5-String Bass To 6-String Baritone Build (...and Tone Demo)

[@LillianAredhel]

*>makes a bass into a guitar* *>Plays Yellowcard in drop A*

[@ctoacu6188]

I didn't know exactly what it was, but with those chords and that tone, knew it had to be something like this.

[@lucashernandez8146]

2:26 "As i could visually see"

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Are you making fun of my language words?

[@lucashernandez8146]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions just the redundant redundancies.

[@ZaneDalton]

😂

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions Wow, neat Mod cause Regular Gauge Strings on a Longer Scale in Baritone Tuning sound great.

[@ParanoiaClique]

get a rail pickup so you dont have to worry about the string spacing haha, mabe a 7 string EMG or something

[@moonchild4806]

For the pickup use something like a cheap rail 7 string or 8 string pickup. It'll easily hit that wide string spacing, I've done something like this before, but with a 6 string bass to an 8 string guitar.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

I kind of want to do that 8 string idea too lol

[@moonchild4806]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions You're welcome to it. I used a Rondo music 3/4 scale 6 string. You'd have to dowel and redrill the tuner holes, but that will probably be the most complicated part.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Ya, that'd be an extra step

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Did you have pictures or a video or anything perhaps?

[@moonchild4806]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions no, sadly. Traded it a while ago for a low model Gibson SG.

[@BaenaCarcosa]

Try out a jazzmaster pickup instead of a humbucker

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Is it a rail?

[@sudoo6987]

Baena already have 2 avacados(jazzmaster)

[@pastorkev777]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions Sentell makes a bar Jazzmaster pickup.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions The sound this produces is really unique and I find it ideal for song covers like Skyfall by Adele arranged by Paul Langford. I love Adele.

[@harolduriel2396]

Dont know if anyone gives a damn but if you are bored like me atm then you can watch all of the new movies and series on InstaFlixxer. Have been streaming with my gf for the last couple of weeks :)

[@timothymckane6362]

I swear you're becoming a madman musician when it comes to customizing and experimenting on your guitars! Hope you'll do more in the future!

[@MrSHebiK]

Make it 6 and half string guitar.

[@nathanieldelrosario1324]

so big banjo

[@PRXCYXN]

Admiral Angry mentioned! The best band in the world!

[@Communissimo]

Bro. I have been daydreaming about a Bass VI or a baritone for a while. I just looked at my identical model Ibanez with the same idea, searched for a generic 5-to-VI conversion discussion, and here you are with my exact bass. I have no idea if I will actually follow through, but thank you for documenting this!

[@jonmuir13]

I heard the metal by tenacious d

[@lucianlivingstone6724]

Admiral Angry played Double drop A man, The tuning was A D A D G E E and the reason they're not active anymore is Daniel ' The Admiral ' Krauss passed away early 2009. RIP Legend, Gone but not forgotten.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

I knew he passed away RIP, I really wished I could have found more stuff on them

[@EvenTheTrees]

Is that the tuning!? I used to jam along on an 8 string in double drop D, but I know some songs went even LOWER haha That extra Low A makes a lot of sense, I some what figured that might have just been octave pedals at that point. Appreciate the new info! RIP Daniel

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

If you made an 8 string guitar out of a 6 string bass, you could tune it to C# standard, the lower 8 strings of a 9 string guitar, and parallel the signal through both a guitar and a bass rig, triggering all the people who say to just play a bass in the process. They'll swarm in from the forums and you'll become famous overnight.

[@needsLITHIUM]

BEST IDEA EVER

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

@Richard Repper Clearly you know nothing about inharmonicy. Getting a string thick enough to tune to pitch at 25.5" and still have decent tension would result in your "perfectly intonated" string being literally out of tune with itself. There's a reason basses have longer scales. Plus, you can get a good guitar tone out of a 34" scale, you cannot get a good bass tone out of a 25.5" scale, which was my whole point.

