Blueridge 40 TCE on the way

DownUpDave

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Well I finally bit the bullet and ordered a Blueridge 40 TCE. This is my first tenor guitar, I play tenor uke and occasionally baritone uke. I have always loved the sound of a steel string acoustic guitar. This will be my gateway to that soumd. I figure with 4 strings I should be able to pull this off :cool:

Thanks to everyone that answered my questions and gave me good advice. I will give a review once I have had it a while.
 
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Please keep us informed as I am looking at getting a tenor guitar as well and was looking at this particular model.
Would love to hear more comments as you get some play time on it. almost bought a martn hpl tenor on craigslist..
Waited too long to decide and it was gone.....a lot of good comments on the Blueridge models.

As an FYI, my gateway to begining to learn steel string guitar was
the Córdoba mini guitar. It has a 2 inch nut which makes learning guitar chords easier......I then got Taylor GS mini......but may one day
Trade that for the new Martin dreadnought Jr. which has a wider nut.
 
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Dave,

Did you get your guitar from Elderly? I just got an email from them with "Back Friday" deals, and from now until Monday, all Blueridge guitars are 10% off. That brings the BR-40TCE down to US$472.50, which makes it much more attractive compared to Amazon's current price of US$425 (which doesn't include a set-up or any vetting of the instrument's playability at all). If they didn't give you 10% off, you might want to call them back and ask if they can retroactively reduce the price for you.

- FiL
 
Congratulations Dave, looking forward to hearing what you think, and how you'll get along with that narrow neck. This has been a big issue for me when playing my Kala Tenor Guitar, as it's really hard for me to cleanly fret a chord like 2220.
 
@FiL.....I got it for $440.00 USD shipped to Canada. I got it from Music 123 and it does not come with a set up, but I have access to a couple real good pros that will do for me for under $50.00. Elderly's price even with the deal shipped to Canada would have been about $525.00. When I have to add 40% on the dollar that $85.00 difference becomes $120.

@Rakele....we will see how the narrow neck works out. The Blueridge is closer to 33mm (1-9/32") as opposed to Kala's 30mm neck so that might help. I will definitely let you know how I like it. I should have some fun with my Loudbox mini as this Blueridge has a fishman pick up factory installed.
 
Hey, DUD1, what's happened to us? Me with Banjo and you with the Guitar . . . Have we let the UU down? Have we both decided to move on? I'll have to admit that I like the banjo better, though I have a problem with fingerpicking (in general) that I'm hoping to overcome.

Well, enjoy your new guitar. Learning new stuff is supposed to be good for us--can't hurt. :eek:ld:
 
Hey, DUD1, what's happened to us? Me with Banjo and you with the Guitar . . . Have we let the UU down? Have we both decided to move on? I'll have to admit that I like the banjo better, though I have a problem with fingerpicking (in general) that I'm hoping to overcome.

Well, enjoy your new guitar. Learning new stuff is supposed to be good for us--can't hurt. :eek:ld:

Hey Brother.........guess we are geneticly similar in user names and wanting a steel string sound. Banjo is something I have always liked, just seemed so intimitating to me. I am glad you are enjoying it. After all making music.........with whatever......is suppose to be enjoyable
 
Congrats on the guitar. I would say that a tenor guitar is a natural progression for anyone who plays a uke. After all, it is a four stringed instrument. The tuning is different, but it can be tuned several different ways, with "Chicago" tuning making it the same as a baritone Uke. While I went with an Ibanez, the Blueridge was super sweet as well.
 
Congrats on the guitar. I would say that a tenor guitar is a natural progression for anyone who plays a uke. After all, it is a four stringed instrument. The tuning is different, but it can be tuned several different ways, with "Chicago" tuning making it the same as a baritone Uke. While I went with an Ibanez, the Blueridge was super sweet as well.

Thanks hammer, I remember when you got that Ibanez. You were nice enough to answer my questions regarding over all dimensions and string gauges. I will tune it DGBE so it will be an easy slide from uke to TG back to uke again.
 
DownUpDave...
I too have a Blue Ridge tenor, model BR-60T. Great guitar! For future reference...the Blue Ridge's come strung with D'Addario light gauge strings which I was not a big fan of...too bright for my taste. I settled on Martin Silk and Steel, which is .011 to .028 (not counting the extra 2 string for a 6 string. Made the sound less bright. Can't see where I'd ever use anything else.

Just my 2 cents!
Wooville
 
Congrats, Dave! I had the Blueridge on my radar but Harmony came up at a price I couldn't pass on. I LOVE my tenor guitar. Still dig my ukes and appreciate their supreme portability but I really love the TG. I like the steel string sound, volume and especially the sustain. I did not find the neck to be an issue and I'm pretty calloused from heavy duty uke playing so steel strings were not a problem either. Btw, I did DGBE too. Sounds good and is just easierfor my old brain. Enjoy!
 
