Bajo-Jets need love too

DThomasC

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It's just a Dearmond, not a real Guild, but it needs to be shown off somewhere.

It's not an ordinary Jetstar, but a Bajo-Jet baritone guitar. Bajo is spanish for "low", so should probably be pronounced "bah-yo", but when I see the word I think of "banjo", which makes me think of Space Ghost Coast to Coast.

Anyway, with a 30.5" scale it's a little long for a baritone guitar, but I've been trying to play it like a guitar. If I wanted a bass I would have bought a bass.

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Sorry about the shaky photo. Those crabs were making me nervous.

The Dearmond 2k pickups look like Dynasonics, but really they're more like P-90's in that the pole pieces are steel, not Alnico magnets. They use two bar magnets under the coil, one on each side of the poles like a P90. I will say that even though they aren't Dynasonics, they are pretty nice pickups. Clear and articulate without being too hifi.

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The quality is generally good, which shouldn't surprise anyone that's owned any of the Korean Dearmonds.

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This photo give a better idea of the color. I'm not sure if I like it, but it is what it is and it's mine.

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The strings that came on it are .19 - .72 which I suspect started out as D'Addio EXL156, but they threw away the fattest string and replaced it with a plain .19. I have tuned to A D G C E A, a fifth below a regular guitar. The strings feel tight to me, but that might just be the way it is with a scale this long. I'll probably try a set of D'Addio XL157.

Anyone have any experience with these or other baritone guitars?
 

adorshki

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Y'know, I think that's seriously cool.
I've never seen such an animal before.
I love the color. It may not be everybody's cup of tea but I'm just getting a lot more open-minded about 'em.
OEM's pay well-educated people to come up with unique colors like that.
It ain't just another standard Pantone color that anybody can spec from a chart.
That's class.
 

matsickma

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I have an identical Bajo Jet. I was planning to install a thinner set if baritone strings. Have tried A and B tuning.
My pet peeve is in selecting the combination pickup selections one combination is very out-of-phase which I don't care for. Was going to try and find a counter wound pickup to swap in to undo the out-of-phase tone with the "bell" tone.

M
 

DThomasC

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I'm having a happy honeymoon with this thing. I took the afternoon off, dusted off an early Traynor Bassmaster, plugged it into an open-back cab with a 15" Altec Lansing driver, and I found tone heaven. I spent an hour and plenty minutes jamming along to Ginger Baker and Sonny Sharrock on youtube. It's an amazing recording with plenty of room for baritone guitar or bass. No judgement from them; I felt comfortable playing the same three notes until I got them just right. No weed was involved, but it probably wouldn't have done any harm.

In all seriousness, it really does sound and play great. Seems to sustain for ever...

Matsickma, if you take off the control cover you'll see that two pickup are connected to one of the switches while the third (middle) pickup is connected to the switch closet to the output jack. What should be obvious is that that pickup is wired out of phase: the outer ground conductor is soldered to the switch while the inner hot conductor is soldered to ground. You, or anyone comfortable with a soldering iron, should have no trouble switching things around to put the middle pickup in phase. I intend to do exactly that at some point, mainly because the middle pickup is noisy the way it is, even when played by itself.
 

matsickma

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Thanks! I never looked at the wiring so that is an easy fix. I would like a counter-wound tone out if one of those pick-up selections.
M
 

gjmalcyon

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Oh man, I'm as green with envy as your guitar - I saw one of those pop up on CL a while ago for really reasonable money, and I passed. Kicking myself ever since.

Here's one interesting clip:

 

matsickma

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I long time ago, 15 years, I read somewhere that the singer from the "Lovin Spoonful" (forget his name) asked Guild to make him a baritone guitar. Sfter thinking about it for a while he decided the guitar should be in the shape of a Thunderbird in tribute to the Thunderbird Zal played and was a signature instrument in the Lovin Spoonful band. I believe the Guild Nashville Custom Shop built the guitar and I thought it was Emerald Green like the color if the one shown. It was my understanding the Dearmond Bajo Jet was based on that guitar.

