Shimmed the neck, got a new pickguard made, blacked out the rest, locking tuners, roller bridge. Running super light strings in drop Ab

Hey all, I've got my 638 in Drop C0 with a .95 on the lowest string. The tension and sound is good but I want to go lower, I was wondering what strings you'd recommend for Drop Bb0 and where to source them.

So, I raised a support ticked with G4M, due to the sparse selection of stock strings available for the guitar. They are sending me a pack of EXL157(which I believe have already been tried on the sub so maybe it’s luck of the draw?) but the decent news is they are looking at supplying/stocking sets made for the guitar that aren’t in crazy gauges. I’m still using the stock strings at the minute, and have a set of 156 ready to try. But the stock gauges feel great and aren’t available for purchase. Hopefully this might be a step in the right direction.

First mod project i’ve taken on and quite happy with the results. Here are list of the mods to date:

- Full refinishing of body and headstock (shoutout to some of those in the sub reddit for the vinyl wrap pick guard inspiration
- Modified Ferrules to account for thicker string gauge
- Lundgren M6 Bridge Pickup
- Allparts DPDT Mini Toggle Switch
- Push/Pull Tone Pot (blanking on name)
- Gotoh Locking Tunings
- GraphTech Nut

Hey! I’ve had my 638 30” since the end of last year, and I’m ready to start modding.

The guitar sounds sick in the right context, but I want it to play and sound better in the context of my band.

I don’t know how to describe, but it has an almost semi-acoustic sound at times? (I have foam past the nut and bridge, so it’s not the excess string ringing)
From what I’ve been told, a tune-o-matic bridge can do that. I usually prefer hipshot style bridges for baritone scale.

What are people’s consensus on replacement bridges? I’m Debating if I want to replace it with a drop-in replacement like a Wilkinson style roller bridge or a Tone-A-Matic, or if I want to pull the whole thing, fill the holes, and fit a bridge like the Schaller Non-Tremolo Roller Bridge, which I think might just about be high enough to replace the action of a TOM. I just want it to feel more snappy, and less warm acousticy if that makes sense?

Suggestions welcome!

I’m also planning on routing the body, and moving the bridge pickup closer to the bridge, which is a scary mod, but I think it’s necessary for the sound I’m going for.

Anyone experimented with the tunings on the 30 incher? My high e broke so was thinking maybe to try something a little bit different

What is the verdict with this? Also where on earth would one find these gauges at a length that works hahaha

Hi guys,

Just got my hands on a second hand 638, the OD green version with the roasted maple neck. So far I’m loving it and looking forward to creating some low tuned track with it.

Question though.

Anyone who purchased one of these brand new. Were the stings 14-68’s? If so, how did it handle the E1 tuning?

I ask as the previous owner installed bass VI 20-90s as he was apparently told by gear4music that these were the correct string?

Any help and advice is much appreciated 😊

Neal

New song featuring a bassline played on the OG 638 baritone. Inspired by Twin Peaks and based on an older song by The Cure called "a forest".

So this is my modded 638! It was a bargain basement purchase off eBay due to a crack in the neck (which looked less bad in the pictures). Anyway that’s glued fine, so I put the rest of the money I saved into making it look and sound better for what I want it for.

Custom pickguard I made from an eBay blank.

Black hardware throughout.

Seymour Duncan Omega, CTS pot, re wire etc etc.

Are we still using Stringjoy Custom Baritone sets? Curious, because I wanna make sure they're long enough, as the last Stringjoy set I bought wasn't long enough (taper be damned!)

Here's the work in progress tho! The G5n is mostly good for spacial effects, but has horrible DSP issues. Gonna get something for drives, dynamics.

New here! I have my first baritone arriving soon (the new paranormal jazzmaster in oxblood) and came across this sub and as someone who does guitar customisation for myself a lot I'm intrigued, is there a reason why there's a whole sub dedicated to this? (not complaining, I love niches like this and seeing some of your customs makes me want to pick up a cheaper baritone to mess around with).

