baritone guitars for non-doom usage?

[Blackened Soul]

That does sound good.
And I would remiss to say.. if any out is looking for a 30” scale.. there is a DeArmond Bajo Jet S2000 up on reverb https://reverb.com/item/89745557-dearmo ... cherry-red

[dubkitty]

they did some wacky shit with the DeArmond guitar line. i have that blue sparkle M-75T with DeArmond 2k pickups, and i'm fixing to buy a M-75 sans trem with the DeArmond Gold Tone pickups. the Guild and DeArmond M-75-sized guitars are ergonomically perfect for me except that they tend to be heavy. solid agathis bodies, no cap as far as i know. this one was extensively chambered by routing from the back and has a black plastic plate that covers almost the entire back of the guitar. i wish i'd been aware of them when they were current so i could have gotten an X-155 archtop for a reasonable price. used D'A archtops, Starfires, and basses are now going for around the same price as new Newark Street Guilds.

Princeton and M-75T.jpg (123.42 KiB) Viewed 1029 times

[dubkitty]

i don't think that Bajo Jet is a reasonable solution at $2000. maybe at $500.

[Blackened Soul]

Model # is S2000, price is $700.00, but yeah I wouldn’t pay over 500 either.. people are charging way too much for used gear these days considering how mass produced it’s all been for so long…

[Zork]

That does sound good.
And I would remiss to say.. if any out is looking for a 30” scale.. there is a DeArmond Bajo Jet S2000 up on reverb https://reverb.com/item/89745557-dearmo ... cherry-red

Whoooooow, I've been looking for one of these for years!!!

Too bad it's on the wrong side of that ocean...

[dubkitty]

i did not know that the Bajo Jet had three DeArmond 2K pickups. that could be one spicy meatball. those pickups are great in the M-75T. no trem, though.

[dubkitty]

Model # is S2000, price is $700.00

that's what i get for talking to myself while typing and saying "S" when typing a dollar sign. i have no idea why i do that.

[dubkitty]

here's a King baritone in a Jazzmaster stylie with a "Bigsby" for $309 used. 30" scale again though, and P-90s possibly not ideal.

https://reverb.com/item/87843297-king-j ... one-guitar

[dubkitty]

it occurred to me that some of the non-tremolo baritones out there would work with the Stetsbar trem i’m using on the Jetstar. they make versions for stop tailpiece, Strats, Teles, and Jazzmasters so they might bump a guitar up the list. now if there were more in the 28” ball park…

[dubkitty]

after some pondering i think i have a plan. two major purchases: a loaded Classic Vibe JM body and a baritone neck. i’ll completely remove the electrics including pickups from the red body and transfer them to the new guard—i’m genuinely that happy with my revisions to the original circuit—and then likewise swap all the wiring out of the new body to be experimented with in the red body. standard neck on new body, bari neck on old body.

experiments will include yet another change of the rhythm circuit cap value. i think the halved value in the Jag and my CVJM is still a bit much and makes things muddy. i found a brilliant product while looking for Galaxiemaster parts that i’m amazed Fender never picked up on: numbered thumb wheels so you can see the settings. i’ll be getting pairs for both JMs.

the path of absolute least resistance would be getting a J Mascis JM and putting on the bari neck. but i never really wanted a candy apple red anything and if i’m buying bodies why not get a color i like rather than tolerate?

[Blackened Soul]

Sounds solid. Yeah, candy apple for me is like sunburst… I have a handful of both colors.. never bought for the color.. that was was available or affordable…

[dubkitty]

once the baritone is an established thing that’s properly set up i can think about other upgrades. i put an American Pro II tremolo in the current JM that’s fantastic so i might do the same for the bari if the CV trem isn’t up to snuff. i have a feeling locking tuners for the bari would be a big help when wrestling with those long, floppy strings; whether they exist is a question. the CV comes with a Mustang bridge which i hated on a standard guitar but which might prove more useful on a baritone with those huge strings. i’m really into the white amp knobs so the new body will also get a set.

[dubkitty]

thinking about possible repurposing of the baritone’s rhythm circuit. obviously i could leave it as-is, but i’m not sure a blanket high-cut would be the best thing for the sound.

the first thing i thought of was the Alembic (Strato)Blaster. an onboard boost could be very handy. but what purpose would the rollers be used for? i don’t know the circuit enough to guess how it could be controlled.

the next was an active(ish) tone circuit with the switch on/off and bass and treble on the rollers. how much of a bitch would that be to build? i thought about incorporating the components from the Schaller-style tone switch but don’t understand how to translate their combinations of components for each setting. it could be really helpful to have treble cut on one roller and the ability to dial in the midrange HONK of the T+B- setting on the other. any idea how to derive that from the Schaller circuit diagram?

IMG_6841.gif (19.58 KiB) Viewed 401 times

the third option would be some kind of onboard effect. historically onboard fx don’t sound great. i’m also kind of at a loss for what would work in that spot, run with only two (roller) knobs, and not devour a 9V battery like a dish of guacamole and chips. which leaves delay RIGHT OUT. on the other hand, an octave divider would do the business, but you’d have to either decide on one (up/down) setting or configure it with LOW on one roller and HI on the other and control the fx with the rollers set to 0 = OFF.

anyone have feedback on this or suggestions for repurposing the rhythm circuit? yeah, i could just ignore it, but why not make that into something useful? i don’t think onboard fuzz is wise, though…i don’t like having a unshielded gain circuit sitting so close to the pickups. weird is good as far as suggestions.

[Zork]

For a baritone I would find a reversed rhythm circuit useful: High pass filtering instead of low pass on the tone pot, like an adjustable strangle switch and a generally brighter tone. 1m pots in the rhythm circuit, 500k in the lead circuit. I put the G&L PTB wiring in my Musima Bass VI Frankenstein and it was very useful. To expand the idea to a switchable preset system would be even better.

[dubkitty]

i had to look that up because i’d never heard of it before, and it sounds like it’s right up my street, especially for the baritone. if that works i may have to try it on other instruments.

i don’t have the expertise needed to convert that idea into tone switches with detents, which i think would require multiple caps and a rotary switch. at the moment i’m not dreaming any bigger than the holes in the stock JM rhythm circuit panel. but i rather prefer the idea of being able to dial them precisely in. the numbered rollers would make it easy to recreate sounds previously used. i so do not understand why FMIC hasn’t adopted numbered rollers for all their roller-pot usages. perhaps the best aftermarket Fender part adaptation ever.