Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

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Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by CCOffset » Thu Oct 24, 2019 9:05 am

I was reading the VI entry in the Kelly/Foster/Kelly Fender: The Golden Age 1946-1970 (https://amzn.to/2N9NFYF) book and noticed that it was indicating that the VI is a baritone guitar? I'm not a bass player or a baritone guitar player so I'd like to hear what you guys think. The book says
Six string basses, sometimes referred to as baritone guitars, are usually tuned EADGBE... however, many players prefer to tune to BEADGC...
Does anyone tune B to C? I've never tried it. Don't get me wrong, I LOVE that book. But I didn't think calling the VI a "baritone" guitar was kosher.

Also, earliest Fender VI you've seen? The earliest neck date I can find is mine: 10/61 with pot codes indicating the 21st week of '61. I'd like to know if you guys have seen an earlier date on a VI and don't forget to share pictures! Here's the video I made on it: https://youtu.be/GCmK3vuSX9c.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by W.L.Weller » Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:20 am

It shipped from the factory with a 41 Hz low E string, right? To me, that would make it a short scale, six string bass. Just because you can re-string it as a baritone tuned to A or B doesn't mean that it is one. You can cut the roof off a Ford Expedition, it doesn't make it a convertible.

On the other hand, it's obviously more guitar-like than the six string basses that followed in the interceding decades. So I can understand the impulse to call it a baritone. Even if it's anachronistic.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by StevenO » Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:27 am

Who the hell tunes their Baritones B-C?

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by Telliot » Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:11 am

:fp:
The cool thing about fretless is you can hit a note...and then renegotiate.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by CCOffset » Thu Oct 24, 2019 11:20 am

StevenO wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:27 am
Who the hell tunes their Baritones B-C?
That was my question as well. Check it out on page 155 of Fender: The Golden Age. An otherwise incredible book.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by sookwinder » Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:46 pm

This guy seemed toi have worked out how to tune it as a bass:
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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by CCOffset » Thu Oct 24, 2019 12:48 pm

I was fresh out of plexi Marshalls to play mine through :) . I went with a 1970 Fender Bassman since, you know, they didn't make a Baritoneman.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by alexpigment » Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:29 pm

I don't get what's weird about the B-C tuning. That's the same as a 6 string bass. Instead of getting a pure octave down of a regular guitar, you get the extended lower range (down to B), like you would on a 5-string or 6-string bass. The C tuning of the high string makes sense if you're using it like a bass rather than a guitar.

Edit: I realize now the question is more about why it’s called a baritone. Ignore me :)

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Thu Oct 24, 2019 10:09 pm

I get that calling it a baritone is a misnomer, but that's really mostly semantics (or, at worst, a misunderstanding of what Fender had in mind....unless the author is privy to information no-one on here knows about).

However, I almost started a thread myself to ask if anyone was using their VI as a baritone. It certainly seems like a viable option given the right string gauges....or isn't it? Anyone restrung theirs for a B-B or A-A tuning? If so, what strings are you using?

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by BearBoy » Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:37 am

Kalium make about 4000 (okay, slight exaggeration) different sets of Bass VI strings so you can get pretty much any bass/baritone tuning/feel you want:

https://kaliummusic.com/shop/strings/el ... s/bass-vi/

They used to have some information about which gauge was best for which tuning, depending on whether you wanted to play like a bass or more like a guitar, but I can't find it now.

I bought my VI with the intention of using it as a baritone but was having so much fun with it tuned E-E that I never got around to it. Seriously considering picking up a second to string as a baritone :fp:

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by UlricvonCatalyst » Fri Oct 25, 2019 1:27 am

BearBoy wrote:
Fri Oct 25, 2019 12:37 am
Kalium make about 4000 (okay, slight exaggeration) different sets of Bass VI strings so you can get pretty much any bass/baritone tuning/feel you want:

https://kaliummusic.com/shop/strings/el ... s/bass-vi/

They used to have some information about which gauge was best for which tuning, depending on whether you wanted to play like a bass or more like a guitar, but I can't find it now.

I bought my VI with the intention of using it as a baritone but was having so much fun with it tuned E-E that I never got around to it. Seriously considering picking up a second to string as a baritone :fp:
Thanks for the link. Shame about the missing gauge guide. My VI feels a bit surplus to requirements as a bass, so it'd be good to try it as a baritone. Maybe LaBella's site will have some useful info on that front.

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by StevenO » Fri Oct 25, 2019 4:46 am

alexpigment wrote:
Thu Oct 24, 2019 8:29 pm
I don't get what's weird about the B-C tuning. That's the same as a 6 string bass. Instead of getting a pure octave down of a regular guitar, you get the extended lower range (down to B), like you would on a 5-string or 6-string bass. The C tuning of the high string makes sense if you're using it like a bass rather than a guitar.

Edit: I realize now the question is more about why it’s called a baritone. Ignore me :)
Yes, but who tunes their baritones like that?

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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by oid » Sun Oct 27, 2019 11:04 pm

The Bass VI was an electric version of the Bajo Sexto of the the mariachi tradition, the bass guitar being an electric version of the 3/4 upright bass. As to whether or not it is a bass or a baritone solely depends on the strings, bass and baritone denote the frequency range an instrument plays in, not an instrument itself in this case. So if you have Bass VI strings on it, it is a bass, if you have baritone strings on it, it is baritone. Essentially the Bass VI is in a middle ground and can fulfill either role depending on the strings you put on it.
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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by Quitter » Wed Oct 30, 2019 6:56 pm

This is my first post here. Weird. Anyway, I've set a couple of these up with a custom string gage and a replacement tail plate to make it tune easier to baritone B to B or A to A (feels TOIGHT). I'll add some pics below and a video some guy posted of one. I think they make a dandy baritone and sound like any other bari but look 100% cooler. The plate moves the strings up quite a bit to fix the string length problem. I used .065 set from Kallium on both that I did.

https://youtu.be/-BFNcJt8c0M


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Re: Fender (Bass) VI: Baritone guitar?

Post by s_mcsleazy » Thu Oct 31, 2019 4:14 pm

well i know the age old baritone tuning argument but that was the first time i heard b-c.

i think the a-a guys and the b-b guys can agree this is wrong.
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