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

@Richard Repper Meshuggah is literally my favorite band, I tune down to E1 on a 30" scale, previously C1, and I've tuned a 34" down all the way to E0, a full octave down. I know quite a lot, because I've tuned down everything I've owned to its limits at some point. I have real world experience as well as theory. You missed my point completely. There is a very real difference between getting a good guitar tone, and getting a tone that can double as both a bass and guitar. Guitars have comically low tensions, which is how people like Meshuggah can get away with a low F on a 27" scale (formerly 29.4"). But you cannot, I repeat cannot, get a good BASS tone out of low tension strings. Trust me, I've tried. In order to get a good bass tone, you need to minimize the pitch bend of the string upon impact. Sense we like to play hard, that can only mean higher tension. If you try to get around 28lbs to 33lbs of tension, which is the sweetspot in my opinion, on a 25.5" scale, you'll end up with about a .145" string on there. That will sound like shit. The reason it sounds like shit is inharmonicy. Google it. It's the scientific FACT that a finite stiffness string, on a finite scale, will produce overtones that are not in tune with the fundamental frequency. The more stiff, and the shorter the scale length, the more out of tune the harmonics. You can get away with tuning a guitar down really low. But unless you tune to higher tensions, your bass track will suffer. If you tune a super short scale to a low tuning with high tension, you will sound like a bell, especially if you play higher than the 3rd fret.

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

@Richard Repper What experience with down tuning do you actually have? Mister tiny mind.

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

@Richard Repper And, to drive my point home completely, take Meshuggah for example. They're my favorite band, but, without the bass player, they would sound like absolute shit. There's a reason they kept the bass, they needed it. Long scale, thin strings, high tension, drop Bb, sounds awesome. You can't get that from a standard guitar, and the bass guitar really is key in their tone. So shut up dumbass, and learn to fucking read a whole comment before going off on a tangent just to feel like you're smart. You're not.

[@blahblahsen1142]

i actually build basses full time and i do some odd experiments on my free time (which is a lot due to a sleeping disorder) i currently am waiting on strings for a baritone guitar of mine, its basically a KoRn tribute guitar with a 30 inch scale and gonna be in (bass octave) drop D or C. mahogany body, 5 pickups (double coil with split, double blade with split and single coil neck) with an experimental 3 piece red oak, 8th inch carbon steel and white oak neck. long time ago i wanted a similar concept to this video, 5 string bass neck to 6-string guitar tuned CCGcfa...so basically drop C but with another low C in bass range. you essentially play it like drop C and get the bass frequency as well. and for Djenty stuff you have the octave right there. ignore the Low C for riffs and when you wanna have that almost slap-pick thing you can toggle between the C and the...other C. lowest i ever go is A0, 145 gauge 35 scale. anything lower doesnt play nice with my speakers. you should try a fretless bass. you could just yank the frets, mix JB weld and white paint and fill in the slots for inlay. i have a recently experimental Fanned fretless bass that is essentially a fretless bass that turns into a 30 inch scale on the high side, and the fret marks are fanned. fun fact...it SUCKS to play. that "ergonomic" thing fanned fets are supposed to provide doesnt do shit when you go fretless but maybe its just me. good thing about a fanned scale fretless, if you hate it, you can just pull the slanted Zero fret and move the bridge and repaint the fretboard and its regular scale again, no massively altering the neck or anything, just change the marks. i will say that i seem to do fine on a 35 inch scale 6-string fretless bass, so when i pick up the fanned fretless and cant play it for shit...makes me think there is a reason you never seen fanned fretless basses.

[@Rebackka66677]

I would say get a EMG 707 pick up and tune to drop A

[@stevepethel6843]

Love the bass chords...you have inspired me to try a 5 string conversion. Thank you my wife ordered a cheap cheap 5 and I can't wait to give it a conversion.

[@SteelSkin667]

Wouldn't a soapbar-style 7-string pickup fill these pickup routes better? If I recall, these use bass pickup casings. Definitely a work in progress, but the idea is sound.

[@GrumpyTy34er]

I'm actually working on my own Bass VI inspired build! I'm doing a T-Type with 2 P90s. It's going to be loud

[@777666hxc]

Awesome video man! I’m taking 6 string bass and Turning it into a 6 string baritone! That link to that string company saved me loads of work! Probably going to go with 17 - 98 6 string set

[@DE-GEN-ART]

This is the kind of shit i would do when i was a teenager, except i only turned guitars into four string basses, and they didnt look anywhere as good as your work, great job man.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

I recommend adding a Zero Glide Nut so that you have better action.

