Tenor guitar?

whistleman123

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I just came across some auction listings for tenor guitars. The seller offers an option for ukulele c tuning with low g. Is this a legit ukulele? Do these use steel or poly strings? Is anyone on UU playing one?
 
It's a tenor guitar, not a ukulele.
 
Tenor guitars are cool. Some use steel strings some use other.
They can be tuned like a baritone ukulele (Chicago tuning ) .
They can also be tuned in fifths like a mandala. They can be set in open tuning. Lots of uses.
 
I've got an Ibanez tenor guitar with a solid spruce top. It's in Chicago tuning (read baritone ukulele tuning DGBE).
Yes, it has steel strings. But it's not much of different feel, I don't use a pick. If you like the baritone uke sound but want a metal guitar string sound on it, the tenor is it. Caution: Most tenor guitars have a very narrow neck and closer string spacing. So, it's a bit cramped on the fretboard, compared to most ukes.
 
It's not a uke. I don't know the seller so won't speculate aloud on their motivation. But generally, tenor guitars are built to use steel strings, and that's what players use, regardless of tuning. If the instrument in question was built as a tenor guitar, it may not sound good with nylon (or other) uke strings. Ask questions and find out as much as you can from the seller, so you know what you're really getting if decide to buy one.
 
Uke tunings on a tenor guitar are perfectly legitimate alternate tunings. Here's the definitive chart on tunings and strings for them:

http://rycooder.nl/pages/tenor_gauges.htm

I'm wondering if what you saw is that Baritone uke on ebay that the seller is trying to market as a tenor guitar?
 
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It's not a uke. I don't know the seller so won't speculate aloud on their motivation. But generally, tenor guitars are built to use steel strings, and that's what players use, regardless of tuning. If the instrument in question was built as a tenor guitar, it may not sound good with nylon (or other) uke strings. Ask questions and find out as much as you can from the seller, so you know what you're really getting if decide to buy one.

The points above are good ones. Instruments designed for steel strings are braced quite differently than instruments designed for nylon strings. As a result, nylon strings don't cause a steel-string-designed instrument to respond properly; and steel strings (which require much higher tensiin) put in a nylon-string-designed instrument could cause breakage at tuners and/or saddle, resulting in a broken instrument and possible personal injury.
 
i have a tenor guitar tuned dgbe, i love it, i play it like a baritone uke, but the steel strings give it a whole different and very lovely sound.

i personally don't find it very different to play in terms of string spacing and fret finger-stretch, than my baritone, i don't find there is much adjustment to be made when i switch between the two instruments, the main thing at first was the steel strings were much tougher on my fingers when i first started with it but you very quickly fix that with harder skin!

i enter vids on the seasons, the weekly uke challenges here on UU, i don't take the tenor to the seasons, well uh i think i did once! if the host allows, you can, but the general consensus is, a tenor guitar doesn't quite count - so i started a new seasons thread, "seasonistas play other instruments"! i can take the tenor guitar there and other seasonistas being geeeeeeeeeeetars and keyboards and all sorts of fab stuff!

i do have a solid body electric baritone uke, a jupiter creek, that i can take freely to the seasons, although the difference between a solid body electric baritone uke, and a solid body electric tenor guitar, is well i dunno really! not much!
 
Without seeing the listing itself, I don't see how I could have any opinion on what's being sold in the auction you saw.

I have a couple of tenor guitars that I tune DGBE, like a baritone ukulele. I also have a steel string baritone ukulele tuned DGBE. How are they different? For one thing, the scale on the baritone is shorter (approximately 21 inches vs. 23+ inches). The neck on a tenor guitar is also typically thinner, although the two custom tenor guitars I have were built with what is essentially ukulele string spacing. Rick Turner, who built my steel string baritone ukulele, declines to refer to it as a tenor guitar because he likes to name instruments by their tuning, and for him, a tenor guitar is tuned CGDA, which was the original tuning of tenor guitars (which were, when they were developed, tuned like tenor banjos so that banjo players could get guitar work without having to learn new chord shapes). Under that reasoning, I suppose a tenor guitar tuned DGBE could be considered a really big steel string baritone ukulele.
 
I seriously considered a tenor guitar before I ordered my last baritone. I wanted the steel string sound but still have the shorter scale length and smaller body. Rick Turner said he'd build one for me but I found the Chennell archtop baritone. Toby Chennell said he built my bari so it could take a light gauge steel string so am on the hunt for a set to try. I may try a nickel flat wound much like what the old jazz guitarists used.

