Picking a string gauge for a 7 string bari

[Rybosome]

27” scale. Tuning like C standard on a six string with a low G.

G C F Bb Eb G C

Get the guitar next week.

Ordered a set of strings with a low 0.8 - have that on an 8-string 28” scale and don’t love it, it’s too muddy - so that might be a mistake.

Anybody else with a similar setup?

 

[CanserDYI]

Yeah .080 gauge tuned to G1 at 27 inches to me would be way too thick/taut. I personally use a .062 for G on my 27 incher. Spanky sounding and not floppy.

 

[NoodleFace]

I use a 59 on a low A 27" scale baritone myself. I can't imagine an 80

 

[Rybosome]

Thanks for the inputs. Ordered a new set of strings with a .070 for the low G. I prefer a pretty tight feel, we'll see if that's still overkill.

 

[Wiltonauer]

Wow, I had to go look this up, because I didn’t realize how many baritones were 27”. Check out this distribution. The 27” offerings are mostly LTD, and the 29.75” entries are mostly Gretsch and Dano. D’Angelico and Reverend if you want 26.75”, and there’s a Jackson down at 26.5” if you fancy a baritone with the same scale as a C-7 Hellraiser.

 

[Rybosome]

Oh interesting, curious where you got that data from?

27” looks like the most common, maybe because of the high number of LTD models? My 27” is indeed an ESP LTD.

Cannot imagine a 29.75” scale length, would be very interesting to play. My 28” 8-string feels like playing a bass on the low F#, but that’s partly due to the .08 gauge.

 

[Wiltonauer]

Oh interesting, curious where you got that data from?

Sweetwater, search for baritone, select “baritone electric guitars”. When the page loads, click “Filter”. When that loads, scroll down to “Scale Length” and click. Of course it only shows current models that Sweetwater happens to carry, but I would consider it a good sample of widely available offerings.

 

[Wiltonauer]

Cannot imagine a 29.75” scale length, would be very interesting to play. My 28” 8-string feels like playing a bass on the low F#, but that’s partly due to the .08 gauge.

Those longer baritones, the ones pushing 30”, are a lot of fun. They feel about halfway between a guitar and a bass, as you might imagine. Still having some plain strings means that you can get some of the snap of a guitar when you want it. It’s fun to transpose songs down and play them lower with all the same fingerings, and of course you can do some stuff that’s very bass-like.

 

[Grindspine]

14-68 Medium Baritone, XL Nickel Wound Electric Guitar Strings | EXL157 | D'Addario

Our best-belling electric set, XL Nickel has been revered by players everywhere since 1974. This 14-68 Medium gauge set is designed for traditional long scale electric baritone guitars, such as B-tuned Danelectros. Learn more.

www.daddario.com

D'addario makes an XL string at 14-68. That low 68 at 27" should be able to hold G pretty well. I have had my RGDs at 26.5" strung to G# with a low 64 with no issues. The 14 on the high string might be a little tight. 13-62 could probably do as well with a bit less tension on the treble side.

Yeah .080 gauge tuned to G1 at 27 inches to me would be way too thick/taut. I personally use a .062 for G on my 27 incher. Spanky sounding and not floppy.

^ this...

Yeah, check out those 13-62 and 14-68 sets. Those should handle that scale and tuning pretty well.

 

[Eyelessfiend]

I use this tuning on my E-II baritone 7 and I use 11-64. Which is a bit light for my tastes but actually holds tune pretty well. But I'd probably find a 68 if I were to use that tuning live.

 

[NoodleFace]

My 59 on 27" feels perfect, but I went on a quest to use lighter strings

 

[Un1corn]

I use 58 on my 27 and 27.5 inch. Personally will never go beyond 64, but it's personal preference.

 

[jephjacques]

I like anything between 62-68 on my baritones 7s.

 

[John]

69-420 is a nice string gauge set.

 

[jephjacques]

69-420 is a nice string gauge set.

eh, it's only good for playing stoner metal