[@mattsimmons87]

those open notes😍

[@floydbones5111]

I heard Everlong by foo fighters

[@franktalarico689]

Oh shit here it is!!! Awesome dude

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Lol thanks

[@herpderpinson6117]

6:59 NEW WAVE TRIED TO DESTROY THE METAL, BUT THE METAL HAD ITS WAY

[@philljrton]

Thanks for making this I just bought a six string bass kit and when I ordered flat wound strings I accidentally ordered fender electric six strings. I'm keeping them and doing this

[@jdestrada6281]

That blended tone sounded incredible

[@needsLITHIUM]

try getting one of those special staggered humbuckers designed for diagonal routed guitars? also, try wiring it with a neck pickup, and push it all the way so the outer-most pole pieces line up under the high string, and push the bridge pickup so it does the same for the low string, and have them both sounding together all the time. Another idea, grab a 7 string pickup for the bridge position, preferably a double bar humbucker or Seymour Duncan Invader, and then get two 6 string pickups wired in reverse phase and staggered so one lines up to the low string and the other to the high string.

[@skipmilligan]

This thing is hella rad. Well done Sir.

[@MAMW93]

for the future if you ever have to fill a nut use the baking soda/super glue trick. pile up baking soda in the nut slot, then drop super glue on the baking soda pile and it'll turn the whole pile into a hard as rock substance. perfect for nut filling when you can't buy a new nut or don't want to

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

I'm definitely gonna try that next time and compare

[@Drunken_Hamster]

Look into Alumitone pickups. They don't have individual poles like that, it's more like a continuous bar in appearance. They definitely have some that are wide enough (9 string guitar size).

[@FarragoTheFox]

Gotta be hell to play barre chords on that bad boy.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Better than an 8 string lol

[@StevenFAllen]

AWESOME Work! I appreciate your experiments and your sharing this project!

[@xxCorvetteKidxx]

I would try a 7 string rail style pickup to accommodate thr wider string spacing but also allowing for volume consistency for each string

[@mr.fictionaloxymoron3643]

OMG it makes so much sense now I already suggested a new smile with the 1/2 guitar this would be the other half this is so cool Edit: use cefuss 8 string bar pickup like your 9 string guitar for making it line up Edit 2: 7:00 is that tenacious D the metal? If so that's insane.

[@mamaluigi1579]

Awesome experiment!

[@harakirikiss6128]

Slapping chords with that blended bass and guitar tone. Mmmm i love the smell of prog in the morning

[@druid5931]

well fuck me the mad lad actually did it.

[@ZILtoid1991]

On pickups: You either can use a rail pickup (such as the DiMarzio X2N, it has a seven string version if I remember correctly), or going custom. I know a guy here in Hungary who makes custom pickups, especially with neodymium magnets, he probably could supply you something that makes it sound a bit better. Be prepared that neodymium pickups can have the same output level as active ones, although with a higher output impedance.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Ya, I thought about just a passive rail 7, it would definitely fit

[@NicuMihai]

Deftones are releasing a new album. quick, hide this guitar...

[@mus-dos4763]

Get some soapbar style 7-string pickups, its should be the same size as the original pickups, i know that originally emg just slapped their extended range pickups on bass pickup casings because they already had, so it might be worth a try

[@57briben]

@ 2:40 -use rubbing alcohol for epoxy cleanup before it hardens

[@Poodrdt]

Yes!

[@EvenTheTrees]

Sick! Been waiting for this video! haha Glad you looked into the Admiral Angry suggestion! (I'm pastatuesday on IG) - I thought it was Double Drop D but as we saw in that other comment its actually double drop A. BUT you could try mess with doing the double Drop D on the 6 string :) Also, owning a Bass VI and playing that Ibanez Crossover (both amazing). After watching your video, the 30" scale makes it ambiguous if it's a guitar or bass playing, you can play like either.You got some interesting tones but as you pointed out, it gets super twangy but even playing that low B/A has bass guitar tonalities to it even with a .51 gauge string. To me it sounds like the longer you go in scale the easier it is to hear and it sounds more "bass like" and less like a guitar, but keeping high strings on top, you will be snapping them much easily and lose bend ability. It almost sounds a little naturally scooped with the more defined low end and brittle attack n top end coming through. Fun experiment though, loved the video :)

[@EvenTheTrees]

Oh also, the Bass VI (and maybe the ibanez) both have a Hi Pass notch switch, to kinda eliminate low end rumble and sound more guitar like and guitar amp friendly.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Oh ya cool, thanks, Admiral Angry was a good find

[@deathmetalmachine]

You give me a great idea for a base vi guitar

[@tylukov420]

My opinion, the easiest way with pickups is to take a wide rail humbucker. For the similar conversion I chose Warman T-rail Blazer. A tele-bridge sized hot rail. You don't need to think about string spacing and total width anymore.

