Playing an 8 string baritone guitar

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by 815C

A luthier friend of mine loaned me a 7 string baritone acoustic he had built. While I tend to know my way around the fretboard more than your average guitarist, I could never get my brain around having that 7th string. Might be a different for you.

Same here. My current baritone 6 string started out as a 7. I tried and tried to get use to it, but my brain just wasn't having it. One day the luthier who built asked if I was ever going to actually play it, and I told him I'd given up. He said he could just convert it to a 6 string bari (new neck, and maybe a new top...) and so that's where it is now.

I do have a friend who plays a 7 string quite well, and one of the amazing things he does with it is treat it two ways - he can think of it as a standard tuned 6 string (top six strings) with an added low B string, or as a standard tuned baritone with an added high string. By changing 1 string by a half step, he can flip between these two, so I've watched him play songs in standard tuning on the top six strings, then just shift his hand over a string, (after retuning that 1 string) and plays exactly the same thing down a 4th as if it was a baritone. Rather mind-boggling :-)

[Doug Young]

Originally Posted by Dan Winheld

Bravo! Beautiful, and very beautifully played. previously I had no idea why only two strings in the middle would have octaves- why not just bulld 12 string Baritones, one can always simply remove the unwanted octave strings, no? - but in any case, I hear what you’re doing and it’s just gorgeous. Still working out what exactly I want to do with my wonderful Baritone monster.

Well, I think most people probably agree with you, as Taylor stopped making this guitar after only a short time :-) But people have tried all kinds of combinations. I've seen 9-strings with only 3 strings doubled, 10 strings, with 4 strings doubled and so on. One benefit of not having all the strings doubled is that on full 12s, the octave strings sort of mask the bass strings.

As far as taking a 12 string and just removing some of the octave strings, I have seen people do that (often removing the 6th and maybe 5th to get a more solid bass), but it does mess up the string spacing. You'll have a bigger space between strings where you've taken off the octaves. I imagine you could get used to it, but it will be a bit weird at first. Taylor's 8 string felt right to play, because they dealt with the string spacing as part of the design.

[rschultz]

Originally Posted by L20A

My Guild 8 string baritone is tuned D to D with medium gauge strings.
I really like the sound of the guitar when it is tuned this way.
It matches my vocals very well and the guitar sounds great when using a capo all the way up to the fifth fret.

I really like this D-D idea on the Guild. Any recordings?

[L20A]

What I find interesting about the 8 string guitar, be it standard tuned or baritone tuned, is that most people have no idea what they are.
Most guitar shops don't carry them for people to try out.

If more places had 8 string guitars for people to play, I know that they would sell a lot better.
People just don't understand that an 8 string like the Guild, is played the same way as a normal 6 string guitar.
Some tuned to standard and others tuned baritone tuning or somewhere in between the two.

It surprises a lor of folks when I play mine.
I have both a standard tuned and a baritone 8 string.

[rschultz]

Originally Posted by L20A

My Guild 8 string baritone is tuned D to D with medium gauge strings.
I really like the sound of the guitar when it is tuned this way.

I didn’t catch this the first time…
you use standard guitar medium strings in D-D? D-G-C-F-A-D
Then add a 12 for the octave F? Then a 16 for octave C?

[L20A]

Originally Posted by rschultz

I didn’t catch this the first time…
you use standard guitar medium strings in D-D? D-G-C-F-A-D
Then add a 12 for the octave F? Then a 16 for octave C?

Yes and no. I use a .010 and a .012 for the octave strings, when I use medium gauge strings and tune D to D.

[rschultz]

I did some math, based on D'Addario formula and string weights that I had previously looked at for D-tuning a standard guitar. I comparing Standard Guitar and scale vs Baritone Scale and various pitches and string weights. The RED boxes are mix-n-match gauges. I've done custom sets through String Joy a couple times. Anyway, this is my take on a 27" scale Baritone tuned D-D, what I might try first.