DownUpDave...
I too have a Blue Ridge tenor, model BR-60T. Great guitar! For future reference...the Blue Ridge's come strung with D'Addario light gauge strings which I was not a big fan of...too bright for my taste. I settled on Martin Silk and Steel, which is .011 to .028 (not counting the extra 2 string for a 6 string. Made the sound less bright. Can't see where I'd ever use anything else.

Just my 2 cents!
Wooville


I will second that the supplied string, if you indeed go to DGBE, will need to be changed. They come with tenor guitar strings and really don't do that well at DGBE. I went with Curt Mangan fusion matched phosher bronze 13-56, really quite nice strings, made out in Colorado.

Also, here is a tuning chart by Ry Cooder that goes over tuning and strings. It was very helpful to me, I was very inexpierenced with this instrument.

http://rycooder.nl/pages/tenor_gauges.htm
 
It arrived and I posted the NTGD in the Uke Talk subforum. Sorry if that seems weird but I am a uke player so I hang out there the most

As hammer40 said I do need to show some Guitar love and respect here as you have all been very helpful. The short version of my review is as follows. This guitar is an incredible value, fit finish, appointments......everything exceeded my expectations. I have the good fortune of owning 5 ukes made by custom builders and this guitar does not dissappoint in any area. The spruce top is very high quality with cross silking throughout. The laminated back and sides are beautiful ribboned mahogany, the butter bean tuners are super smooth and work perfectly, no slack. I am thrilled with this and the sound is everything I hoped for. I spent a short period of time plugged in and that pick up works and sounds great. The volume and tone control wheels at the edge of the sound hole are brilliant. I will give it a good shakedown this weekend. The size comparison bewteen a baritone and tenor uke might be helpful to uke players curious about these instruments

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See the post above which I edited to include a review of the Blueridge 40 TCE that arrived on Monday.
 
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Congrats on the new tenor guitar!

I ordered the same model earlier this week, and it should be arriving early next week. Got it for US$362 via Musician's Friend with a Cyber Monday coupon. I really wanted to buy it from Elderly, the price difference was just too great. We'll see if mine comes in as good shape as yours.

Even though I like to the classic look of the non-cutaway model better, I decided on the cutaway model because if I don't take to CGDA tuning, I'll restring it for DGBE tuning, slap a capo on the fifth fret, and play my familiar uke chords. The cutaway will give me a little extra room to play with up there. Also, even with the pickup, the cutaway model was only a little bit more than the non-cutaway model. Can't wait!

- FiL
 
Damn it, Dave. I thought that I had successfully suppressed my urge for a tenor guitar... then you had to go ahead and post pictures.
 
@FiL.....I felt the same way about liking the looks of the non-cutaway so much better. But for the price with a quality fishman pick up it was too good of a deal. I have a Fishman loudbox mini amp and I am REALLY impressed with the sound of this thing amplified. The tone and volume control wheels at the edge of the sound hole make adjustment easy.

A big disclaimer here, I am NOT a guitar player, nor a musician, started playing uke 18 months ago and that's it. What I have done to make it easy on myself is just play all my songs with the very same chords as if I were playing a tenor ukulele. Sure it is in the wrong key but I play for myself, it is recognizable and you can hit the ground running. I have the guitar tabs app and I can look up songs and just change the key 5 steps and play it straight off the screen as it appears.

@Wicked.......I am an enabler through and through when it comes to tempting others. I have been in your shoes many times, that's how a uke player ended up posting about a steel string instrument ;) Resistance is futile.
 
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Congratulations on your new Blueridge, Dave! It looks really nice. By the way, I checked and I have the TC-40. I've been playing it a lot lately and really enjoy it. I started with guitar, years ago but, the steel strings killed my fingers. I like the lighter strings on the tenor and they don't bother me at all. I still play my ukes though but, I love the sound of the guitar, steel string and nylon. I've found that the ukulele is great to write songs and sing with but, the guitar just sounds better to me for certain types of music. Either way, the ukulele and guitar are great instruments!
 
As with my ukes I can't leave well enough alone so I changed the strings. Stock strings are basically X-lights at
010, .013, .021 & .031. I switched them out from a John Pearse bluegrass set at .012, .016, .024 & .035. The stock set was very easy to play for this soft fingers uke player, lol, but they were a little too bright tuned DGBE. The new strings have a richer, rounder tone with deeper bass. Just what I was looking for and playability is not too much tougher
 
As with my ukes I can't leave well enough alone so I changed the strings. Stock strings are basically X-lights at
010, .013, .021 & .031. I switched them out from a John Pearse bluegrass set at .012, .016, .024 & .035. The stock set was very easy to play for this soft fingers uke player, lol, but they were a little too bright tuned DGBE. The new strings have a richer, rounder tone with deeper bass. Just what I was looking for and playability is not too much tougher

Are you able to tune the John Pearse bluegrass set DGBE?
 
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