BARITONE TELECASTER NATE NEWTON PLUS

If you’re used to a vintage-style Tele then this probably won’t bother you, but something to note for those of us coming from more modern guitar body shapes. There’s no armrest or belly cut so the guitar feels sharp against your picking arm and doesn’t quite sit as nicely as my other baritone. However, one negative I noted was that the body cut is quite uncomfortable. I gigged the Squier Paranormal Baritone whilst I had it, using it for one of our songs in drop-A tuning and it certainly held up well. This adjustment period can take a little longer than you’d expect with a new guitar so some perseverance may be required to feel at home with the Cabronita Baritone, but once you get there it’s incredibly satisfying to play, and when you go back to a regular guitar you’ll question how you ever thought it was difficult to play. The length of the fretboard also takes some getting used to, as slides or fast chord changes will feel different and the space between the 1st and 5th frets can feel cavernous. That means open chords don’t feel difficult to fret, nor is it impossible to do some proper bending on it - although you’ll need a supporting finger or two unless you’re freakishly strong. When you go back to a regular guitar you’ll question how you ever thought it was difficult to play That said, the Cabronita Baritone is in a nice middle ground between a regular Fender scale and a more metal-orientated one designed for drop tuning and a good place to get your intro into baritone guitars without getting put off.

I'm used to playing a 28-inch scale baritone in our band, so the jump doesn’t feel too gargantuan but with avid memories of picking up my first baritone, I know that a small jump in scale can feel like a lot. If you’ve never played a baritone before then that scale length may feel huge when you first pick it up. It’s not slow playing by any means and if anything, that rotundness suits the nature of the guitar’s low-end thump and feels appropriate for the thickness of the strings. On paper, these may look like small differences but you will feel it from the moment you pick it up.

BARITONE TELECASTER NATE NEWTON PLUS

As a direct comparison, the neck depth at the 1st fret is 23mm on the Baritone Cabronita whereas on my Player Plus Tele, it’s a far slinkier 20.8mm. The neck is heftier in the hand than my regular Telecaster and you can definitely feel that from the moment you pick it up.

Baritone telecaster nate newton