Leading Tone

I have 5 of each. They will not last long so contact us if you want one.

This week a customer came in wanting to have his Telecaster set up for baritone strings and tuned to A. He had bought a few sets of D’addario strings for baritone guitar .and was hoping all it needed was a restring. Unfortunately, things aren’t quite that simple and I’ve been mulling over our conversation ever since.

I felt bad about our initial conversation; I hate being the bearer of bad news, and when a job isn’t as cut-and-dry as the customer thinks, I often feel regret that things aren’t so straightforward. Ultimately he chose not to go through the process, saying he might try just throwing the strings on himself. I didn’t intend to discourage him from having fun, but I thought it important to let him know the ins and outs of doing this change properly. So, what gives?

He then added, "Why so serious?"

Well, there are a few things to consider when experimenting with the baritone alternative lifestyle (not that there’s anything wrong with that):

The Fender Bass VI

First, when we say baritone there might be a couple of different definitions at play. To my mind, the word immediately conjures the sound, look and feel of old Fender and Danelectro guitars, such as the Danelectro Longhorn and U2 models and the venerable Fender Bass VI. These instruments were proper baritones, yielding an extended scale length (27″ to 30″ are most frequently seen) and much thicker strings. Both of the aforementioned instruments were ubiquitous within the realms of Country, Surf and Spaghetti Western themes, enjoying a spate of renewed interest in the 80s and 90s thanks to fuzzed-out Shoegaze bands and Surf revivalists.

Danelectro U2 Baritone

In more modern terms, a Baritone guitar might also refer to down-tuned metal guitars, either made with heavier strings in mind or offering a longer scale and hot pickups. 7- or 8-string guitars also fall under this category, and companies such as Ibanez, Gibson, ESP and PRS have made models like this finding success in the newer Metal market. It seems as though some bands are taking the challenge seriously, finding out just how many strings they can put on a guitar and how low they can tune them.

Why does this matter?

Obviously, these guitars have vastly different tones, and chances are if you’re looking for a spanky, slinky tic-tac tone to fill in the gaps on your next drenched-in-verb Surf tune you’ll not find what you’re looking for with an Ibanez Marten Hagstrom 8-string. Vice versa, Metal players might not appreciate the jangly voice of Danelectro lipstick pickups as their main sound, especially at high, feedback-inducing volumes. To be frank, it’s your purpose that dictates the kind of instrument or strings you’ll choose, and your tonal end goal has a lot to do with which route you take.

Ibanez Marten Hagstrom 8 string guitar

As for the second point of interest, you may want to ask yourself, “What tuning will I use?”  If you’re going down to D or C standard (D isn’t technically a baritone tuning, but it is lower than standard so I think this applies) there may not be too much of a difference in terms of set up on an standard-scale instrument. For instance, I’ve had great success tuning my Les Paul Standard down to C standard for chunky riffage with nary a tweak of the truss rod. If you’re going as low as B, A or even E, you may need to think about not only a thicker gauge of string, which I’d say is necessary for retaining a similar feel at such tunings, but a longer neck as well. Such low tunings require an extended scale length for proper intonation, fret placement, and to accommodate the added girth and tension of  baritone guitar strings. If you stick with a standard scale length, you’re going to have to drastically change the set up of your guitar.

In the above customer service story, the strings he chose were D’addario Baritone strings gauged 013-.062″, meant for a scale length of 29 3/4″. Trouble is, standard scale for a Telecaster is 25 1/2″ and the guitar was set up for the .010-.046″. That’s a big difference, and not easily overcome without some modification. This means that, had we used those strings, the nut would need to have its slots widened for the strings to seat properly. Of course action and neck relief would have been addressed, but there was little chance that the guitar would even play in tune with such low notes on slackened strings. Honestly, I couldn’t see the point in charging for a job I wasn’t convinced would work out.

I talked to him about different strings but altering the nut was the sticking point. One can easily cut deeper or wider slots in a nut, but it’s not as easy (or cheap) to cut a brand new one. If you’re looking to go back and forth between baritone and standard tuning, why not spend a modest sum on a second guitar? Of course, not everyone has cash to drop on guitars right now, but the going prices on Craigslist Seattle for low-end baritone guitars is between $150-$400. For a player looking to not do a lot of damage to a favorite axe, that’s a paltry sum! Plus, it’s never hard to move a bari; guitarists are always looking for a cool new tone, and once you play some root-position chords at A standard, it’s hard not to throw down money on the spot!

Holy crap, you guys. I wish I could have gotten in on this! In my opinion, the grille cloth replacement actually enhances the look of this amp, lending a Lucas-approved tone to the already spacey vibe of this old Supro.

"Hokey religions and ancient amplifiers are no match for a good blaster by your side, kid." -Han Solo

Yub Yub!

With some non-standard (read: frustration minimizing) changes and killer tone, it’s safe to say this one will be a huge hit! I don’t know about you, but I’m interested…

From Fender.com:

“The Johnny Marr signature Jaguar is a fantastically non-standard version of the model that is as distinctive as the sounds Marr wrings from it, with a wealth of highly specialized features including:

• Custom-wound Bare Knuckle® Johnny Marr single-coil neck and bridge pickups.
• Custom-shaped maple neck based on Marr’s 1965 Jaguar, with vintage-style truss rod, lacquer finish and Marr’s signature on the front of the headstock.
• Four-position blade-style pickup switch mounted to the lower-horn chrome plate (bridge, bridge and neck in parallel, neck, bridge and neck in series).
• Two upper-horn slide switches (universal bright and pickup switch position four bright).
• Jaguar bridge with Mustang® saddles, nylon bridge post inserts for improved stability, chrome cover and vintage-style floating tremolo tailpiece.
• Tremolo arm nylon sleeve insert to prevent arm swing.

