Electric Baritone Ukulele

All instruments that aren't guitars (or bass guitars).
Post Reply
User avatar
N0_Camping4U
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1673
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:59 pm
Location: Houston Texas

Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by N0_Camping4U » Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:27 am

Anyone seen these? This guy does custom builds, 600/700 he quoted to someone on the comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfvacPFQCE&t=112s

Really considering pullin the trigger on one with a Jazzmaster/Jaguar tremolo instead of the Bigsby. Seems like a cool fun little 'toy' to noodle around with.
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by Embenny » Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:43 am

That thing looks pretty cool, but that's not a baritone uke. That's a tenor guitar, as it has 4 steel strings.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
N0_Camping4U
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1673
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:59 pm
Location: Houston Texas

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by N0_Camping4U » Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:01 pm

Huh, didn't know that, I just took what he said as fact. I see what you mean though now that you say that. Didn't Fender recently release a Tenor Tele?
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."

User avatar
higgsblossom
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1066
Joined: Thu Jan 09, 2014 2:55 am
Location: Mannheim, Germany

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by higgsblossom » Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:36 pm

Is that Tenor Tele available anywhere? I have never seen one in any shop around here and I would absolutely be among the target group for it...
"500€? That's the price of a J Mascis Jazzmaster!"

User avatar
N0_Camping4U
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 1673
Joined: Thu Oct 03, 2013 1:59 pm
Location: Houston Texas

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by N0_Camping4U » Mon Jan 20, 2020 5:37 pm

higgsblossom wrote:
Mon Jan 20, 2020 12:36 pm
Is that Tenor Tele available anywhere? I have never seen one in any shop around here and I would absolutely be among the target group for it...
Dude, I was going to say I remember seeing it like once or twice online and never saw it anywhere again. I used to really want one of those, makes sense why this 'baritone ukulele' caught my eye/ear if it's essentially the tenor tele. I almost, at this point, prefer the baritone uke/tenor guitar here due to it's smaller size and the trem.
"I've been waiting for you, Obi-Wan. We meet again, at last. The circle is now complete. When I left you, I was but the learner, now I am the master."

User avatar
greens
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 74
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2020 10:59 am

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by greens » Fri Feb 21, 2020 12:32 pm

N0_Camping4U wrote:
Sun Jan 19, 2020 11:27 am
Anyone seen these? This guy does custom builds, 600/700 he quoted to someone on the comments.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VAfvacPFQCE&t=112s

Really considering pullin the trigger on one with a Jazzmaster/Jaguar tremolo instead of the Bigsby. Seems like a cool fun little 'toy' to noodle around with.


Sounds nice in the vid. Wonder what he is finishing them in.

User avatar
countertext
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 4142
Joined: Wed Sep 28, 2011 6:25 pm
Location: Tacoma

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by countertext » Fri Feb 21, 2020 1:14 pm

I would argue that it’s a ukulele inasmuch as he has it tuned dgbe, which is appropriate to a uke. A tenor guitar is properly tuned in fifths, usually cgda.

But structurally... they’re the same thing. So in the video it’s a uke, and if he tuned it to fifths it would be a tenor guitar, which means the names are kinda meaningless unless they are referring to the tuning. If the Tenor Tele is factory tuned dgbe, I would say it’s not a tenor guitar, either. Maybe it’s just a “four string electric” guitar until you pick a tuning, then it becomes whatever it’s tuned to.

User avatar
seonachan
PAT PEND
PAT PEND
Posts: 13
Joined: Thu Apr 12, 2018 8:44 am
Location: Western Massachusetts

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by seonachan » Sat Feb 22, 2020 3:23 pm

Another thing in favor of calling it an electric baritone ukulele is the 19" scale, which is standard for a bari (though many modern ones are 20"). Standard tenor guitar scale is between 22.75" - 23", with short scale tenors usually coming in around 21".

I'm a tenor player and mostly tune in fifths (or a variation of it, like GDAD), but DGBE is getting more popular as the recent wave of uke players transition to steel string acoustics and electrics. Nowadays tenor players seem about evenly split between DGBE, CGDA, and GDAE (I stay out of the in-fighting by tuning mine FCGD). But I wouldn't say all those DGBE tuners were paying ukes, otherwise you'd have to say that about this guy's ETG-150!

Image

User avatar
Embenny
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 10363
Joined: Tue May 24, 2016 5:07 am

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by Embenny » Sat Feb 22, 2020 6:09 pm

Tenor guitars can be tuned a variety of ways, though, including "baritone uke tuning". The fifths tuning was based on the tenor banjo.

I guess it's all just semantics. This is a 19" 4-string electric guitar that can be tuned however you see fit.

I just went through a big ukulele and slack key guitar phase where I delved into Hawaiian music, and I didn't see much in common between this thing and any ukulele I've encountered before. I've played a bunch of solid body and purely-electric ukes, but they were all nylon based with piezos. You cant really use most traditional ukulele techniques on steel strings.
The artist formerly known as mbene085.

User avatar
crianlarich
PAT. # 2.972.923
PAT. # 2.972.923
Posts: 75
Joined: Wed Feb 05, 2014 1:36 pm

Re: Electric Baritone Ukulele

Post by crianlarich » Thu Jul 09, 2020 1:33 am

seonachan wrote:
Sat Feb 22, 2020 3:23 pm
But I wouldn't say all those DGBE tuners were paying ukes, otherwise you'd have to say that about this guy's ETG-150!
:D This guy is said to have undermined the strike of the musicians' union by claiming to use the baritone uke (for which the boycott didn't apply).
Pop is the most wonderful music – as long as it's played with three basses, a string section, and two french horns going "Vroop-Vrooo".

Post Reply