I play with a pick. I think the spacing is a little wider than an electric guitar. I prefer it since I'm primarily a bass player.
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I play with a pick. I think the spacing is a little wider than an electric guitar. I prefer it since I'm primarily a bass player.
Fair point and I don't have an opinion on what it should be called. It's tuned like a cello which is what sold me
It is a "tenor guitar", one octave lower than standard, as I understand it. Thus the confusing name "tenor baritone"
Cool instrument, though, wish I had one!
Well, wouldn't it be simpler to just call it a 4-String Baritone?
Or...
Since we call the double bass in guitar format a "bass guitar", it'd probably be a lot less confusing if it were called it a "cello guitar". That way, we'd know exactly how it's tuned. Ya know, like how mandolin, mandola, mandocello, etc. correspond to violin, viola and cello respectively.
In any case, the thing does seem kinda cool.
Or...
Since we call the double bass in guitar format a "bass guitar", it'd probably be a lot less confusing if it were called it a "cello guitar". That way, we'd know exactly how it's tuned. Ya know, like how mandolin, mandola, mandocello, etc. correspond to violin, viola and cello respectively.
In any case, the thing does seem kinda cool.
They should have called it a cello guitar or something like that (celloblaster was already taken but how about cellocaster). Cool instrument with a confusing name.
Put on new strings from Newtone. Custom set. Tuning already more stable. The original strings had minimal wraps. These have a hex core and are all wound. I have another round core set I'll try in a few weeks.
I have had very good luck with Gotoh tuners... Made well and not expensive.
G-GOTOH String Instruments Parts - G-GOTOH
G-GOTOH String Instruments Parts - G-GOTOH
Slightly off-topic, but this caused me to dive into the rest of the series, and this one caught my attention: 8 string electric mandocello. It seems to be mostly the same instrument as the "tenor baritone", albeit with octave strings:
With the new strings it's staying in tune. That may be because they didn't give the stock strings enough windings at the factory. Very happy right now though.
Sorry... failed to respond to this. Low note to high it's tuned CGDA. I think the neck could handle the higher tension of going lower to A.
Low E like a bass may be a bit much.
Did a little more setup work replacing the saddle height screws since the originals were sticking up. Eastwood didn't know the exact size of the thread but I guessed correctly.
Size is M3. I got 8mm and 6mm. 6 is shorter than needed but are working fine on the C and A strings.
Also bought a Blackstar Studio 10 KT-88 to play it through. Sounds fantastic.
Size is M3. I got 8mm and 6mm. 6 is shorter than needed but are working fine on the C and A strings.
Also bought a Blackstar Studio 10 KT-88 to play it through. Sounds fantastic.
What high tension?
See my post #16 above. If you pick the correct gauges for the target new tuning, you won't have any significant increase (nor decrease) in tensions compared to those you get with the factory strings (062, 040, 026w, 016p) and tuning (CGDA), 26" scale length being an invariant.
[In fact, the obvious corollary is that one could use even thinner gauges than 40-55-70-95, tuned (down) to EADG, and they would exert *less* tension on the neck than the factory cello-tuning set.]
It's not magic. As I'm wont to say to bassists looking to retune their 4-string to BEAD and expecting that low B string to throw off the tension on the neck, just because it's a big string: a .125" string would certainly super tight...if you tuned it *up* to E; as a low B, it's in fact pretty floppy, and actually lower-tensioned than the high G it would effectively replace.
It's not gauge alone that matters, but gauge (actually mass per linear inch) plus tuning. (And scale length, whenever it is a variable parameter as the other two.)
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Good point. You could go low but big strings could get pretty tight together at the nut. It's not very wide.
I ended up buying the mandocello version of this, and I like it a lot so far! The strings don't seem to like to stay in tune, though, so I'll try some different sets. like @bassplace suggested.
