NTGD.....waz dat mean????

DownUpDave

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IT MEANS.......New Tenor Guitar Day. Blueridge BR 40 TCE

I was conflicted as to whether I post this here or the guitar subforum. But then I remembered "mds725" posted his new tenor guitar announcement here. Stating it is just a big steel string baritone ukulele. That is what it is to me, I'm a uke player and I bought this to get that BIG steel string sound and sustain.

This instrument is great value for the money as this model comes with a Fishman pick up factory installed. For under $450.00 I am really impressed with the fit, finish and appointments.

Some negatives first, the gloss finish is on the thick side but more so on the back sides and neck, it's done very well though. I suspect the rosette and top purfing are either decals or painted on. There are no raised edges but the purfing runs up the fretboard just a tad. That is it.........nothing to bitch and moan about. I am really impressed with the important things. The solid spruce top is nice I mean real nice, lots of cross silking over the entire area. Looks like a top from a guitar costing 4-5 times as much. The back and sides are laminate but beautiful ribboned mahogany, nothing plain or boring about the wood. Out of the box the action was very good, low and even and easy to play. Fret ends dressed nicely, I love butter bean tuners, they are super smooth and work perfectly.

I am not a guitar guy so can only tell you I really like the sound. A real guitar guy played it today and he was impressed, good enough for me.


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The pictures of the top don't do it justice but you can see this is not some low grade piece of slab spruce. There is no denying the fact this is much bigger than your run of the mill ukulele. Flanked by a Gianinni baritone and a Collings tenor, this is LARGER.

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Blue Ridge makes pretty nice guitars. I've had a 6 string dreadnought size for several years.
Tenor guitars are cool too. There are many ways to string and tune it. I took a 1927 Martin tenor to Nashville. All the guitar players asked me "What kind of ukulele is that?" While the ukulele players asked "What kind of guitar? "
 
Congrats Dave. I never realized how nice those Blue Ridge tenor guitars looked.
 
Nice, Dave!! Enjoy!!
 
Thanks for this pic. This is a great comparison. I have a similar Giannini baritone. Nice to see how much bigger this tenor guitar is. Congrats - sounds like a winner

The pictures of the top don't do it justice but you can see this is not some low grade piece of slab spruce. There is no denying the fact this is much bigger than your run of the mill ukulele. Flanked by a Gianinni baritone and a Collings tenor, this is LARGER.

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This Tenor Guitar is a sweet ride. I might need to come over snd give it a heavy strum.
 
This Tenor Guitar is a sweet ride. I might need to come over snd give it a heavy strum.

You seemed to like it when you gave it a quick strum on Monday. Come on over Saturady with Tim, bring your new Fishman Artist amp, we'll put all the new stuff to the test..........including Tims "Midnight Special" banjolele.
 
congratulations! Cool instrument!
 
Congrats on the TG, looks great, and I bet it sounds great as well!

But come on Dave, you should have some TG pride though and post in the guitar section. It may not like to be called a "uke." :rock:
 
A Blueridge Tenor Guitar (like yours, Dave, but without the cutaway and pickup) was my "gateway tenor guitar." I asked the seller to tune it DGBE (because I didn't want to have to learn the new chord shapes of a traditionally-tuned tenor guitar) and fell in love with it as soon as I started playing it. Before you know it, you'll be ordering higher end tenor guitars from Beau Hannam. Congratulations, and enjoy!

But come on Dave, you should have some TG pride though and post in the guitar section. It may not like to be called a "uke."

Only tenor guitar players would see a post like this there. Ukulele players should know about tenor guitars!
 
Sweet TG, Dave. Thanks for the balanced, um let's say first impression. It's great to see you got quality wood at that price. I like the symbol on the headstock too. And the size comparison brought a smile. Your Blueridge will add a lot of sound to any group jams you may have. Another win for the Ontarians ;) Congrats!
 
Thanks everybody for taking the time to respond and the kind words, it is appreciated.

@hammer40, I really did struggle with where to put this thread. I mentioned in my post in the guitar forum that I was posting the review here. Your posts and others in that subforum have really helped me........I'll do something more over there.

@mds725, I too have this strung DGBE and I love the sound. I have admired your two primo tenor guitars........ALOT. As you mentioned I wanted to make uke players aware of the logical slide up in size to a tenor guitar. It has four strings and can be tuned like a baritone ukulele. To make things even easier I use the very same chords as on GCEA tuned ukes, it sounds different but recognizable. Sure it is the wrong key, but I just play it for myself at the kitchen table. No different than transposing something 5 steps down.

One very plesant suprise was this instrument does have a radius fret board. No where in any of the info does it state that, but it is radiused.
 
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I have a ukulele player question......can I restring my acoustic bass guitar to strings which would make it a tenor guitar/hyperactive thyroid D G B E ukulele.... Yes, I will need to change the nut groove widths
 
That is humungus against that real nice lil' ol tenor. ;)

Just for a laugh here is a regular size acoustic up against the tenor guitar. The Blueridge now seems small compared to the "humungus" Larrivee............. just all perspective I guess.

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Hey, DUD1, how do you like the metal strings? I imagined my fingers would be cut to shreds, or at least painful to the max. However, I really like the feel a lot; there are no cuts, and the only pain is in my ears!

Onward and upward! :eek:ld:
 
Forget about the fingers .... ask about his back! The Tenor is still a monster compared to the Tenor Ukulele ... I think I will just stick with my Baritone ... we can do some jamming that way!
 
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