Squier Bass VI conversion to Baritone guitar

samzadgan

I've been toying with this idea for a little while, and today i went down to Regent sounds and had a go with the guitar to see how it feels. Surprisingly, or maybe not as Squier make pretty good guitars, it felt really nice to play; the neck was comfortable and the weight was heavy for a fender guitar, but for me it felt right.

So the mods i would to the guitar:
 - new nut cut for 12-60 gauge strings (or maybe slightly heavier)
 - new pickups, Humbucker in bridge and p90 in the neck
 - new tone and volume pots

I would think the electronics and pickups would set me back about £150'ish...but not sure about the nut and how much work and cost that would set me back...and also not sure if the final product would be good.

Has anyone done this and what experience can you share...or any advice on whether this is a good idea or not?

frankus

So change it from an Octave down to a 5th below standard?

samzadgan

frankus said:

So change it from an Octave down to a 5th below standard?

sorry for my lack of musical knowledge...but i don't know what that means...but if it helps answer your question, I plan to tune to B standard.

frankus

The standard Bass VI is standard tuning but an octave lower than a standard guitar. It's called a baritone...

but the common parlance for a baritone is tuned a perfect 5th or 4th below standard guitar tuning.

gusman2x

The bottom string tuned to either A or to B is what Frankus is saying.

frankus

what he said - in my defence I've had 3 beers

samzadgan

frankus said:

The standard Bass VI is standard tuning but an octave lower than a standard guitar. It's called a baritone...

but the common parlance for a baritone is tuned a perfect 5th or 4th below standard guitar tuning.

ok i think i got it now...sorry had to do some wikipedia...so given I'm going for B, then I'm doing 4th below standard tuning.

frankus

The volume and tone might not need changing ... I don't know what Squier use in theirs ... some Bass VIs use 1M pots but others use 500k or 250k.

I'd be tempted to see how the instrument sounds with lighter strings before swapping out the pickups..

The down side is that the intonation might suffer and go outside the realms of the standard bridge... but that's just something you'll find out.

I like mine with bass strings .. and a strangle switch

samzadgan

ok...interesting...i guess i could go with thinner bass strings. My only concern is, i play alot of power chords and use a lot of fuzz...and thought that whole thing would sound really muddy...i dont mind a bit of mud, but still like a bit of clarity.

do you use yours as a bass or as a guitar? and what kind of music do you play with it?

ICBM

samzadgan said:

 - new nut cut for 12-60 gauge strings (or maybe slightly heavier)

If the nut is cut properly - with rounded bottoms to the grooves, not flat or v-shaped - you shouldn't need to replace it. Definitely try it first, anyway.

(I modded two Teles to baritones by widening the nut grooves, and didn't replace the nuts when returning them to normal strings/tuning - both were fine.)