ESP LTD BB-600 Baritone Ben Burnley Signature - See Thru Black Sunburst Satin

I did a bunch of research (a.k.a. drooling over baritone guitars for a few months). I had a set budget to pick up a baritone guitar to expand my songwriting and production down into some lower keys. I have this set in Drop A, and had to put some heavier gauge strings on it to hold the proper tension. After using the adjustable bridge, I was able to dial in the intonation perfect, and I'm really happy with this thing. The SD '59 pickup on the neck is fat sounding, I love blending it with the SD JB on the bridge for tracking dubs. And the SD JB can carry all the tone you want all on it's own. It's exactly the tone I was looking for. The cherry-on-top... The Piezo pickup sounds amazing in the lower scale notes. I didn't even think I was going to use it at all, I was just buying this baritone because it checked all the boxes. But I tried it out, and this guitar is extremely versatile and has made my songwriting process more efficient–I don't have to swap guitars as I build out my scratch tracks and structure. I'm extremely happy with everything considering the price point. I also thought the red pickups looked stupid online, but I cared more about tone quality. I'll tell ya, the red pickups look a lot better in person and it's growing on me. I also have higher-end PRS and Taylor guitars, and this guitar can keep up and sit in the same mix as these others. I'm pretty happy about that.

I wanted a baritone guitar dedicated to all of the downtuned C/Drop C songs on Rocksmith. I got tired of losing intonation, putting super heavy strings (60's to 72's) on my standard guitar, and having to retune every other song. None of the local guitar stores or Guitar Center carried this guitar in stock. They really didn't carry any baritone guitars to try out, period. I spent a week or so seeing what baritones were available online via Guitar Center, Sweetwater, MusiciansFriend, etc. I was looking at other guitars, such as the PRS 277 solid body baritone, PRS SE Mark Holcomb, Ibanez Iron Label baritones, and Agile baritones. However, I finally decided to bite the bullet and purchased this BB-600 based off of demo videos without getting to try it out anywhere. The move was risky, but I am far from disappointed. This guitar is beautiful, and the red pickups have quickly grown on me. It has such a nice dark tone right out of the box and handles down to C standard so far without any issue.

Pros: Plays well. Tone is great. Plenty loud unplugged for a solid body guitar. Dual outputs with the HBs and the piezo mean you can send each simultaneously through separate chains/amps or join them and send them through together. Or turn one down and turn the other up, making your baritone very versatile without playing too much with your pedals/amp. Pretty cool feature. Cons: HEAVY. I ended up getting a 3" wide padded neoprene strap and I still get some fatigue if I'm playing standing for long. Neck drop. In addition to the weight of the guitar, the balance is off - the head tends to drop which means your playing will slow because your fretting hand now also has to help in holding the neck up. Definitely not a baritone to "shred" on. But hey, it sounds great and looks really good on my wall. And playing standard tuned songs in a lower register definitely changes their feel, so it's a major creativity booster.

Phenomenal guitar and great experience with seller. The fact Ben uses this guitar is why I’ve taken guitar lessons and hope to do covers one day.