Can anyone confirm my "recollection"?
M
 

sailingshoes72

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I can't confirm the story, but the singer/guitarist is John Sebastian. He's a talented musician and songwriter, and a favorite of mine.

First time I've seen a three pickup Jetstar. Very cool! And I like the emerald green color. It reminds me of the Fender Bass VI that was used on so many great instrumental recordings in the 60's (surf music, spaghetti westerns). I think that Glen Campbell (w/ the Wrecking Crew), Wes Montgomery and Duane Eddy also played these baritone guitars for the added depth and texture to their recordings.

I think that the proper Spanish pronunciation is "bah-hoe" (accent on the first syllable), as in the Mexican instrument the "bajo sexto".
 
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adorshki

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sailingshoes72;1785384I said:
think that Glen Campbell (w/ the Wrecking Crew), Wes Montgomery and Duane Eddy also played these baritone guitars for the added depth and texture to their recordings.
As if reading about jamming along with Baker and Sharrock didn't get me hotted up enough, that anecdote put me over the top, LOL.
sailingshoes72;1785384I said:
I think that the proper Spanish pronunciation is "bah-hoe" (accent on the first syllable), as in the Mexican instrument the "bajo sexto".
I'm sure you're right, same as "Baja California" is pronounced "Ba-ha" and comes from the same root, actually means "Lower California".
 

DThomasC

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Mat, that's a cool story, so I choose to believe it.

Bill, I think you're right about the pronunciation. It seems that Bajo is the male form of Baja, and everyone in North America knows how to pronounce that. But, it's too late to get Space Ghost Coast to Coast out of my head.

 

matsickma

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Pretty sure The Beatles used that Fender 6 string bass on a number of hits. Read it somewhere. Good stuff often on Wickipedia describing who and what was going on in the studio during a particular song.
M
 

matsickma

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Gretsch makes a double neck guitar with baritone on one side and standard on other. What makes it exceptionally cool is both have a Bigsby. DeArmond needed a double-neck model!

We need a MiK version of the Slash double neck! They came in both 6 and 12 string acoustic flavors.
M
 

adorshki

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Mat, that's a cool story, so I choose to believe it.

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Me too. I think the Zal Yanovsky/Guild connection is too obscure to most people for somebody to have made up a myth about it, and the timing overlap of the Nashville Custom Shop period and the introduction of the DeArmond Guild line is appropriate as well.
The source is pretty credible too, even allowing for the issues us geezers are starting to experience with mamma-, er, memories...
 

adorshki

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Pretty sure The Beatles used that Fender 6 string bass on a number of hits. Read it somewhere. Good stuff often on Wickipedia describing who and what was going on in the studio during a particular song.
M

Oh if you want the nittiest grittiest Beatle details, go to the Beatles Bible:
https://www.beatlesbible.com/

BUT....my recollection of Paul's Fender usage in recording doesn't include a 6 string.
Only the Hofner, a Rick, and then a Fender.
Discussed in depth here a few months back:
http://www.letstalkguild.com/ltg/showthread.php?193770-Beatle-Bass/page2&highlight=mccartney+hofner
This link in the thread seems to confirm that although it's primarily about when the Rick was used:
http://www.rickbeat.com/modelslibrary/4001spmc/4001spmc.htm
 
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matsickma

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Actually...that is exactly the story. John played it on one song and George on another. The story goes something like Fender was trying to get an in with the Beatles on use of a Fender guitar and amp. However the Beatles were under contract to use Vox amps for any live performances. Along the way they provided a 6 string bass that may have been a baritone tuned to A.

Although we think of Paul as a bass player he plays a lot of lead guitar. I can now often recognize his style.
Year's ago I thought it was George but that was when little detail was available on their recordings.
The White Album shows off Paul's lead guitar acumen on songs like Birthday. Earlier songs like Paperback Writer also comes to mind.
M
 

matsickma

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Good point. I though the Fender 6 string bass of that time used fairly light strings and associated that feature to a baritone guitar.
M
 
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