[@joedavidson9811]

God I love how jank-tastic this is

[@calinguga]

filling up nut slots is best done with superglue and baking soda. it dries up very hard, epoxy is grabby because it's too soft.

[@needsLITHIUM]

Also, 7 string blackout active pickups, or emg 707's might work, as others have stated.

[@Byrnyngman]

I have a double neck guitar with a 34" 4 string bass which I converted to a contra baritone(?)/bass VI tuned to B0. I was thinking it would be cool to buy one of those Brice Defiant 53437 multiscale basses and converting it to a 7 string and tuning it down to Admiral Angry territory although I don't think I have the luthier expertise and I doubt it would be comfortable to play.

[@jacobhalsey1393]

Your best bet for pickups would be an active 7 string pickup, a Seymour Duncan 7 string invader pickup because although it looks like pole pieces it functions like a rail pickup or Wes Hauch's brand new seymour duncan 7 string rail pickups

[@NeoRichardBlake]

If you're already putting in so much work anyway, why not just wind your own custom pickup for it? It seems you're more than willing to play around and learn new things. 😁

[@dylanjwebmusic]

You know at some point you're gonna have to do a song with contrabass, regular bass, baritone guitar, regular guitar and alto guitar right? It would be cool to hear how, or if, they can all sit in the mix together

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Guitar ensamble...

[@serpentsbane9166]

Lace Deathbar pickups. G standard tuning. GO!!! \m/

[@Wachumon]

You can put an 8 strings pickup on it, like an EMG for example.

[@megatyaesree]

Amazing

[@Nwhhhhh]

Was that Carousel by blink 182 you were playing when you mentioned the chord progression?

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Oh ya, I can kinda hear that too... i was shamelessly looking for someone to recognize my own song "Foreign and Familiar" from my I Ran Out Of Tears project though lol, worth a shot

[@firefist8511]

Use a large rail pickup to solve the problem of only being able to hear half of it at once.

[@140397kent]

Try quadrails! Monstrous pickups for a monstrous guitar project!) (Dragonfire and Kramer used to manufacture something of that kind; not sure whether they come wide enough to accommodate 7 or 8 string guitar spacing, though)

[@jacobhalsey1393]

Also Wes borland from limp bizkit uses something similar to this, he has a 4 string super long baritone guitar

[@Malum09]

I want to see Les Claypool play these custom basses

[@danmaycock9238]

What if you kept the standard pickups and either put a 1K volume pot and bypassed the tone if it's passive or somehow put a matching guitar EQ in if it's active??

[@thegamerg47]

I need to see John Myung attempt to play this

[@Zombie_13x33]

a 7 string blade pickup might work good for this, yes i know this is old

[@Roscapeaux]

Ah, bonus points. I believe the song is: "My mom does not understand me and the girl I like likes the other guy." I think most songs with that type of chord progression fit under that general category. Do I get ice cream now?

[@danmaycock9238]

Start out at E standard like a Bass VI then go lower and lower 👍

[@caljerm]

Awesome - I've been looking at doing something somewhat similar - what are those saddles you're using? I need to get some of those!

[@michaelchecco8745]

Admiral Angry actually played in ADADGEE

[@david_handlebar]

You should put a 7 or 8 string Humbucker in the bridge and one of he bass pickups at the neck

[@firefist8511]

You need that bridge ground wire or you get something worse than 60 cycle hum 100% of the time it's plugged in, even with humbuckers

[@konstantinosernestoeconomo3265]

How about a 7 string soapbar style pickup like an active or even something like a Lace X bar/ Deathbar

[@TheFreemanAlways]

do a full step bass tuning like a bass vi

[@caseyrodriguez737]

A better way to fill a nut is to use some water thin super glue and baking soda, its nice and lubed and it as hard and strong as a normal bone nut. Maybe a project you could do it to just make a full nut from baking soda and super glue?

