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String gauges for Baritone on a 25.5"

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 7:04 pm
by Haze
So I'm fixing Sadie up to be a baritone with hopes of working it into my band and start writing some baritone! Probably drop A [ A E A D F# B ]
I've been looking at Naked Strings for some Baritone strings, but what gauge to use? usually play 11s on full and shortscales so I want the same feeling/tension.
I was thinking 13, 17, 28, 42, 54, 60

any suggestions or input?

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 7:18 pm
by honeyiscool
I suggest A-E-A-D-G-B instead, actually. It gives you much better chording possibilities than straight drop A, since you can actually play a major barre chord (5-5-5-7-7-7) and your brain will adjust quickly to having that A string at the bottom.

Since you're going to 25.5", you're gaining 13% in tension, and since you're dropping, what, about 5 half steps, you need to gain about 60% in tension to get a similar feel, meaning 13s would still feel a bit looser but it's pretty much there.

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 7:34 pm
by Haze
Ah thanks! Ill work out some math since you put it that way. The F# or G will be experimeted with, thanks for the suggestion

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 7:43 pm
by benecol
That'll flub out like nobody's business on drop-A: I find the shorter baritone lengths (28"ish, nevermind 25.5") carry B-B better than A-A, and I use heavy baritone strings. Ernie Ball do the heaviest baritone set, for what it's worth, and also work out cheapest. But don't get too fixated on A-A - try B-B, or even C-C for teh Homme tonnes.

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 7:59 pm
by Ankhanu
Yeah, I'd use baritone strings, like benecol said. Try the EBs, or d'Addarios.

Posted: Mon May 16, 2011 10:48 pm
by honeyiscool
I use a 56 for drop A on 27" scale. Is it tight? No. Is it a bit flubby? Yes. Does it sound nice? Hell yeah.

A bit of looseness in the drop A can help give the bass string some character.

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 8:02 pm
by hotrodperlmutter
aen did this on his squier tele custom, ask ham

Posted: Tue May 17, 2011 9:00 pm
by aen
GHS "heavy hitters"
70-11

But I actually just use the lowest three, and a 13 usually. It's not perfect, but it rocks pretty awesome. It was a pretty quick adjustment.
ON my long scale baritone, I use D'addarios I think, 68-12 or sommething? sorry. Info fail. Im still getting that one perfected.
25.5" is way more comfortable. I can't really do any acrobatics on the long scale. And actually the intonation is worse because it has a cocksucking mustang bridge, ahahha

Posted: Wed May 18, 2011 12:05 am
by theworkoffire
When I had my JM tuned B-B I used the bottom 6 strings from an 11-65 7-string set and it worked perfectly - just a shade more tension than the normal 11s. Going B-B means the top five strings are more or less the same tuning and tension as the bottom five strings E-E, so if you want to keep the same feel as with your normal 11s you could just use your usual strings for the top five (ditch the 11 and move them all up a notch) then just get a 65 single for the low B, or 70 for drop-A
These are what I used:

Image

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:51 pm
by radiac
I use D'addario 13-56 tuned B-B on my Blacktop Jazzmaster. A little flabby, but works. I actually like the extra play- very expressive in a lo-fi kind of way. Don't forget to reset your intonation.

Posted: Sun Jun 05, 2011 6:55 pm
by radiac
I use D'addario 13-56 tuned B-B on my Blacktop Jazzmaster. A little flabby, but works. I actually like the extra play- very expressive in a lo-fi kind of way. Don't forget to reset your intonation.

Posted: Wed Jun 08, 2011 8:27 pm
by wilrecar77
I can't recommend the DR DDT strings enough for stuff like that. I ran the 11-54 set in C standard and it was very tight compared to most other low gauge sets I've tried.

Posted: Thu Jun 09, 2011 3:56 am
by Haze
went with a D'Addario .059 to .010 7 gauge set and threw out the .010 so now its .059 to .013. I actually put them on my Telecaster Custom and FUCK it sounds huge but still like a tele. Its awesome, glad I put them on this guitar. Its been tuned from C# to B standard and its not too tight on the higher tunings and not too lubby tuned to B. Drop A would be too low though for sure. That'd take a .065 to feel 'right'.