A standard electric guitar has a 24.75 or 25.5-inch scale and is tuned E to E. A baritone guitar has a longer scale, usually 27 to 30 inches, so it can be tuned lower without the strings going slack. The common tunings are B to B, a fourth down, and A to A, a fifth down. It still plays like a guitar: the same six strings, the same chord shapes, just deeper.
On November 3, 2026, Thomann had 62 baritone guitars in stock, from $223 to $2,074. Half cost less than $762.
| Scale | Baritones | Typical tuning |
|---|---|---|
| 26.75 to 27 inches | 25 | B to B, or C# to C# |
| 28 inches | 4 | B to B |
| 29.75 inches | 14 | A to A, or B to B |
| 30 inches | 6 | A to A |
The rest list other scales or none.
Baritone, 7-string or bass VI?
A seven-string adds a low B but keeps the high E, so it reaches lower and keeps the top. A baritone moves all six strings down, so its high string is a B or an A, darker overall. A bass VI, like Fender's, goes a full octave lower on a 30-inch scale and sits between guitar and bass. Baritones are common in country twang, surf, film music and doom, and for songwriters who want a guitar that sounds like a different instrument.
Under $300: try it cheaply
Harley Benton JA-Baritone, $223
An offset baritone with a 30-inch scale and P-90 pickups, the cheapest baritone at Thomann. #13 of 43 baritone guitars.
Harley Benton has 15 baritones in stock, as many as Danelectro, including a seven-string baritone at $279.
$500 to $700: the classics
Squier Telecaster Custom Baritone, $517
A Telecaster with two Fender-designed alnico single coils and a strings-through-body Tele bridge, on a longer neck. It's number two of 43 baritone guitars in our ranking. #2 of 43 baritone guitars.
Danelectro 56 Baritone, $693
The sound most people know from film and surf records: a 29.75-inch scale, a poplar frame with a Masonite top and back, and two lipstick single coils. Danelectro has 15 baritones at Thomann. #4 of 43 baritone guitars.
Above these, ESP has 11 baritones, mostly for metal, and Hagstrom's Viking Deluxe Baritone is a semi-hollow at $952.
What else you need
Baritones need heavier strings than a normal guitar, about .013 to .062 for B tuning and up to .014 to .068 for A, and the nut slots sometimes need opening for them. Many baritones come strung for B. And because the low end overlaps the bass, a baritone in a band works best when the bassist knows it's there.
Where the numbers come from. Every guitar Thomann listed as a baritone guitar, or with "baritone" in its name, on November 3, 2026, from its partner feed. Scales are read from Thomann's descriptions; tunings are the usual ones for each scale. Places are from our baritone guitar ranking. Prices are Thomann's US-dollar prices.
Share this story
Denis Kataev runs AudioFu. Every night the site records the prices of more than 38,000 instruments and studio tools at Thomann, and he writes about what those numbers show: what got cheaper, what just arrived, and which discounts are real.
All stories by Denis Kataev →
