# Baritone players: whats your string action?



## bigshredder (Sep 10, 2015)

Hi there  I have a question to all the baritone user out there. What is your string gauge, tunings and string action? 

I have used my LTD baritone for exactly 10 years now and it's been a killer, but a few years ago I noticed it getting more and more "dead" in the tone. So I took it to several so called guitar techs and most of them had no clue what to do with it. And they all raised the strings a bit when they tried to intonate it. Finally I took the guitar and let a guitar intonate machine work on it and fixed the frets and all and I told that techie to try to lower the action a bit. When I picked it up the guitar doesn't have any dead spots at all but the action is still maxed out!! I play a baritone set with 68 gauge and my sustain and tone is awesome but as soon as I try to play a guitar at a friends place or in a guitarstore I am blown away with how low some guitar have their action set. Ofcourse they also have a different set of thickness and tuning that I have. I am in drop G by the way 
I no nothing about guitar philosophy or how to set things up but I have to ask, is it a must for a detuned baritone with heavy gauge to have it set that high? 
Cheers


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## Steinmetzify (Sep 10, 2015)

Would depend on the guitar and scale length...I have an RGIB6, 28" scale, with a custom set on it: 10-13-17-30-44-62, in open B. Pics as I have no calipers here....action is higher than other guitars I have, but nothing that's proven a problem:

Bass side, 7th fret:



Baritone action by Scott Steinmetz, on Flickr

Treble side, same:



Baritone action by Scott Steinmetz, on Flickr

Bass side, 1st fret:



Baritone action by Scott Steinmetz, on Flickr


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## bigshredder (Sep 10, 2015)

steinmetzify said:


> Would depend on the guitar and scale length...I have an RGIB6, 28" scale, with a custom set on it: 10-13-17-30-44-62, in open B. Pics as I have no calipers here....action is higher than other guitars I have, but nothing that's proven a problem:
> 
> 
> 
> ...



Sweet 
I have a 27" scale. Mine is probably higher than that. Hard to tell. But I am in drop G aswell


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## Steinmetzify (Sep 10, 2015)

Hmm...I have a 30.3" scale 8 with a 9-46 +52 +70 in drop E...how big of strings are you using? Might be able to lower the action if you go down in gauges...do they get really floppy or something? I used to have a 7621 I kept in drop G but I never went higher than a 70 for that one and the action was lower than the bari...


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## noob_pwn (Sep 10, 2015)

it pays to not have your action too high, or too much neck relief when you're playing a baritone as this seems to accentuate intonation inaccuracies. i play 27" scale guitars with 12-82 gauge strings and i have the action set about as low as I can without significant buzz. The height of the nut slots and accuracy of the fret level plays a huge role in this too. Can measure if you'd like


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## drmosh (Sep 10, 2015)

I like higher action, and I never measure. I just do it by what feels right.


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## Yeah_man (Sep 10, 2015)

noob_pwn said:


> it pays to not have your action too high, or too much neck relief when you're playing a baritone as this seems to accentuate intonation inaccuracies. i play 27" scale guitars with 12-82 gauge strings and i have the action set about as low as I can without significant buzz. The height of the nut slots and accuracy of the fret level plays a huge role in this too. Can measure if you'd like



an 82 in what tuning?


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## bigshredder (Sep 10, 2015)

noob_pwn said:


> it pays to not have your action too high, or too much neck relief when you're playing a baritone as this seems to accentuate intonation inaccuracies. i play 27" scale guitars with 12-82 gauge strings and i have the action set about as low as I can without significant buzz. The height of the nut slots and accuracy of the fret level plays a huge role in this too. Can measure if you'd like



Holy hell, 82 gauge!! Thats brutal! What pickup do you use?
I'll measure the height when I get home from work


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## Cake Machine (Sep 10, 2015)

For starters, I ended up tending to go as light as the guitar will take before it starts wimping out. 

I have a 26+3/4' scale, and use .56, .46, .36, .26w, .18, .13, tuned to either A or B. That's the equivalent to a set of 10's (i.e. the string tuned to low E, in the A position, is .46 gauge, as it would be on a standard).

I think that if the neck is sound and properly trussed (have you "sighted" it for warps?), it mainly depends on what sort of bridge you have. Floyd Rose or other floating trem would obviously be the winner, to get it properly setup and balanced... hardtail, though? Might require more patience, and the setup will take longer because of the time for changes in tensions to bed-in.

Mine is a floyd and the action is low-ass. I've tried heavier strings and it didn't make a difference as long as the tension is compensated.


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## Cake Machine (Sep 10, 2015)

Also, have you checked for a overworn nut slots, if it is still a stock/polymer nut in there? Could be a simple answer.


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## Masoo2 (Sep 10, 2015)

Yeah_man said:


> an 82 in what tuning?



Northlane (his bands) tunes to Drop Bb with a low F AFAIK

(or was it Bb standard with a low F?)


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## Contagion (Sep 10, 2015)

Halo 30'' scale...strings are 11-72 in Drop F.


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## noob_pwn (Sep 10, 2015)

Yeah_man said:


> an 82 in what tuning?



F


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## noob_pwn (Sep 10, 2015)

Masoo2 said:


> Northlane (his bands) tunes to Drop Bb with a low F AFAIK
> 
> (or was it Bb standard with a low F?)



F, A#, F, A#, D#, G, C


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## jrui (Sep 11, 2015)

I got a 30" Jackson soloist, I use 0942 at D# (which is perfect as of right now)


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## ben_hurt (Sep 14, 2015)

I use Ernie Ball Slinky Baritone strings on a 30" EGC. 13 - 72. I can't go much thicker without modifying the nut, which I really don't want to touch. The guitar is tuned down to Drop G. Seems to be about the perfect setup for me. When playing live I beat the hell out of it and have never broken a string, though I change them pretty frequently.


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