Best budget Baritone electric

BobTheSalmon

Hi folks, advice appreciated here...

I am looking to buy a Baritone for an upcoming project, but am struggling to find much under £500. Other than the Squier JM Bari is there anything out there?

Ben

How about a 2nd hand PRS SE Mike Mushok or PRS SE 277? They're normally in the £350-£500 range when they pop up on Facebook!

Funkfingers

Harley-Benton might have something. Some upgrading might be necessary but the overall outlay should still be modest.

ICBM

Squier Bass VI. It’s called a bass but better used as a baritone, I think.

Just make sure you budget for replacing the strings.

dazzajl

ICBM said:

Squier Bass VI. It’s called a bass but better used as a baritone, I think.

Just make sure you budget for replacing the strings.

Exactly this. I could find no joy or use from my Bass VI in the standard E to E tuning but in A or B it was glorious. 

For £500 you could buy the guitar and make significant upgrades. Or just save some money of course. 

BobTheSalmon

Ben said:

How about a 2nd hand PRS SE Mike Mushok or PRS SE 277? They're normally in the £350-£500 range when they pop up on Facebook!

Thanks for the response! 

These look like lovely instruments, but aesthetically don't fit the bill/brief. This wouldn't necessarily be a consideration were it not for number of upcoming live shows.

Thanks again.

BobTheSalmon

Funkfingers said:

Harley-Benton might have something. Some upgrading might be necessary but the overall outlay should still be modest.

Thanks! 

The ones I can find are all "too metal" for the project. Good suggestion though!

BobTheSalmon

ICBM said:

Squier Bass VI. It’s called a bass but better used as a baritone, I think.

Just make sure you budget for replacing the strings.

I have a Squier VI which I love and have used both live and for writing. It is slightly TOO "bassy" for this project - I am definitely firmly in the Bari arena.

Thanks for your reply! 

BobTheSalmon

dazzajl said:

ICBM said:

Squier Bass VI. It’s called a bass but better used as a baritone, I think.

Just make sure you budget for replacing the strings.

Exactly this. I could find no joy or use from my Bass VI in the standard E to E tuning but in A or B it was glorious. 

For £500 you could buy the guitar and make significant upgrades. Or just save some money of course. 

Thanks for the response.

I was considering this, but the scale length and necessarily thinner string gauge put me off - I also find lots of use for the VI in E!!! 

:-)

Whitecat

I'll second the PRS 277... secondhand you could grab one easily. I had the P90 version for a while, it was quite a bit of guitar for the money.

If it *must* be new then I might look at Danelectro... they have a few options by the looks of things. They always seem to be a good shout for that "one extra" like baris or 12-strings...

BobTheSalmon

Whitecat said:

I'll second the PRS 277... secondhand you could grab one easily. I had the P90 version for a while, it was quite a bit of guitar for the money.

If it *must* be new then I might look at Danelectro... they have a few options by the looks of things. They always seem to be a good shout for that "one extra" like baris or 12-strings...

No need for it to be new at all - I prefer second hand instruments as a rule.

As previously mentioned, the PRS looks like a great instrument. Unfortunately, it just doesn't quite "fit" with the project.

I may check it out properly in the future though. Thanks! :-)

NelsonP

dazzajl

BobTheSalmon said:

dazzajl said:

ICBM said:

Squier Bass VI. It’s called a bass but better used as a baritone, I think.

Just make sure you budget for replacing the strings.

Exactly this. I could find no joy or use from my Bass VI in the standard E to E tuning but in A or B it was glorious. 

For £500 you could buy the guitar and make significant upgrades. Or just save some money of course. 

Thanks for the response.

I was considering this, but the scale length and necessarily thinner string gauge put me off - I also find lots of use for the VI in E!!! 

:-)

You are clearly a more rounded individual than I 

Octafish

BobTheSalmon said:

Hi folks, advice appreciated here...

I am looking to buy a Baritone for an upcoming project, but am struggling to find much under £500. Other than the Squier JM Bari is there anything out there?

What put's you off the Squier Baritone, scale length? Fender did do 27 inch scale Telecaster Baritone. Been discontinued, but there's one here.

ewal

I've got baritone strings on my Fender Tornado at the moment. Works well enough. I have an itch to buy a proper bari at some point though. Either the Gretsch or Reverend Descent.

ETA: I like the Descent because of the shorter scale length - I don't think I'd get on so well with something as long as the Bass VI

Whitecat

Not sure if you'd be able to find one of these second-hand but if you could I'm sure it would be under £500...

https://eastwoodguitars.co.uk/collections/baritone-guitars/products/jeff-senn-model-one-baritone

Creed_Clicks

There might be a cheap ESP Ltd baritone on ebay, keep an eye out. Or else a Danelectro or Gretsch or Sidejack baritone

crunchman

You could put a Baritone conversion neck onto a Fender style guitar.

Warmoth make them, although they are not cheap:

http://www.warmoth.com/Showcase/ShowcaseNeck.aspx?Body=1&nScale=306&Paint=1&Path=Baritone,Finished&i=BTN1714#.XFsRAU1LFaQ

Don't know if someone in this country could make you one at a better price.

ICBM

If you're only tuning down to B you can do it on a standard scale length - if you think about it four of the strings are tuned exactly the same as normal, they're just in different positions. One is a semitone lower (F# instead of G) and the bottom B is the only one you'll have a problem with. I've used cut-down double-ball-end bass strings, the smaller ball is the same size as a guitar one - a 60 or 65 gauge seems about right. Obviously you will need to file the nut grooves out, but nothing else. I've done a couple of conversions on Telecasters like this - one I even went down to A at one point, using a 15-gauge top string, a wound 22 second, and a 75 low A - but that was pushing it, not least because I had to unwind the outer wrap of the A string to get it into the tuner post...

Fretwired

A Chapman .. £519 ...

https://www.andertons.co.uk/chapman-v2-ml1-modern-baritone-standard-in-gloss-graphite

prlgmnr

Might be able to find a Schecter Hellcat VI or Ultra VI within your price range.