Luis Feu de Mesquita..tenor guitar.

I'm posting this here as I play (larger) 'ukuleles and am going one step bigger yet to a tenor guitar............also the guitar section on U/U is really quiet and I think this will have general interest.
I don't know how many people check there.
It will be strung like a baritone.
http://lfdmguitars.ca/october-22-2016-el-rio-progresses/nggallery/slideshow
Should be ready soon and I'll post more images when ready.
Thanks for looking
Robin

I saw this a day or two ago, and wondered if it was for one of us - so happy to know it is!

Very nice. I'd love to have him make me that exact kind, but as a bass uke. Can't afford him though.

Looks lovely Robin. Thanks for sharing with us

Congratulations! That looks beautiful and I know that Luis makes wonderful instruments. (I love tenor guitars, by the way. I have a Beau Hannam tenor guitar and a John Kinnard tenor guitar as well as a Compass Rose steel string baritone.)

A wonderful choice of instrument & builder Robin, I'm really looking forward to hearing this beauty!

So Robin " YOU" are the one this beautiful tenor guitar is being built for, congratulations. I know Luis has put a tremendous amount of thought and energy into the development of this instrument. Like everything he does he has poured his heart and soul into it so you know it will sound fabulous. So nice to see a fellow Canadian acquiring the first LfdM tenor guitar, well done.

I remember Luis shown me the drawing of a tenor guitar.
So it was the blue print of your instrument . So glad you chose to post it here.
Luis always ask his customer to name the instrument. Have you got a name yet?
I believe my tenor is being built the same time as your guitar . You are the big brother because of the size!
May be I will meet you there when we pick up our new additions!

Wow, congrats. Can't wait to hear a sound sample.

Look forward to seeing and hearing more!

Hi Robin,

This looks fabulous.

I am just listening to the guitar on Luis' website just below your post called "Prayer". It sounds really superb.

I am sure yours will sound as wonderful.

Congrats.

Wow, Robin, that looks to be really something! :drool: Please do let us see it all completed!

LOVE IT!

Having recently been seriously interested in getting a tenor guitar, I am very happy to see this instrument and know about it.

Thanks for sharing. Please keep us posted and I am looking forward to your NGD thread (hint hint) :music:

Thanks for the interest everyone.
I will certainly post more images when complete.
As for sound files, well, strings are not my 1st instrument so I may need a player to do that for me.
I would be most happy for anyone locally ie Toronto area to record it.
As mentioned, Luis likes customers to name their instrument.
I've named mine "El Rio".
It is a nod to the importance, both physically and and as a metaphor, of the role rivers have played in my life.
Also as an "homage" to Segovia, who I saw when I was a young man and ignited this interest that has been latent these many years and by using the words in Spanish, a warm acknowledgement of Luis and his craft.

Don't feel you need to watch this, but it explains why I like rivers and the competition for practice time. I play for the Toronto Morris Men and this is one of our tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZvf7N7PDTw

That looks to be a fine instrument Robin - congratulations! Eddie Freeman would likely approve, even if you don't use his tuning.

Robin Harrison said:

...
As mentioned, Luis likes customers to name their instrument.
I've named mine "El Rio".
It is a nod to the importance, both physically and and as a metaphor, of the role rivers have played in my life.
Also as an "homage" to Segovia, who I saw when I was a young man and ignited this interest that has been latent these many years and by using the words in Spanish, a warm acknowledgement of Luis and his craft.

...this... explains why I like rivers and the competition for practice time. I play for the Toronto Morris Men and this is one of our tunes.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LZvf7N7PDTw

Click to expand...

Outstanding choice for the name. I'm guessing with the Segovia reference, that this won't be the typical steel strung Tenor?

And the river scene is very nice (as is the playing). But what sort of trick photography did you use to make everything outside look so white?

We're on the outskirts of the North American river town here; the Mississippi and a host of others are why people came here in the first place. But there's a mean side to them as well. Night before last, I was over in Baton Rouge listening to a fellow named Bob sing this:

Nice music there, Dirk.
I guess if Bobby were writing up here, he'd have written "And it's a hard, it's hard, it's hard snow's gonna fall".
Did he mention his Nobel ?

