A Guide to Baritone Strings

When it comes to tone, guitarists have a tendency to geek out on types of wood, pickups, amps, and pedals, all while ignoring the first link in the chain of tone: the strings. Check out our guide to baritone strings to go from uninformed user to discerning consumer in just a few paragraphs.

Strings impact your baritone's tone through three major factors: material, type of winding, and gauge. However, for most makes of baritone strings, gauge options are limited. Winding options are also limited: You can pretty much only get roundwound baritone strings. Thus, we will focus on materials.

Materials:

To make things simple, we will analyze materials based on brightness versus warmth of tone, attack (or bite), and longevity (resistance to wear and grime). We've also opted to focus only on materials used in major commercially-available baritone strings.

• Nickel Plated or Nickle Wound Steel:
  • Bright versus warm tone: Balanced
  • Attack/bite: higher than pure nickel, less than phosphorous bronze
  • Longevity: average
  • Example sets:
    • D'Addario EXL 157 Medium Electric Baritone: $7.95
    • D'Addario EXL 158 Light Electric Baritone: $8.99
      
    • Ernie Ball 2839 Baritone Slinky, Electric: $7.86
    • Fender B250 Medium Electric Baritone: $8.99
• Phosphorous Bronze
  • Brighter tone
  • Attack/Bite: Strong attack/bite
  • Longevity: average
  • Note: phosphorous bronze strings will typically be denser than strings of a similar gauge but different material. As a result, the string tension will be higher.
  • Example sets:
    • Martin MSP7700 Lifespan Phosphorous Bronze Baritone: $13.85
• Polymer-coated
  • Polymer-coated strings will exhibit some of the characteristics of the material underneath the coating, but with the following added characteristics.
  • reduced sustain/attack
  • corrosion-resistant - increases longevity
  • reduced finger noise
  • Example sets (Acoustic Phosphorous Bronze):
    • Elixir Nanoweb Baritone Electric Strings: $9.99

Our Baritone Guitar.Org Picks:

For acoustics, the Martin MSP7700 Lifespan Phosphorous Bronze Baritone: $13.85 strings take our top honors.  The brightness typical of phosphorous bronze strings seems to be slightly subdued by the string coating. The result is a great tone and and a great feel.

For electrics, D'Addario takes top honors, with their D'Addario EXL 158 Light Electric Baritone: $8.99 being an intriguing option for standard electric players who want an easier transition between baritone and standard instruments.

We'd love to hear from you.

We hope you have found this crash course in baritone strings interesting and informative. If you are just getting started in your exploration of all things baritone, check out our start here page. You can also jump to our complete listing of acoustic baritone reviews and our complete listing of electric baritone reviews.

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