The guitar comes in Olympic White and new Metallic KO (a distinctive orange tint derived from the heavily faded Candy Apple Red finish of one of Marr’s favorite ’60s-era Fender models).”

That faded CAR sounds amazing, but the standard white finish is elegant. As for the other features, I approve; one of the first things I did when I bought a Jazzmaster was torque down the trem arm, so I’m excited that Fender finally fixed the arm play issue. A thicker neck is also welcome on this model, and I’m really interested to play those Bareknuckle pickups!

Awesome. Let’s all keep our eyes peeled!

Isn't she a rose?! I want one. Now.

Late last week, a customer brought us his cherished Gretsch Tennessee Rose, asking for a set up and a repair of an all-too-common ailment. The story goes like this: the owner let his friend borrow this guitar only to watch in horror as, during a performance, his guitar fell from a poorly-secured strap and crashed to the ground. This resulted in a gaping, gnarled hole in the body where the input jack once was. This friend then blamed the fall on the owner, saying “You need to get strap locks!”, and didn’t even offer to help pay for the repair. Some friend, eh?

In any case, this body damage looked really, really bad; immediately I could tell that, no matter what kind of woodworking magic I performed, there was no way to save the wood surrounding the input jack. Not simply cracked and caved in, the wood laminate had also splintered as far as 2 inches away from the hole, making for an extremely unstable location for such an oft-utilized component. Lucky enough, the electronics were in perfect working order, so the challenge here would be purely structural in nature.

When the guitar came to me, I suggested adding a plate of some sort to the lower bout of the guitar. This suggestion was met with wide-eyed excitement, as this was evidently the very thing on the customers mind. The problem with this solution was finding a plate big enough to cover all of the damage. Having spent some time looking for large or oversize jack plates, I knew it would be difficult to track down something that would adequately cover it all up. Additionally, the owner expressed interest in having the finish more or less intact, and as it stood the finish was cracked and lifting for some distance away from the damage. I told him I’d do my best with it, and that I’d try to prevent any more finish from lifting as I took on the task of bringing some much-needed stability into this guitar’s life.

A post-Dremel shot of the damage. The pre- was far too grisly to photograph...

The first thing I did after I determined that the damaged wood wasn’t salvageable was to get out my trusty Dremel and start cutting. This wasn’t difficult, but certainly required a steady touch to avoid further chipping and damage to the good wood. Since we would be adding a jack plate, I made sure to cut a hole large enough for the jack itself to fit through. Again, not difficult.

Then came the jack plate. I mentioned earlier doing some jack plate searches on the web, and in looking at the plates I could find, it was all too obvious that anything standard wasn’t going to do the trick: Les Paul plates were far too small to cover any of the damage let alone the hole I’d cut, Danelectro plates were closer but much too thin to be of use, and all of the other custom plates I’d found were highly stylized or just plain dumb-looking. I mean, it’s a jack plate; no one can see how badass that ghost-flamed, trucker-girl’d accessory is when you’re playing. Ugh.

But seriously, what to do? I mean, honestly, look at that! The hole itself isn’t so big, but the finish that’s been removed is going to be hard to cover without fabricating a custom plate, something that we aren’t exactly equipped to do at whim. the fact of the matter is, I spent nearly an hour googling and brainstorming, looking at not only guitar parts resources but also at domicile depots and cracker-jack hardware suppliers, all to no avail. “This is going to be harder than I thought,” I… thought.

Progress!

Just then, in a flash of divine inspiration, an idea settled upon my mind as a dove! A stroke of genius! I realized, “Michael, you’re going about this in the wrong way. You shouldn’t be looking for a jack plate, you should be looking for a neck plate.”

Whoa. I felt as though I’d learned kung-fu in a moment’s passing, as if the universe and everything in it coalesced in my minds’ eye, and it all made perfect sense- and simultaneously- none at all. I had reached a sort of techy Nirvana, and in that glorious passing of time I knew my path.

A few months back we’d purchased a guitar that seemed to be made from one of those cheap kits you can buy online. It was only half-finished, and the jury was still out on whether or not we’d get it in shape or simply part it out. Well, this guitar had a neck plate and I set about removing the neck in order to test fit it.

A perfect fit!

In holding the plate to the body, the fit was uncanny; not only would the plate fit the body perfectly but it would also cover up most of the damage! Score! The only things that needed to be done to the neck plate to make it a perfect fit were bending it to fit the curvature of the body and drilling a hole for the jack. The former was addressed with a soft dead-blow hammer and my nut vice, the latter easily accomplished with careful measurement and the step-bit we use for drilling out pedal enclosures.

After drilling the four pilot holes for the shortened screws we picked up, installation was a breeze and the final result looked amazing. Not only does the plate fit in with the overall aesthetic of the guitar, but it looks serious. I told John, “That jack isn’t going anywhere. If it does, it’ll be the rest of the guitar that breaks and not that plate!”

I’m really thrilled with how this project turned out, and I’m told the owner of the guitar was pleased as well. Success!

Not only was the fit perfect, but it looked right with all of the other hardware!