In mid 2020, I discovered a band called Loathe; having had a casual interest in Deftones in the past, I
found myself reminded of the awesome "wall of sound" resulting from low tuned 8 string guitars playing huge
chords. Where Deftones's sound is a sort of interweaving of prog-metal single note lines and harmonically
rich choruses, Loathe seems to take a more directly shoegaze-y approach, with the applicable songs off their
2020 album I Let It In And It Took Everything such as "Two Way Mirror" and "Is It Really You" playing
chords across four or five strings and even using synthesizers.
What differentiates Loathe from Deftones more immediately, however, is their usage of baritone guitars
rather than 8 strings. In particular, they have been seen using a Fender Bass VI, Squier Baritone
Jazzmaster, Gretsch G5260, and others. What these have in common is a substantial 30 inch scale length, the
sort of scale more at home on basses than guitars. The longer the scale, the heavier strings one can use and
the lower they can be tuned - "A Sad Cartoon" sounds like it has the lowest string tuned down to a G#, an
octave plus a minor 6th down from standard tuning, which is completely absurd!
Needless to say, I was intrigued. I am mostly a bass guitarist, and only a half-decent rhythm guitarist if
anything; six strings is already almost too much for me to wrap my head around, let alone eight. But, a
baritone seemed more approachable, so near the end of 2020 I picked up a Squier Bass VI for a measly $500. I
decided on the Bass VI not only because of its use by Loathe, but also because if I found I didn't like
baritone or got sick of it, I would still just have a short scale bass. Once I had played it for a week or
so, I was aware of a few things I didn't like.
First, the intonation and tuning stability were pretty awful. The Bass VI is constructed with a jaguar style
tremolo arm, which makes very little sense for a bass instrument. The bridge, in order to move with the
strings when the tremolo is in use, sits on a couple of posts and is allowed to rock back and forth within
the body. One of the first things I was take the bridge out, and wrap the posts with tape such that the
posts fit snugly into their holes in the body and would not rock. Then, I reversed the bridge, such that the
intonation screws and springs were facing the neck. This allowed a bit more room to adjust intonation away
from the neck, without the springs in the way.
Second, I found the electronics to be a bit noisy; the trio of jaguar style single coil pickups sounded
good, but I was only really using the bridge pickup. So, I picked up a Seymour Duncan Little 59, which is a
single coil sized humbucker. I opened up the body, installed the new pickup in the bridge position, and used
copper tape to shield the entire body and inside of the pickguard. Around the same time, I got my hands on a
plate meant to replace the tremolo system, such that the strings would sit as if in a fixed bridge. I also
shimmed the neck with a piece of thin wood, to try and gain some intonation adjustment range by lengthening
the scale slightly. This also improved the break angle over the bridge.
After all this was done, it was strung up with D'addario EXL156's, the Bass VI set with a .84 low E string.
I found these to be way too tense, and pretty difficult to play. Seeking a playing experience more like a
guitar and less like bridge cables, I got a .74 and a 7 string light set from D'addario, put away the two
lightest strings from the set, and used what was left to string up the Bass VI and achieve a pseudo-8-string
tuning of EBEADG. This is much more satisfying to play, and feels much more easy to bend and bar the neck
more easily.
All in all, it was probably around $100 spent on the trem plate replacement, strings, and the pickup and
shielding. Now I have an instrument that plays great and sounds pretty awesome in a hi-gain amp. The best
part - I think I need to adjust the intonation again, but in the other direction, where I now have plenty of
room to do so!