son of frog Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Does anyone know if this would be possible, The likes of the Fender Bass VI is the tone im looking for, but without the price tag of about £10000 if you can find one, I was thinking about One of those Danelectro Dead on 67 Baritones, [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-dead-on-67-baritone-electric-guitar-limey-green--67271"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-de...ey-green--67271[/url] But would i be able to get a Standard E A D G B E tuning out of one if bass strings were put on it... ? Theres a severe lack in 6 string basses tuned to guitar tuning... Someone advise me? thanks very much in advance. -Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
The Burpster Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 I have a PRS Mike Mushok baritone tuned down to A that you may be able to persuade me to part with - PM me if you are interested. You can do it, it sounds immense but you need to be an accomplished 6 string player which I'm afraid I'm not. Going all the way down to E is tricky (as the scale just isnt long enough) but A holds tuning and plays very well. [url="http://www.prsguitars.com/mushok/index.php"]http://www.prsguitars.com/mushok/index.php[/url] Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 [quote name='son of frog' post='1034667' date='Nov 24 2010, 01:50 AM']Does anyone know if this would be possible, The likes of the Fender Bass VI is the tone im looking for, but without the price tag of about £10000 if you can find one, I was thinking about One of those Danelectro Dead on 67 Baritones, [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-dead-on-67-baritone-electric-guitar-limey-green--67271"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-de...ey-green--67271[/url] But would i be able to get a Standard E A D G B E tuning out of one if bass strings were put on it... ? Theres a severe lack in 6 string basses tuned to guitar tuning... Someone advise me? thanks very much in advance. -Tom[/quote] I'd imagine that if you put bass strings onto a guitar that was originally designed to have no more than the tension of electric guitar strings on it, you'll end up with something shaped like this... (and yes people, I know this one is supposed to look like this - it's the best example I could find!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Are you sure about that? Have you actually tried it? Unless your guitar is a PoS made out of crappy wood and held together by sticky tape it's unlikely to suffer any serious damage provided that you adjust the truss rod to compensate. The difference in tension between a set of guitar strings and bass ones will be less than expected as the bass strings will need to be at a lower tension than normal to compensate for the shorter scale length. Simple physics really. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ahpook Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 i've heard of people using fender VI bass strings on danos and tuning them down. i use the d'addario XL156 set on my VI and they're great sounding strings...my only thought is that you may need to re-cut the nut to fit them. the XL156's are a slightly thinner gauge than the 'official' VI set, but intonate better. good luck with the conversion. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 What's the scale length on the Danelectro? I thought it was 29 inches, in which case with Bass VI strings you ought not to have a problem. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
icastle Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 (edited) [quote name='BigRedX' post='1034786' date='Nov 24 2010, 09:47 AM']Are you sure about that? Have you actually tried it? Unless your guitar is a PoS made out of crappy wood and held together by sticky tape it's unlikely to suffer any serious damage provided that you adjust the truss rod to compensate. The difference in tension between a set of guitar strings and bass ones will be less than expected as the bass strings will need to be at a lower tension than normal to compensate for the shorter scale length. Simple physics really.[/quote] You reckon that it won't fold then, hey, fine (have you actually tried it?) Sooo.... You'll then need to change the bridge - the strings wont attach because the ball ends are too big. The nut will have to be recarved to accomodate the thicker strings. Then you'll have to change the machine heads to accomodate the thicker string and windings which means redrilling the headstock. Once all this has happened you'll then have to just hope that the neck is wide enough to accomodate the massively thicker strings [b]and[/b] remain a playable instrument - at this point I think you might discover why they make 6 string basses with wider necks than 4 string basses... Edited November 24, 2010 by icastle Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Adrenochrome Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 [quote name='icastle' post='1034824' date='Nov 24 2010, 10:27 AM']You reckon that it won't fold then, hey, fine (have you actually tried it?) Sooo.... You'll then need to change the bridge - the strings wont attach because the ball ends are too big. The nut will have to be recarved to accomodate the thicker strings. Then you'll have to change the machine heads to accomodate the thicker string and windings which means redrilling the headstock. Once all this has happened you'll then have to just hope that the neck is wide enough to accomodate the massively thicker strings [b]and[/b] remain a playable instrument - at this point I think you might discover why they make 6 string basses with wider necks than 4 string basses... [/quote] I thought the whole point was that Fender Bass VI strings were not as thick as 'normal' bass strings? I'm sure I've seen baritone guitars being tuned EADGBE and used like this with no bridge problems... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
