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Hi!
I have in mind to eventually build an electric 6 strings baritone guitar, and have few questions.

1- Is there some place I could get plans? (I can make whitout, but could be nice to have one)
2- Is there a certain type of pick ups for baritone guitars? (Down to B-B or A-A)
3- Same thing for bridge and tuners (I'll probably go to 70,75 for the bigger string)
4- What type of electronics (pots, caps, etc..)
5- Any other suggestions? (Scale lenght, neck lenght versus body lenght, etc, etc!)

Thanks!
Francis

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

6 string electric bass? or standard 6 string guitar?
1 - baritone or not. construction is the same as any other guitar. nut width. & string spacing on nut / saddle width and string spacing on that.

2 - 6 string, no, 7 string - yes. if you are worried about this i would consider a pickup with metal strip poles instead of bobbins or another way. or like bass guitars offset a pair single coil pickups. totally un-needed though.

3 & 4 same as 1

5 - scale lengths checkout www.manchesterguitartech.co.uk/fret_calculator.php
has scales from 24" to 34", type in amount of frets and your desired scale length.

although i havent built a guitar yet i have thought about doing a baritone guitar myself. the neck may need to be fixed more secure to the body. also a slightly fatter back profile. (support the longer tension)
personally id do a sort of thru neck but glued in neck. (neck glued in between back and top piece)

fatten everything up a little. ya know??

Thanks!
I would probably go with a real neck-thru... a 3 or 5 pieces of maple, darker and denser wood between laminates. I'm pretty set for a 28 5/8'' scale ('cause I found template for this scale...).

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Francis Richer, Montréal
Les Guitares F&M Guitars

what shape you thinkin about doing??

i have SVG files of some shapes. if i have what your thinking of i can email the file

Yo Francis,

Plans are really doubtfull. Berry toners tend to have large bodies...so go pick out a large body plan and just extend the neck length and adjust the bracing. In other words...stretch the thing. Or use bass plans and shorten the thing.

Don't know nuthin about pick ups except that you can build and wire your own if you want a seventh pole. Of course you can have them custom made.

So now about that 7th string...It has become popular as of late but is not the qualifying factor of a berry toner.
Scale length is. Any thing longer than 26 inches can start to be called a berry toner. 27 to 28 is the most common. if you got long fingers and can stretch them, then go longer. Build me a 7 stringer at 30 inches once...too long...nobody likes the length..capos work.

Do not get stuck in to the 28 5/8 scale just because you have it on hand. That was often the case 5 or 6 years back but now with string length calculator programs abounding on line for free...you can punch in any length and have your fret positions back at you in seconds. So my advise for length is go to the music stores, try a long scale neck for comfort... If they don't got a berry toner, remember a bass is usually 34 inches...try cording on it...try a fretless bass with a capo and start cording till you find the length that is comfortable for you hand.


Berry tones...gotta love em.

blessings

Padma

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I'm building a bari LP right now - regular LP body size, 27" scale slid a little toward the arse end just so that I don't have to reach way out there.

Pickups - just use regular pickups, but if you go with humbuckers tend toward some that are a little on the bright side, and not super-high output. Too much output and the lower tones will not be well defined. Regular electronics that match up the pickups under normal circumstances.

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The member formerly known as erikbojerik....