Collings SoCo 16 LC Baritone Blonde w/ Throbaks

The SoCo 16 Baritone is easily our favorite baritone to date from the fine folks at Collings Guitars.

Collings initially got into the baritone electric game via their excellent 360 Baritone model. While the 360 Baritone pulled from offset solid-body designs, the SoCo 16 is coming from the semi-hollow, 16" wide body world - and the results are outstanding.

If you're new to baritone guitars in general, these are longer scale instruments - in this case 27 1/2" - that are commonly tuned down to B, putting them between a guitar and a bass essentially. This means all your chord and scale shapes transfer with ease, though you're going to want to rethink some of your chord voicings given the low tuning and the way notes combine in this register.

And this, friends, is one of the main reasons why this guitar is so remarkable - baritone guitars create a new sonic space for you, the player, to explore. Trust us, nothing is cooler than hitting a big E chord (shape) and losing yourself in the depths of the sounds coming out of your amp's speaker. It's very similar to what piano players can accomplish with their left hand on the lower range of the keyboard. It's huge, deep, and incredibly rewarding.

It also works incredibly well for fattening your parts on a recording, solo guitar playing (check out Kurt Rosenwinkel's album Berlin Baritone for some inspiration), or any other context your imagination is drawn to.

As we mentioned, this is easily our favorite Collings electric baritone to date. Everything we love about their work - world-class attention to detail, easy playability, remarkable tones - just fatter, bigger, and more authoritative. Check it out!