absolutpepper Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 [quote name='son of frog' post='1034667' date='Nov 24 2010, 01:50 AM']Does anyone know if this would be possible, The likes of the Fender Bass VI is the tone im looking for, but without the price tag of about £10000 if you can find one, I was thinking about One of those Danelectro Dead on 67 Baritones, [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-dead-on-67-baritone-electric-guitar-limey-green--67271"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-de...ey-green--67271[/url] But would i be able to get a Standard E A D G B E tuning out of one if bass strings were put on it... ? Theres a severe lack in 6 string basses tuned to guitar tuning... Someone advise me? thanks very much in advance. -Tom[/quote] Looking at the advert there is an error in the scale. There's no way a baritone is 25" and i'm sure from recollection the Dano is 29" or 30". The Bass VI was 30" and it was tuned E - E. If the Dano is 29" or 30", provided you put the correct gauge of strings on it there would be no issue with the E - E tuning and getting a sound 'close' to a bass VI. Its also worth noting there are lots of alternative baritones out but the scale vary wildly (typically bari's are between 26" and 30" and tuned either B - B, A - A or E - E depending on the scale. If you have a bit more cash i'd recommend looking at the Schecter Hellcat as well. Be careful of the lower scale ones designed for heavy rock/metal guitarists as they wont comfortable tune E - E. Chris Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
BigRedX Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 [quote name='icastle' post='1034824' date='Nov 24 2010, 10:27 AM']You reckon that it won't fold then, hey, fine (have you actually tried it?) Sooo.... You'll then need to change the bridge - the strings wont attach because the ball ends are too big. The nut will have to be recarved to accomodate the thicker strings. Then you'll have to change the machine heads to accomodate the thicker string and windings which means redrilling the headstock. Once all this has happened you'll then have to just hope that the neck is wide enough to accomodate the massively thicker strings [b]and[/b] remain a playable instrument - at this point I think you might discover why they make 6 string basses with wider necks than 4 string basses... [/quote] Actually I put bass strings on a crappy old acoustic guitar back in the 70s and that was quite happy. So if that could stand it there's no reason why a properly made electric guitar won't have any problems. I've just bought a Fernandes Pie-Zo 26" scale bass and if anything the neck is less bulky than the corresponding Fernandes Zo guitar. Also there's no reason to change the machine heads if you use the right strings. I have 2 short scale basses that use standard Schaller guitar machine heads. With strings of the correct length the ends fit the machine heads perfectly well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
geoffbyrne Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 I have a Yamaha Drop 6 which has a 26.5" scale. Currently I have 15 - 72s on it & it's tuned to BEADF#B. Sounds just fine. I think to get low E you'd need to put pretty hefty strings on it & I don't know if the bridge (Floyd) would have enough throw on the saddle to intonate properly. This, too, could be for sale. G. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Happy Jack Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 Reading all this has made me realise that I really should try playing my Lindert Locomotive ( [url="http://tinypic.com/a/r1y1/3"]http://tinypic.com/a/r1y1/3[/url] ) through an Octaver ... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
EssentialTension Posted November 24, 2010 Share Posted November 24, 2010 [quote name='son of frog' post='1034667' date='Nov 24 2010, 01:50 AM']Does anyone know if this would be possible, The likes of the Fender Bass VI is the tone im looking for, but without the price tag of about £10000 if you can find one, I was thinking about One of those Danelectro Dead on 67 Baritones, [url="http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-dead-on-67-baritone-electric-guitar-limey-green--67271"]http://www.dv247.com/guitars/danelectro-de...ey-green--67271[/url] But would i be able to get a Standard E A D G B E tuning out of one if bass strings were put on it... ? Theres a severe lack in 6 string basses tuned to guitar tuning... Someone advise me? thanks very much in advance. -Tom[/quote] Have you considered the Schecter Hellcat VI or the Gretsch G5265 which are both tuned EADGBE exactly like the Fender Bass VI? More expensive than the Danelectro but substantially cheaper than the Fender. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
son of frog Posted November 24, 2010 Author Share Posted November 24, 2010 (edited) Yeah i've looked into a few, I wish fender would just ReIssue the VI again, But i really like the look of the Dead on 67's by Dano, And i may or may not try this, If i do go ahead with it i'll be sure to post it on here as to my success or failure... And thanks for all the helpful replies Edited November 24, 2010 by son of frog Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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