7-string or baritone?

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Jouni

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This is what I've been thinkin'..
Allthough a bassist I compose a lot, now, Ive been doing songs to E and A 'cause my 6-string guitar..
All dudes around play metal from B from their 7-strings, that's why I got me a 5-string bass.
Recently saw baritone guitars that are made of longer scales and can be tuned to B or A without compromising intonation.
Playing with decent gear that thing should cast havoc?!!.. :D

Since I've played bass the slightly fatter strings and longer neck shouldn't be a prob.. And something like a Les Paul baritone sure sounds like a bulldozer?
..allthough I'm a poor fellow and probably will have to get the Epiphone version..

So, a baritone would surely have something over a regular 7-string??
 
I actually got an OLP MM5 baritone. Cheap, good guitar. I love it. Its very different and you may spend some time finding its place in your collection, at least I know I sure have. Its also an "affordable" baritone. Mine needs a pro setup pretty bad, though. I put on Dean Markely .14 - .65 strings, which is probably why it needs the setup (due to lighter strings than even a baritone). Baritones strings are a little more expensive (about ten dollars). But you can get a 3 pack of (sigh) Elixer baritone strings off eBay for $25.

Also, I suppose another advantage to the baritone is that you don't have to get used to the width and playability of a seven string.

But it will take some getting used to. You might (like me) have a hard time finding its place and its use in your collection.
 
I went with the 7 string first, although I plan on getting a baritone eventually. The main reason is that the 7 string gives you the best of all worlds--the option is there to play a "regular" guitar when you need it. For drop D stuff, you just slip into the 3rd fret on the B string and it works just fine. (Admittedly, it doesn't quite give that big open barking "woomph" that a low open D would, but I really do like the convenience of it all.)

The down side to the 7 is that you won't be able to fret barre chords with a B string root the way you would fret them on a normal guitar. You end up with some pretty strange augmented sounding silliness when you try this. On the upside, you can make some HUGE sounding chords when you find the right combinations.

Ibanez makes some good cheap guitars of both types, so give them a look if money's tight.
 
I only play bass in my bands, but since I've got a guitar allready I thought a baritone would "complete the set"- so to speak..
Yes, thanks i'll look at ibanez too.
Expensive strings I don't mind, not that poor. :)
Allready trying to imagine the "Ooomph" of those thicker strings!! :D
 
Purge said:
The down side to the 7 is that you won't be able to fret barre chords with a B string root the way you would fret them on a normal guitar. You end up with some pretty strange augmented sounding silliness when you try this. On the upside, you can make some HUGE sounding chords when you find the right combinations.
Click to expand...

depending on how adventurous you are with tunings,..

i've been looking at 7 strings lately myself. embaressingly i just had to google the baritone to find out what it was. I'd rather keep the range that the 7 string has, unless you're paranoid of being labelled a nu-metal kiddie or something :D
 
I have one of the Danelectro Baritones, and I dig it. Yeah, the 7 string guitars have the ability to go down pretty low, but as Purge stated, you can't do barre chords like you can on a baritone, and, to me, such sounds really cool in the right situation.
 
If your a bass player and you sometimes play guitar than I'd get a baritone. The scale difference won't be much of a challenge if your already used to that sort of thing. My opinion of 7stringers originally was that a guitar player could play that low with out having a different scaled neck in his hands.
 
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