In hindsight I wish I had gone with a tenor guitar. Especially after seeing the Kinnard sunburst that was shown here not too long ago. Perhaps I'll sell my Webber baritone and buy or trade for a good tenor guitar or as Mark says, a really big steel string baritone ukulele.
 
I seriously considered a tenor guitar before I ordered my last baritone. I wanted the steel string sound but still have the shorter scale length and smaller body. Rick Turner said he'd build one for me but I found the Chennell archtop baritone. Toby Chennell said he built my bari so it could take a light gauge steel string so am on the hunt for a set to try. I may try a nickel flat wound much like what the old jazz guitarists used.

In hindsight I wish I had gone with a tenor guitar. Especially after seeing the Kinnard sunburst that was shown here not too long ago. Perhaps I'll sell my Webber baritone and buy or trade for a good tenor guitar or as Mark says, a really big steel string baritone ukulele.

If you'd like to make an inexpensive foray into the world of tenor guitars, I can recommend the Blueridge BR-40T. It has a longer-than-baritone scale (22.9 inches) and the fretboard is narrower than that of a baritone ukulele neck, but it sounds great for an instrument with back and side laminate (the soundboard is solid Sitka spruce). You might also try contacting Rick Turner again. After a bunch of lousy luck (which included losing his then-main luthier to two broken arms that had to be rebroken and reset because they had healed improperly) his shop is running smoothly.
 
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If you'd like to make an inexpensive foray into the world of tenor guitars, I can recommend the Blueridge BR-40T. It has a longer-than-baritone scale (22.9 inches) and the neck is thinner than a baritone ukulele neck, but it sounds great for an instrument with back and side laminate (the soundboard is solid Sitka spruce). You might also try contacting Rick Turner again. After a bunch of lousy luck (which included losing his then-main luthier to two broken arms that had to be rebroken and reset because they had healed improperly) his shop is running smoothly.

Concur with the Blueridge BR40T recommendation. Got mine in a trade for a mandolin a while back and couldn't be happier. It's one of a select few in the stable that's a forever-keeper.
 
John Kinnard offers an amazing tenor ukulele (and has done tenor uke/tenor guitar matching sets) and I was fortunate enough to play one. If Kevin Beddoe, the frontman for Kinnard Ukes, wasn't a good foot taller than I am, he might not have gotten back. ;-)

http://www.kinnardukes.com/tenor-uke--tenor-guitar.html
 
I'm going to guess that it's CGDA, which is traditional tuning, but I don't know for sure.
 
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Ive got an old Martin tenor guitar, or as I often call it, a "super baritone" uke. I believe John Lawlor tunes his like a traditional tenor banjo, not Chigago tuning.
 
John Lawlor is one of my favourites;

Mine too!

What tuning is Mr. Lawlor using in the above video? Anybody know?

I'm going to guess that it's CGDA, which is traditional tuning, but I don't know for sure.

Ive got an old Martin tenor guitar, or as I often call it, a "super baritone" uke. I believe John Lawlor tunes his like a traditional tenor banjo, not Chigago tuning.

mds / glenn, you're on the money. His tuning is generally c g d' a', but he also has a really nice video posted using Eddie Freeman Special tuning (works much better as a 5ths tuning if you've got a 23" scale instrument designed for classical strings instead of steel).

That one is c g d a.
 
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John Lawlor actually tunes down a full step to Bb-F-C-G, because his guitar is a converted 6-string with a 25" scale, too long for tuning that high string to A for all practical purposes. I love that tuning too - it's a little darker and fuller sounding than CGDA - plus you can capo the 2nd fret and get CGDA at a shorter scale length.
 
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John Lawlor actually tunes down a full step to Bb-F-C-G, because his guitar is a converted 6-string with a 25" scale, too long for tuning that high string to A for all practical purposes. I love that tuning too - it's a little darker and fuller sounding than CGDA - plus you can capo the 2nd fret and get CGDA at a shorter scale length.

Good observation! He does appear to be tuning down. But to my ear, in Cam's video he might be tuning down below that. Sounds like it could be even a step lower - down to A e b f' tuning?

On the other hand, here's the Eddie Freeman tuning video:



You can see it's a different guitar, and though an EFS tuning always "sounds" lower, I think he's actually tuned up to B f c g (with 1st & 2nd an octave down) on this one. Of course with an EFS tuning you no longer worry about a thin 1st string, and like a lot of good solo players, you simply tune different instruments, different tunings, different strings, to where they sound best.
 
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