Bajo quintos resemble oversized acoustic guitars with five sets of double steel strings that can be played using a pick, with an emphasis on lower bass strings.
The instrument is used to play Norteno/Conjunto music from Northern Mexico and Texas. For an alternative sound experience, its twin instrument the bajo sexto contains two extra strings tuned an octave lower.
Solid Spruce Top
Solid spruce top provides lively, balanced acoustic tone with complex overtones, perfectly complementing mahogany back and sides to produce an instrument with both powerful unplugged performance as well as natural sound when left alone. When plugged in, an Fishman Rare Earth pickup adds dynamic yet realistic tonality to this premium bajo quinto guitar.
The Del Rio LBQ4 El Patron Series Bajo Quinto boasts a solid spruce top with a comfortable neck and low-profile fingerboard designed for fluid playability. Specifically tailored to accommodate bass-style chords and other advanced techniques, its truss rod allows you to adjust string height according to your playing style and preferences.
A close cousin of the bajo sexto, also known as “the fifth bass,” the bajo quinto features five double-course strings arranged in five courses for a total of twelve strings. Played similarly to guitar, left-handers press strings against frets while right-handers pluck or strum them.
This Bajo Quinto produces a full and robust sound thanks to its spruce top with Quarter Sawn (QS) board, producing an open tone more brighter and open than conventional solid wood tops. Furthermore, the spruce contains sapwood – an extremely thin band of lighter wood along the edge of QS boards – which helps lighten up its tone further. While only about 2″ wide in this instance, sapwood helps add brightness.
Mahogany Back & Sides
Mahogany guitars offer a warm, balanced sound suitable for use across a range of musical genres and recording situations. Their midrange is full of meaty midrange sounds with satisfying bass response and clear, ringing trebles; additionally they offer natural sustain which highlights fundamental notes.
Mahogany has long been used as the back and sides of an acoustic guitar for years, as evidenced by its prevalence on many older recordings. Mahogany offers a more focused and dry sound than rosewood that cuts through any mix without getting lost among other instruments; additionally it tends to provide crisper wound strings which increase attack in tones than you’ll find with rosewood.
Maple wood offers vibrant aesthetics with diverse figured grain patterns, while also providing more warmth and deeper tonal spectrums than koa for fingerstyle and slide work. Walnut also proves popular due to its rich tone that softens over time while augmenting low end frequency response.
Mahogany Neck
No matter if your bajo quinto guitar utilizes steel string or nylon string acoustic pickups, choosing a hard maple neck over mahogany for its neck can have a dramatic impact on its tone and resonance.
Maple necks tend to produce more “zing” on the strings and are easier to play than mahogany necks, while also needing less frequent truss rod adjustments due to mahogany being a much stronger material and therefore resistant to expansion/contraction from changes in ambient humidity levels.
Mahogany guitar necks provide a more vibrant tone than maple, although the difference can be subtle. Many players also appreciate its stiffer feel and think that mahogany provides their instrument with fuller tones.
Mahogany necks provide more than just strength; they can also give the bajo quinto guitar extra punch on its lower strings (lighter strings are typically found on acoustic instruments while heavier strings are common on most electric guitars). This extra hit helps bring out all of your music’s nuances – something which distinguishes professional musicians from amateur ones.
Rosewood Bridge
As part of their musical tradition, budding bajo sexto and quinto players seek out experienced luthiers to commission instruments that meet their specific playing styles and preferences. Custom modifications may include changing string gauges to adding decorative inlay or embellishments to fretboard and body areas – these artistic embellishments embodied by Mexican music reflect its vibrant culture while honoring its artisans’ craftmanship.
The LBQ1E H Jimenez El Estandar Series 10-string acoustic-electric bajo quinto was created to inspire. Boasting a solid spruce top and mahogany back and sides, plus the custom “Thunderwing” bridge designed specifically for bajo quintos which provides easy tone tuning and playability adjustments, along with natural-sounding Seymour Duncan soundhole pickup, this instrument can plug in and rock out!
Bajo quintos are integral elements of Tex-Mex, Conjunto and Norteno music genres; pairing perfectly with bass guitars and accordions in regional Mexican styles. However, unlike their 12-string cousin, the bajo sexto, 10-string bajo quintos do not contain lower course strings allowing musicians to focus more closely on melodious leads, creating new dimensions to music with ease. Furthermore, eliminating this lower course makes for lighter playing and wrist relief, essential when performing long sets in concert settings – opening up new sound possibilities that cannot be produced with traditional 12-string bajo sextos alone!
Ebony Fretboard
Ebony is a dense wood that luthiers often turn to for their fingerboards due to its hard surface that securely holds frets in place while playing smoothly and brighter tone than maple, creating more “pop” when hitting strings. Most musicians who play guitars with an ebony fretboard appreciate its feel as well as how notes pop when hitting strings.
Ebony wood is widely known for being extremely hard and durable – so much so that many consider it an instrument’s lifetime neck wood. Luthiers often go to great lengths to source this sought-after material – in fact it sinks to the bottom in water!
Due to high demand, fretboards made of ebony are becoming more difficult to source, prompting some luthiers to opt for other materials like rosewood and pau ferro as alternative fingerboard materials. Pau ferro has recently gained widespread use among both electric guitar builders and acoustic guitar builders as its combination of rosewood’s warm tone with the smooth feel of ebony is becoming increasingly attractive.
Streaked ebony is a sustainable alternative to solid black ebony. Striped ebony comes from the same trees as regular ebony but features natural color variations within the wood that create streaked or blotched fretboards. By taking advantage of its color variances in striped ebony fretboards and other instruments parts are utilized more efficiently and less waste is created from this renewable resource.
This Morelia striped ebony bajo quinto features many special elements that make it truly stand out. These include decorative body binding made of decorative ebony and pearloid, ornately inlaid mother-of-pearl fingerboard and sound hole mother-of-pearl inlays, custom designed cutaway to accommodate higher register strings, as well as padded gig bag storage with limited lifetime warranty coverage.