8 String Baritone?

Okay, okay, I know this is a little weird, but a friend of mine asked....who builds an affordable 8 string bari that you'd recommend?

I asked that same thing last month.................nada.

8 string baritones are rare. The first problem is to buy one at ANY price.

Mele ukuleles were making 8 string baritones for less than $1000 but they hardly have any baritones on their site at the moment. Bruceweiart has made some affordable 8 string baritones in the past and I have one. It actually is a nice instrument but it does need some fret work. I will have it in action one day.

Anthony

I have an 8-string Mele long-neck tenor that's tuned like a baritone. When I was at Mele on Maui in October 2012, they had an 8-string baritone on site, but someone had asked for it to be set aside, so I bought the longneck tenor instead. On the same trip, I found a rare Kamaka 8-string baritone at The Ukulele Site (aka HMS) in Haleiwa and bought it on the spot. I heard that Kamaka makes them from time to time, but they are rare (although I've met someone else in the Bay Area who has one!). Kanile'a had 8 string baritones listed on its website at one time, but I don't see them there now. Whether any of these are affordable depends on what you mean by affordable. (My Kamaka was almost $1,500, I think). Of the three manufacturers, the Mele was by far the least expensive, and my Mele 8-string longneck tenor sounds great. There are none listen on the Mele website at the moment, but someone there may be able to help you if you contact them.

Mele have recently added a Mango 8 string Baritone to their website. $899 USD.

Anthony