Robin Harrison said:

Nice music there, Dirk...

Click to expand...

Well as you can imagine, it got quite a reception in Baton Rouge where so many of the folks are in temporary shelter. When we think of rivers around here lately, the images that jump to mind aren't very pleasant.

Robin Harrison said:

Did he mention his Nobel ?

Click to expand...

O.K., Hijack!

He has not even acknowledged receiving it (different from Sartre, who outright refused it). I happened to be strolling over to the theatre in the company of a woman from a Swedish television company who had flown over to try to ask him why. He didn't want to talk to her. She tried to pass a list of the 75 previous Literature winners to his people - they wouldn't take it. She said she was going to settle for interviewing people leaving the theatre on the way out and asking them what they thought of the situation.

I told her I'd be glad to interview, as I had known Sartre. She said No!, you must be really old. So then I admitted to not actually knowing him, but suggested it would make a good interview anyway. Didn't see her on the way out.

O.K., back on track.

When this thread was new, there was a photo I wanted to show; couldn't find it then, can't find it now. At any rate, here's a photo of the original Eddie Freeman Special Selmer Macaferri Tenor Guitar.
View attachment 95326
This was a steel strung Tenor, designed as a rhythm instrument for Big Bands. Luis' design isn't an exact copy - personally I like Luis' headstock better, and the beveled armrest reduces the bulkiness of the Selmer body design a touch. It takes a really good luthier to actually improve on the looks of a classic, but that's my take on this piece of work.

And the tailpiece! That's a true work of art, and I'm guessing it has to be custom work; again, beautifully designed and executed, and probably a pricey piece in and of itself. We've built a number of this sort of instrument (not Macaferri style) and the fretboard looks to be just right as far as width, this should be a comfortable instrument to play.

Robin, you never mentioned if this is to be classical construction or steel, but to our way of thinking, if you need to tune classical strings to a fixed note Linear G tuning, this general sort of arrangement is way superior to the Baritone Ukulele in terms of clarity, sustain and string response. Luis has done you proud.

I doubt he is giving this away, but the picture I was originally looking for was from an auction. The owner, a fellow in France, was asking $50,000.00 for an original. I doubt he got it, but still, whatever Luis charges will likely be money well spent in terms of beauty and playability in comparison to what you would pay for an original.

With one exception, we've always sold ours to folks who wanted a Linear 4ths or Open tuning. One professional, however, wanted the original Eddie Freeman Special stringing. Though it was primarily a rhythm set-up (in 5ths), here's the greatest contemporary Tenor player, John Lawlor, playing chord melody with EFS tuning:



p.s: As to the hijack above, the day after I posted it, Bobby finally came out and said of his Nobel award: "Isn't that something!", and "I'll be there (to accept) if I can".

Well, I've had it a couple of weeks now and am just delighted with it.
Introducing "El Rio"
First off, the build quality is superb..........it is the work of a master-craftsman and a work of art.
Being a ukulele player, I have not found the transition easy to a steel strung guitar.
I have a Pono Baritone Nui (shortly to be sold) that is nylon strung and this is a horse of a different colour.
It is a guitar that has the ability to play softly with a warm tone or really project.
When I introduced it to the world at the LFdM party in Ontario the other day (see thread), Adam was gracious enough ( actually I think he may have been drooling !!) to play it and it was a revelation.
He is a gifted musician and in his hands, everyone in the room was impressed......it just sounded gorgeous.
I was quite moved; I'm in the early stage of my ukulele journey and was somewhat overwhelmed by it's volume, challenging steel strings etc. but Adam's playing was the element I needed to confirm I had made the right choice.
For a short time , I was transfixed.
Two weeks later I'm starting to tame it. Luis suggested a different string set that was more transitional between steel & nylon and that has helped.
It was a leap of faith on my part but Luis has delivered many times over on what what I anticipated .
I'm still working out what the right string set will be (...........heard that before ?) and will offer some sound files later.
I also attached an image of Brendas new uke, Mercedes, who received her uke on the same day I got my tenor guitar.

Ziricote back & sides.
Lovely Art deco theme to it.