus-side, having it tuned A-A makes it extra easy to double tuned-to-standard uke and guitalele rhythm-tracks (in order to give them more heft in a band-context - if played and mixed well enough you'll have a hard time to hear the baritone even if you know it's there and it'll still make a world of difference)...

so for me: Bass VI = Baritone

[donkey tugger]

My Squier Bass VIy's low E-String (which it came with) was super-flabby and imo basically unuseable, so I switched to baritone-strings instead - works like a charm - the biggest issue was finding baritone-strings which are long enough.

I read somewhere that Fender started now selling the Bass VI strings with a 100 low string rather than 84. I use an 84 on my Revelation and whilst it's a little bit slack I can still tune it down to D without it flapping. Might be a model specific thing - I'm no expert on this stuff..

[jens]

Me neither (expert) - the truth is I NEEDED the instrument and when I had it I needed to find a use for it...

and E-E didn't really make that much sense to me personally - but before I got the Bass VI I had always used my Hohner the Jack Custon with four strings of sort of a baritone-tuning and the Bass VI then completely took over that function but added a whole of of versatility on top of that.

but E-E - what to actually do with that?

[donkey tugger]

My Squier Bass VIy's low E-String (which it came with)

...and also just reminded me again of the famous James Jamerson quote, which always bears repetition. Years into his Motown career he was asked what kind of strings he used on his bass. "I don't know. What kind did it come with?", was his reply..

[jens]

Yeah... I only ever change strings when they break and always assume I did something wrong to make it break...
(well, that's only regarding steel-strings - I only need to look at my Alhambra and it will break a string or two. )

[GaryG]

but E-E - what to actually do with that?

currently playing regular open chords all the way down there, sounds like a folk gig in hell...

I don't have a bass (never got on with the spacing, dodgy wrist) so it's fun for me just to play bass stuff down there without having to think too much. I did once have a short scale bass (30" too I think) with thicker strings but that was definitely a lot flabbier than this sub-zero vi which is remarkably buzz-free.

[GaryG]

My Squier Bass VIy's low E-String (which it came with)

...and also just reminded me again of the famous James Jamerson quote, which always bears repetition. Years into his Motown career he was asked what kind of strings he used on his bass. "I don't know. What kind did it come with?", was his reply..

Some drummer pulled that, can't think who... was asked about his preferred sticks, just looked blankly at the guy and said "wooden ones".

[donkey tugger]

but E-E - what to actually do with that?

currently playing regular open chords all the way down there, sounds like a folk gig in hell...

I don't have a bass (never got on with the spacing, dodgy wrist) so it's fun for me just to play bass stuff down there without having to think too much. I did once have a short scale bass (30" too I think) with thicker strings but that was definitely a lot flabbier than this sub-zero vi which is remarkably buzz-free.

Liker a bass as you say here, but also chords stuff from the middle of the neck up sounds completely different to a normal guitar (obviously given the thickness of the strings!) I tend to do quite a lot of stuff where it sits between bass and guitar in it's own 'space', or indeed use it instead of a guitar for stuff like this;

https://donkeyt.bandcamp.com/track/in-fiesta-red

[GaryG]

Liker a bass as you say here, but also chords stuff from the middle of the neck up sounds completely different to a normal guitar (obviously given the thickness of the strings!) I tend to do quite a lot of stuff where it sits between bass and guitar in it's own 'space', or indeed use it instead of a guitar

That's the real appeal for me. I'm big on all that old 'slow core' stuff, Codeine, Low etc so noodling in that kind of area is my happy place, more often than not on my regular guitar I just played around on the bottom strings.

[donkey tugger]

...and of course, flangey goth...