Baum Wingman opinions

[Gary_W]

Hi everyone,

I’m being advertised the Baum Wingman quite heavily and it’s working.

Any owners here? What’s good / what isn’t?

I love the look of them and I don’t have a guitar with a Bigsby right now - they claim that tuning stability is excellent so I’d like to hear opinions on that plus how you’ve found it playability / sound wise / finish.

My most used guitars are a PRS S2 Vela (one of the natural finish ones from 6 years ago with single coil neck and Starla bridge), a Tokai LP Goldtop with P90’s and a PRS Stripped 58. I’ve never really bonded with strats (sorry strat fans - I know that’s on me!) so I’m a little worried that a 25.5 scale bolt on might not work for me (vela is 25, stripped is 24.5, and gold top in the middle). I find sounds I love in all of these - would the wingman bring more to the table?

I do have a valve amp but mostly use a Kemper…. I’ll be moving to a Helix Stadium shortly - playing through studio monitors is the norm here as it upsets the cat less :)

 

[laxu]

Bigsby right now - they claim that tuning stability is excellent

Tuning stability and Bigsby is a bit of an oxymoron. It's a fun bridge for a little wobble, but it is not that great for tuning stability.

I don't think you will notice the scale length difference much.

No experience with the guitar, seems like a cool Jazzmaster-meets-Gretsch type deal.

 

[Gary_W]

Tuning stability and Bigsby is a bit of an oxymoron. It's a fun bridge for a little wobble, but it is not that great for tuning stability.

I don't think you will notice the scale length difference much.

No experience with the guitar, seems like a cool Jazzmaster-meets-Gretsch type deal.

Thanks for the reply. I’m probably overthinking the scale and you’re almost certainly right there.

The reason I was specifically asking about the Bigsby is because these guys are saying the tuning is stable which, as you’ve mentioned, isn’t something they’re traditionally known for! Avoiding trems is something I’ve tended to do but if this is truly stable, that’s attractive.

I really like the looks on these; i like a lot of the classic shapes but I’m certainly drawn to something a bit more unusual. Looks wise, the Vela seems to be polarising but I love it and these things look the part imo.

 

[Gary_W]

I’ve ordered a Wingman in white…. My favourite colour they did was discontinued and, whilst there was another that I also liked, they had the white with gold pickguard on a deal price this weekend with money off, a hard case and some of their (expensive!) headphones. Still looks awesome (if you like things that look a bit different, and I do!).

I haven’t really seen anything negative out there about these guitars but of course you’re always taking a chance……. With the guitar, I’ve got every expectation that it’ll be excellent and hopefully that’s true.

I have no clue how good the headphones will be as they’ve just launched them so there’s zero reviews out there right now. If you want to buy a pair, they’re charging 400 euros so they’d better be magnificent considering they’re placing themselves in a marketplace with HD650 etc….. I’m theorising that they wouldn’t want to damage their reputation by putting out something that got them awful reviews so I hope I’m correct with that but…. As the deal price was a few hundred £ less than regular price for the guitar alone with a gig bag it seemed like a reasonable decision :)

Guitar arrives mid-late November. Phones not till February apparently!

 

[Jynx]

I have one and I love it.

Great sounding guitar with a nice neck. Lightweight too.

As for tuning stability, it holds really well. It has a roller bridge installed, which helps prevent the strings getting caught. It even has rollers on the string tree.

 

[Gary_W]

I have one and I love it.

View attachment 53683

Great sounding guitar with a nice neck. Lightweight too.

As for tuning stability, it holds really well. It has a roller bridge installed, which helps prevent the strings getting caught. It even has rollers on the string tree.

Thanks for posting - that looks fantastic and I love the pickguard. How did you get that from?

I’m really looking forward to trying it - I’ve never actually had a Bigsby and that’s partly due to my perception that tuning stability isn’t so good with them. Great to hear from someone here that the changes they made with the rollers actually work :) I’m looking forward to getting to know it - Fender scale length plus unusual pickups plus a Bigsby = something quite different from other guitars I have.

I actually wanted the ocean mist but they sold the last one of those a week ago. I contacted them and they said they were discontinuing the colour. My second choice was the dolphin blue (not sure if yours is the dolphin or not?). They seem to have a few shades….

It wasn’t an easy decision between spending (quite a lot more) for the blue I liked best or going for the (much cheaper due to the deal plus expensive headphones and a hard case) white. The white won….. although I prefer the dolphin blue paint, I really like the gold pickguard with the gold knobs on the white so I’m sure I’ll fall in love with it anyway.

I’ve got previous form on compromising on colour actually leading to a favourite guitar. My joint favourite guitar is a 2019 PRS Vela. It’s satin and a kind of brown with tortoiseshell pickguard. Again I wanted a blue but I just couldn’t find one that wasn’t crazy expensive at the time I bought. Not being my first choice colour hasn’t stopped me from loving the thing and I’m hopeful that that will be the case with the Wingman too.

 

[Jynx]

Thanks for posting - that looks fantastic and I love the pickguard. How did you get that from?

Got the pickguard from https://gig.ink/

I had to scan my pickguard, but it's on file now so for anyone else they won't have to.

It's based on one of my favourite games.

 

[Gary_W]

Thanks for for pickguard link - I’m really looking forward to this arriving. Apparently later this month :)