Adam P said:
Same here. My friend's old 7-string Ibanez was tuned the same as a standard guitar, but with an added low B.
I have a couple Cure records where Robert Smith is credited as playing "six string bass"...I've always assumed that this was referring to a baritone guitar, and not a six-string "I'm gonna play some Primus songs" bass. Anybody know?
a baritone guitar is essentially in between guitar and bass -- they're usually short-scale bass length necks, but tuned a 5th or a 4th below a regular guitar. most seven-string guitars add a low b to the bottom of guitar (it's like the low b on a 5-string bass, but an octave higher.)
Baritone Guitar: BGDAEB (typically 27"-28"ish scale)
7-string guitar: BEADGBE (typically 25"ish scale)
5-string bass: BEADG (30"+ scale)
the six-string bass that robert smith played is the 60's Fender Bass VI that was mentioned earlier in this thread. it's an augmented jazzmaster body with three pickups, a tremelo bar and a short-scale bass neck. pretty weird beast, really. the strings are tuned just like a guitar, but an octave lower. Danelectro made one of these (as does Jerry Jones) and a baritone guitar. Gibson also had one back in the 60s--the EB-6, which was just like an EB-2 (es335 style body) but with six strings, a short-scale bass neck and tuned like a guitar an octave lower. I would kill for one.
a modern (80's-nowish) six string bass is typically a 5-string bass with a higher string added onto the top.
The six-string bass was sometimes used in the 60's to double bass lines and add a different character--even though it's in the same range, the lighter strings and body/pickup arrangements often made for a pluckier, guitarier sound.
robert smith made somewhat of a signature sound using them throughout the cure's career, most of the lead melodies make use of its peculiar combination of thump, bell and twangle that it delivers on the upper registers. (hum 'spiderman' and you're probably humming the bass six line.) Teisco also made one in the 60s which blonde redhead used (and use) all over their work.
The danelectro bass six (which i snatched up when the reintroduced it a while back) was identical to the baritone guitar they issued a little while later, just with a different set of strings. If you buy either a baritone or a six-string bass (tuned like a guitar) you can probably safely experiment with using two sets of strings--baritone strings and six-string bass strings, and the coordinate tunings.
one advantage of the baritone is that you can still play most chords on it in first position--first position chords on a bass six tend to sound like mud, making it primarily a melody instrument with a deep range. this also lets you use it as a tradeoff instrument the way that blonde redhead often does--you can play lead melodies or chords in the higher positions, and then treat it like a bass when you need groove, thunder and evil.
wow. i had no idea i knew so much about these instruments. looking back at how long this post is, i really hope i didn't just make all that up.
