Baritone guitars: Difference between revisions

AH: Yeah, I think there is. Like for example, like one of the first C-guitars I had, that was tuned originally to C, was actually too short for the way I wanted it. I wanted it to be-I can’t remember the scale length-it was a little short. And I sold the guitar to Carl Verheyen, and he loves the guitar, and he’s using it-a lot, apparently. And he tunes it lower than I did; he tunes it down to a low-A, where for me the concept of the design was that it had to be correct at 25-1/2" to play an E. So in other words, that guitar, for me, was no good beyond C. But he tuned it down to A. So, I mean... there you go. You can take that as a good example of it; for me, the scale length was too short to tune to A, ‘cause I would have to put big, thick strings on it, and then I would have lost the character of the tone that I was trying to get. But for him, he didn’t. It was enough, you know... ‘cause each guy’s different-it’s a personal thing. So I’m not saying that they would be of any use to anybody used in the same way, but I think for example like, a C guitar? A C guitar could be used by someone else, tuned a lot lower, you know, instead of an A guitar.

“I love the Steinberger design, but ever since they merged with Gibson, I’ve had trouble communicating with them. Fortunately I met this guy named Bill DeLap who made me two Steinberger-styled guitars that use their hardware, but have wood bodies instead of plastic. We took the best things of a Steinberger and just tried to get more out of that design. They’re full-sized instruments – 25 – ½” – and like a violin, have a maple neck, ebony fingerboard, spruce top and a maple back. Bill also made me some '''baritone''' ones that are just really long-scaled guitars – there are 34”, 36”, 38” scale versions. I didn’t use them on the new album, but I did on my last one, Wardenclyffe Tower. I played the 34” on “Zarabeth” and the 38” on “Sphere of Innocence”. And now he’s making me a piccolo guitar. But they all work like a regular guitar with regular strings, partially because the Steinberger bridge system doesn’t need a lot of winds to get in tune. I use LaBella strings – the company has been really amazing to me, too, and helped out whenever they could. My action is pretty low, and I don’t use the tremolo bar much anymore, either. About five years ago when all the heavy metal guys were using them, I sort of stopped, because it started looking like a new toy that everybody got. It was like when the wah-wah and the fuzz box came out and all of a sudden you heard them on every record. So I basically stopped using it.