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Ya, I think I'll try it on another build eventually, at least to compare

[@caseyrodriguez737]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions Yeah i had to do it to my bass to fit a 130 guage in and it works really well

[@krismartin2785]

With the 5 string bass you could of went to a 7 string that would of fixed the pickup or a 7 string rail humbucker pickup

[@finnancahill2644]

Try a seven string rail pickup (active emgs are usually rail pickups)

[@332nd_collectibles]

Try to do some 8 and 9 string tunings with it

[@danielprevratil3149]

I will probably do this mod since I wanna play 8 string guitar tuning but I'm left handed so 5 string basses are much more affordable for me than baritone guitar that I don't have where to buy anyway.

[@BeefGeneral]

Why not just get a baritone neck for a lefty guitar and go from there?

[@franktalarico689]

I'm gonna turn a 5 string squire jazz (2" nut) into a 34" bass vi type of guitar. I'd love to show you when I'm done.

[@adamrosalfestyle]

need to drop a 7-string EMG pickup in there.

[@alaricpaley6865]

Yo, you think this neck could handle a 12 string setup? I've found all of one 12 string baritone electric kicking around, might be a cool build.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Possibly, that would be a cool idea too, more space for the double strings, if the guitar tuning uses half the tension or a little less than what was original per 5 strings

[@ossifrage6828]

Maybe use like a 7 string bar pickup

[@WildWildWeasel]

You could've tried the SRC6 with different strings.

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Only 30" scale... beautiful guitar though, would love to have it if I was rich

[@TheLuk320]

Can u make a 4 string baritone guitar like wes borland?

[@GrumpyTy34er]

You could try to wind your own pickup?

[@grishakyojin9017]

That is kinda monorel bridge. right? Like ibanez do on their fan fretted iron kabel guitar.

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

Hope you had a safe Martin Luther King Jr. Day

[@floridianthrasher5426]

Can you turn a 6 string guitar into a 7 string guitar? Can you do this with a dean ml?

[@somepunkinthecomments471]

Just use the 5 string bass pickup, it'll work better. If the magnets give you too much trouble, get a rail magnet style pickup. If that's too bass heavy, wire the humbucker in parallel instead of series. Bam, problem solved.

[@tebzamosh]

Hi, is it possible to change my 4 string to 5 string bass

[@ari598]

What are you going to do with the old pickups and electronics?

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Idk, may come in handy for other projects

[@SOMBRATERRA.]

Maybe a 7 string pickup would work.

[@johncarlsencio9788]

Does soap bar bass pickup works on guitar?

[@ilpatongi]

Oh My God

[@zanebenziger5425]

Bb is a good halfway point

[@pastorkev777]

Lace bar pickup.

[@Lordbaccus]

I Like this GUY^^^!!! BadAzz 3:)

[@default_therat6923]

baking soda and super glue best nut filler!

[@RockStarOscarStern634]

@UCQoElgBw4Rb5zI37trQvGZQ Here's an Ibanez SRC6 which is a 6 String Bass-Baritone Guitar tuned an Octave lower:www.ibanez.com/usa/products/detail/src6_1p_04.html than a Standard Guitar

[@ScttSt_vocals]

I feel smth like Chunk! No, Captain Chunk! There!

[@blackenedizzycore]

Are you able to do thumping? Because I bet that would sound sick on that guitar. It's the signature technique of Tosin Abasi (pioneered by Victor Wooten) incase you don't know

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

How is it different from slap? I just thought it was slap guitar

[@blackenedizzycore]

@@SaidTooMuchProductions You're hitting the string twice with your thumb whenever you "slap", once on the downstroke and once on the upstroke, rather than standard slap which is just a singular hit. He does a pretty decent job explaining/showcasing it in a lesson he does on his song An Infinite Regression (on the Guitar World youtube channel, just so there isn't any confusion)

[@SaidTooMuchProductions]

Ok thanks, I'll check it out

[@1337million]

Is there anyone who makes 7 string rail pickups? Could work better than individual coils in this case