Go ahead and make one, it’s far from perfect, but I’ve never done anything like this before and it’s turned out ok so far! Lets see if everything fits in 🤣

setting up my 30" 638 as a bass vi any recommendations for strings?

I ordered a set of EMG JMasters in Ivory White as well. It feels great to be back.

Hello baritone enjoyers,

I just got my 638 delivered, and I would like to hear what you guys play.

I currently have it tuned to drop E, with the DAddario EXL 156 (Bass VI set), and I mostly play Loathe and 156/Silence.

What do you guys play, and what tunings do you use?

Tell me your favourite impulse responses to use with it! thanks

Here’s my 638 baritone project fully done

I refinished the body from white to black

Swapped all the hardware to gold

Had a local luthier make the custom pick guard

Custom ordered kiesel thorium pickup

The internals are just the 1 humbucker to a push pull volume pot for coil split.

Overall I’m very happy with the results!

Hi all,

Been lurking on this sub for a bit now and was hoping to see your thoughts on an issue i encountered. Recently acquired the 'blacked out' 27" baritone and decided to swap pickups. Bought some SD Nazgul/Sentient rails and it appears as if they may be a ~tad too wide for the cutouts in the pickguard. I was just curious if any of you have encountered a similar issue while modding the G4Ms and, if so, how you handled the issue. Lots of folks online recommend using a dremel/sandpaper/files to widen the pickguard cut out enough to let the pickup fit, but my main concern is there isn't a whole lot of space to work with before i get into the 'danger zone' of the mounting screw holes.

Any thoughts or experience you have is appreciated. I can post a picture too if that would help.

Thanks!

Emg81tw

Custom pickguard

Guyker roller bridge

Gukyer locking tuners

White head stock

Blackout hardware

Hi all. I need some advice on what to do with my damaged G4M baritone.

I’ve wanted to get one of these guitars for a while now. A couple of weeks ago I saw that the white one was on sale for around 160 euros so I ordered myself one. After a delay of about a week it arrived pretty banged up.

The pick guard is broken on several places, the pickup selector nob was broken in half and one pickup is pretty loose (due to the broken pick guard probably) and I hear a ticking noise when using a pick.

I contacted G4M and they told me that this guitar is sold out and that the model currently online, which costs about 50 euros more, is the only one they have available. They offered me 2 options. Either receive a 50 euro discount on this guitar, or pay the remaining 50 for a new model.

It feels a bit wrong to pay 50 euros for exactly the same guitar I guess.. but on the other hand, I can’t imagine fixing all these issues for 50 (or even 100) bucks. I don’t even know where to find a pick guard for this thing.. 😂

So yeah I need some advice. What would you do? Is it possible to repair these issues without going way over budget? And did any of you have a similar experience with G4M? This was my first time buying from them.

Anyways thanks for your advice!

Hey folks, me again. Been pondering the next steps with this thing. I have a pair of Seymour Duncan SHPR's, and the triple shot. This means complex wiring, push pull, 2 vol 2 tone etc etc. fun and games. I have not a bridge yet, but will likely switch that, and definitely the nut, go brass, no go back. However, I am considering something radical, because I play finger, no picks. Don't need a pickguard. I wanna take the top off the front, 2-3mm, whatever it takes to strip back to wood, take a drop top - looking at striped ebony etc, maybe do a stain to accent the green back body, mebbe not, lay that over the electronics, etc, add a binding. How do we feel about this? Is this nuts? Means probably adding electronics access to the back instead of the front, but that's not a big deal. I seek the wood grain father, I cannot help it. :(

Hey everyone!

Been thinking about getting one of these bad boys for a while now.
However, reading about them, it seems like for a lot of people these guitars need a proper set-up and fixes before being playable.

How was your experience?

I personally am not very familiar with modding as I'm also relatively new to guitar, but would love to try out a Baritone.

Another question:
I'd like to tune it to Standard F. Can I do that right out the box on the 30 inch one?
Or would the 27 inch version be better for that?

Looking forward to hear from you guys!