I haven't been playing my Stratocaster much over the past 4 or 5 years.  I've always wanted to get a true shredder guitar, like an Ibanez 7 String, or a Jackson Dinky, or maybe even an ESP.  Even though I'm not anywhere near fast enough for one, I always figured I would set it up to be downtuned.   But, I could never quite justify spending the money to get one the way I wanted (Neck through, Active EMG pickups, 24 frets, black on black) to simply be a second guitar with a slightly different tuning.  And 8 strings were just too bizarre to get used to with that aircraft carrier deck of a fretboard!

Anyway, fast forward to the last couple years or so.  My interest in Metal has been in a major renaissance, and I even took my strat to a shop to have it cleaned up, electrics worked over (damn input jack has been static-y and popping for years) and have the neck adjusted to setup the action better.   Was still eyeing those shredder guitars.  Didn't help that my friend finally got his $2500 custom made to order Carvin.  (Thing has multiple outputs, one of which is MIDI)

Then, I re-discovered Baritones!  Mostly thanks to Leo of Frog Leap, he got a nice one and it got me looking, and I remembered how I looked at them 15 or so years ago, but most of those were hollow-body rockabilly deals, and way expensive.

Then, I found this ESP LTD MH-401B FM.  That is the only configuration, besides 7 and 8 string versions.  But, it's like it was made for me!  Neck through, 24 frets, EMG 85 and 81 pick ups, and not just black on black, but transparent black sunburst on Flame Maple!  It was love at first sight, and it was ordered after about 5 minutes of "My wife is going to kill me" debate.  It's named Death Warrant because of that!    (She loves it actually.)  

It's a gorgeous guitar, and good gawd does it sound awesome!  Coming from a 25 year old Mexi-Strat to this is .... well, more than night and day!  The EMGs are even better sounding than I though possible.  And, that half-an-octave lower, but still uses all the same fingerings, so sweet!  About the only hard part has been getting used to those 'light' 13s that are on it!  My strat was setup for 10s.  My fingers have gotten really soft and inflexible!  The 27" Scale is helping with the stretches.



TL;DNR:  I got a ESP LTD Baritone with all the fixings.

Nice!  My latest was also a baritone:  NGD Extended Range Edition
I still haven't gotten used to the 7th string or transposing in my head either.

I have an almost baritone at 26.5 scale. Love it.
*edit* Apparently that falls under baritone, so yes, I have one. Ibanez RGD7UC.

Cool!  Mine is currently tuned B-B

I did get a couple sets of strings, D'Addario that it came with, and some Ernie Ball.  Both are 'Light' 13 gauge.  But, they're different gauges from there:
D'Addario: 13 17 26w 36 46 62
EB: 13 18 30 44 56 72

That's quite a spread!  I'm assuming because Baritones have quite a range of tunings?  I also couldn't find any half-round, flatwound, or even any coated strings for it, at least not specific Baritone strings.  No biggie since I'm used to old nickle-wound bridge strand, but wouldn't mind trying the newer tech.

Also, a friend of mine suggest I get a Bass amp for it, to better deal with it's lower frequencies.  I currently play through my 25 year old Fender Twin Reverb, with it's massive 2x8 speakers.  It's inputs are loose and make noise, and good gawd are the pots sticky and noisy!  So, yeah I'm looking at amps for it.  I'm starting to think with all the amp emulators built into everything, maybe I should just get like a 100w 15" PA speaker or floor monitor instead of a proper amp?

Deoxit D5 to loosen and quiet up them pots. I wouldn't go with a bass amp. My 8 string is muddy through my amps unless I cut back on the bass. If I'm not mistaken, Rob Flynn uses a baritone through a 5150.

I have a Fender tele baritone and recently acquired the LTD F200B. It's become my #1 instrument. It feels and plays like a music man as the neck seems shifted and it is not as long a reach as the tele and about 2 lbs lighter. I didn't want the EMG's having had them on a ESP I owned previously. Fender also makes a baritone string set, the 3rd is not wound and easier to play than the stock LTD set if you bend much.
As for an amp you should look into a Quilter. I have the micropro HD with extension cab & it sounds better than my vibroverbs & no where near the weight or tube upkeep. The Toneblocks are also very good, less costly and quite easy just to mount on a pedal board and add the speaker cab of your choice.
And just in case you didn't know capo at the 5th fret & it's standard tuning so no transposing req'd and no extra axe to haul around on jam nite.

The one that got away:  I almost bought an acoustic, Taylor 8 string baritone years ago.  Played it....fell in love with it....bounced around the idea of purchasing it.  The idea of justifying to my wife why "I have to have this guitar!" made me walk away...but only for a couple of days.  It took me two days to convince her this was one of those one in a million guitars we all get our hands on from time to time.  I returned to the store, but, you guessed it, it had been sold...lol.  Story of my life.

I used to have an Agile 7 string baritone, but I never really used the 7th string so I sold it. But I wouldn't mind getting a LTD Grynch.

I have a Steinberger Synapse.

I have a Fender Bass VI that I bought in 1994 (MIJ).  I don't play it very often, but I dragged it out of the closet and put some new strings on it so Daughter#1 could play on it (She got Son #1's Jazz Bass when he moved to Cali).  Playing isn't easy for me since I broke my left arm, but I do enjoy playing it through daughter's Bass amp.