If you care to delve further into the paradox that is S.T., feast on some recent and not-so-recent drawings at Stu's flickr site....

Click this.

It was a Christmas present to myself.
'Not another guitar', she said. Yes, she was right: another guitar. A baritone guitar by Burns of London. The Barracuda.





It's the bane of every musician's existence; they still want more instruments even though they promised themselves they wouldn't last time 'round. It's linked with the search for inspiration. New instruments have fresh sounds, behave and feel different, forcing you to approach the old notes in new ways. At least for a glorious, sweet honeymoon period, before the old habits calcify over things. It doesn't hurt that your new toy is attractive to the eye, has gorgeous curves and feels like a new lover. Inviting in every way.

Ask anybody and they won't know what it is. A Baritone Guitar? Even when they've seen it: 'What IS that thing?'. Even when they've heard it: 'Wow, how do you get that sound?' It looks like a guitar, sounds like a bass, no wait, you do chords..it sounds like a guitar but has a bass neck on a guitar body, with extra appendages. Houndog Taylor. He had a tiny sixth finger on his left hand on which he stuck a slide to play that sweatin' fluid blues...I believe he didn't have no bass man in his combo. Listen to The Houserockers; there's another electric git-box doing the walking bass stuff. I doubt if it was a baritone.

Happy me. I dove straight into gigging with this new axe, leaving glassy eyes and pleasantly confused ear-drums in my wake. Did 124 gigs, non-stop with the baritone. At least once a week at Bill Miller's late evening gig at The George. The Snake-Pit. Downstairs in a smoky one-way bunker, where the PA system grew organically from random tiny corners all up in the ceiling. Where chip-fat hung in the air, as the punters rolled in and in to hear the 60's sounds we laid down. As the weeks went on, Billy kept throwing me increasing soloing duties.

Seems to me we were more authentic than most. I realised the baritone sound appears on a lot of 60's stuff. The more you play it, the more you hear it...Nancy Sinatra, Lee Hazlewood, Kinks, Serge Gainsborg, The Ventures, Billy Strange, Shadows, Beatles, Elvis even. It appears on a lot of country records (Jimmie Rodgers loved his acoustic one) and spaghetti westerns. Then there was The Cure and The Church. These days, there's me, Placebo and BareNaked Ladies, apparently. Need I go on? Go spot some yourself. I suggest start at your local 'golden oldies' radio...

In April/May 2008, I played the Baritone across Europe, supporting Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds, in a trio with Dave Graney (12-string guitar) & Clare Moore (vibes).

I wish I'd had a tape recording I could play explaining the in and outs of my machine to the hundreds of gaping post-show enquirers. Would have saved me a lot of breath. Every show there was a new one turned onto my secret weapon. Still, what's a little repetition between friends? Music is 99% Repetition 1% Inspiration, after all.(Einstein).

Anyway, to illuminate: The Baritone Guitar is a 6-string beast with a long neck that's tuned lower than a regular guitar (I choose to tune it an octave below). If you put on the right strings, it's got bass guitar sound at the lower extremes, and higher up the neck you can play chords or solo with a 'fat' 50's guitary sound. They first officially appeared in the late 50's (what a great time) when Dan Electro got clever and released their electric Baritone. Since then many other brands have taken to creating their own versions, albeit in small runs due to 'low popularity'. Turns out there was a classical ancestor of baritone guitar, B.E.(before electricity). Of course these were/are tuned differently to the rock situation. In fact, there's a whole bunch of ways to tune the Baritone, depending on whether you want more of a 'low guitar' or a bass-with-a-bonus.

Dave Graney took one look at my Barracuda, said (to himself) 'Let's form a new band'. He led Clare Moore to her seat at the vibraphones, took his 12-string steel-string in hand, turned, fixed his gaze upon me, says: 'Play'. There it was - the most unique lineup in the world at that moment, and for many, many, many moments to come.
We played every song he ever wrote at that first rehearsal. Five-six hours straight, no break, no bread or water. Fuelled by pure inspiration and our 'new sound'. It was like digging in the pyramids, finding more catacombs of treasures, polishing them up, digging again. We hit the road to exhibit our new-found jewels in places civilised and not, urban, country, rural, backwoods, frontwards and every place in between. Baritone, Vibraphone, 12-string and voices. We recorded the 'Keepin' It Unreal' album in a day, again driven by the fresh instrumental recipe.

I also used the Baritone on the 'We Wuz Curious' CD by Dave Graney & Clare Moore featuring The Lurid Yellow Mist.

It will appear on upcoming releases by Penny Ikinger, and THE STU THOMAS PARADOX....

Let's not confuse the Baritone Guitar with the six-string bass. That clumsy-looking bulk which those thumb-slappin' freaks prefer and guitar shop wankers love. Oh no, the Baritone is far, far cooler, make no mistake.

I prefer using the Baritone mainly as a bass from which I can pull full bar chords when required, and sly licks or solos, just to bewilder the listening audience. As well as featuring in my band-work, I do solo shows with the baritone, augmenting the guitar's sound with reverb, tremolo and fuzz pedals. Check youtube for live solo performances of myself with the baritone.

Now that you know about it, keep a sneaky eye out for this wonder of nature. It's usually well-camoflauged as a guitar, but if it starts emitting low, fat notes, think twice and smile knowingly.