OK, so I have convinced myself that I need a baritone guitar.

In my mind, I want to have it unison-tuned. One set of stings will be wound .22's and the others will be something ridiculous like .52's. I think. I need to experiment a little.

In any case, I want to buy a guitar to serve this purpose. Obviously, it doesn't have to be an actual baritone, but it does need to be long enough to be able to be downtuned.

With that in mind, what are some cheap-o guitars that might serve my purpose? I'm not looking for schmancy right now because it's a "concept" guitar and something I am going to tinker with until I get what I want. Think blank canvas.

I searched, and found no advice to this effect.

An Ibanez AX110XL may be suitable. That's the cheapest baritone I know of.

Alternatively, you could get a baritone neck if you have a cheap Strat or Tele that you don't mind butchering.

Nico Adie wrote:Alternatively, you could get a baritone neck if you have a cheap Strat or Tele that you don't mind butchering.

A FrankenTone would be even better, since, in my heart of hearts, I want a Hello Kitty strat - but they are short-scale, which is no good for bari.

The Dano baritones can be found for under $300, if you're OK with the solid body models.
Also, if you're 'sperimentin', why do you need an actual baritone? Scale length is a consideration, but you can put those strings on anything, just look for something with a wider neck, and file out the nut a little.

Find your inner Lee and Thurston.

-A

Actually, I don't know why I need an actual baritone.

I just thought having a bari length neck would make it easier for me to get the low low.

EDIT: If I cobble one together out of parts, I can get an actual lefty neck and put it on a righty guitar...hmmm.

Also bear in mind I am guitarded. I am slowly moving from my "tuning is a crutch" style of textural playing to a "gee, these chords smell terrific" style of playing.

I blame Branca.

You know, Tim Midgett's the guy to ask about this. He was playing a Bean Standard as a baritone for quite a while.

But yes, do the Hello Kitty baritone!

Hey Burun,

My very first post on this board was about my friend's Epiphone Les Paul Baritone, which might be an option. It can be had used for not much, though you'll have to try to avoid the "Iron Cross" or "Red Oval" paint schemes. Ours is flat black, and they apparently made a "Worn Brown" one. It's playing backup these days to the Electrical Custom baritone, but it's a fine inexpensive route. You'll likely want to replace the pickups, but the bridge, neck, and tuners are good quality for this price range [<$400?]

You might also look for a DeArmond Bajo-Jet. They're crazy.

Hey, there's one here.

fender japan do a jaguar baritone

gjhardwick wrote:fender japan do a jaguar baritone

True. I have one.

Should you opt for the Jaguar Bari, I would suggest that you immediately change the strings and nut. I'm thinking about getting a new bridge, as well.

Otherwise it is a fine instrument.

the cheapest bari i know of is an OLP musicman baritone copy.

parts would be a good way to go.

a body can be had from the ebay for like $100. a neck can be had from the warmoth for like $200.

parts and pickups would probably cost another $150-$200.

not bad.

i hear mixed things about the schecter hellcats.