Tenor Guitar with Ukulele Tuning

While not a ukulele I'm posting this here because I've been asked by several past clients if I would build a steel string tenor guitar with ukulele tuning and thought it might be of interest.

This has been a fun project with a couple of stuff ups along the way. Namely ruining 2 necks when I was really not fit to be out in the workshop because of injury....thus not having my head totally in the game. But sitting on my arse for 2 months was more than I could stand....Live and learn.....with some expensive fire wood and several hours of work wasted.

Anyway, the first hurdle was to decide on body size. Back in September when I was down in N.S.W. a mate gave me a copy of a tenor guitar plan he was finished with. I laid my baritone body template over the plan and it was pretty much a spot for length and width. That was great news, as I have cases that are a nice press fit and didn't want to have to try and source something else. Scale length was decided upon at 22" as it was also very close to the one on the plan, and that is also what fit's into that case with a 14fret to body join, putting the saddle in the middle of the lower bout.

Then was the issue of what strings to use. Lot's of research went into that, working out the appropriate tension based on what's typical of tenor guitars. I settled on a set of strings that give pretty much spot on to 20lbs tension to each string. Also pretty close to the standard of tenor guitars.

I've used the design brief from a previous client that wants a tenor guitar and been asking to make him one. He is a lefty so that's why it's strung up as such, though I've put fret markers on either side of the fret board so it could be strung up the other way with a change of nut and saddle.

The tension on my Baritone Ukes is approximately 55lbs total (string choice dependant) while this one will be 80lbs. so I bumped up the top thickness and brace height to accommodate the extra tension. I used my usual 5 fan braced pattern to limit the variables in the build, and going with something I'm very familiar with. And here is the result.

Body - Makore
Top - Red Spruce (Adirondack)
Neck - Spanish Cedar
Tuners - Grover Sta-Tite
Binding - Rope
Fret Board - Ebony with 12" radius
Bridge - Gidgee
Head Plates - Unknown Burl
Finish - Mirotone Satin Lacquer over Bote Cote Epoxy
Strings - D'Addario
Tuned to GCEA

Very nice Allen. Beautiful

Beautiful, Allen! Do you like how it sounds?
Randy

Beautiful instrument! Congratulations! I have several baritone ukuleles (including one steel string Compass Rose) and a Blueridge tenor guitar (tuned DGBE). The neck on my Blueridge is significantly thinner than the necks on my baritones (I think the string spacing on the Blueridge is similar to that of a six-string guitar and the neck is thinner because of the missing bass strings). I was wondering if the neck on your tenor guitar is thinner than the neck on a typical baritone and, if so, by how much. Thanks!

I like the sound of this thing, but can't play it other than plucking some stings. Totally not able to play left handed. Unbelievable sustain in it.

The nut is narrower than my standard 36mm on a uke. This is 32mm at the nut and 42mm string spacing at the saddle. Neck is deeper than my ukes. I've added a bit more depth to it to handle the extra tension and give some substance to hold on to with the narrower profile.

What gauges are you using?

Funny you should post this Allen as i'm about to embark on the same build. Not sure whether to use 22" or 23" scale. I too am interested in the specific strings you used....?

Beautiful work Allen. Good timing that you posted this. I was contemplating making a travel guitar by matching a baritone body to a 22 inch scale neck. Now that I see the proportions in real life, I think this is worth trying. Of course I will have to adjust the top thickness and bracing to account for the increased string tension, but cest la vie. If we didn't experiment we wouldn't learn anything.

Wow! Really nice!

Neat project.

Looks really nice. Any possibilities of building a short scaled tenor guitar from either of you. Not interested in a GCEA type build but extremelly interested in a short scale for regulat TG tunings.

Very pretty. I love that binding

Love that body shape. It works so well with baritones, basses and now a tenor guitar. I see you've used many of your defining features - bridge, headstock etc - but no Allen McFarlane rosette???? Isn't that a bit like making a pizza and leaving out the cheese?
Miguel

I wasn't sure that the art deco rosette would be appropriate with rope binding on this one Miguel, so left it out.

I picked out two sets of string gauges to try out. One you might call extra light and the other just light. I've put the extra light on just to see how it will hold up, thought the tension to the next set oveall only adds another 5lbs.

Gauges are 0.095, 0.13, 0.16 and 0.23. All plain steel except for the .023 which is wound. The other set was .010, 0.14, 0.17, 0.24.

I ordered them as individual strings as you can't find these in a set.

If you want to work out what strings to use for any scale length, then D'Addario has a string tension calculator formula along with all the data for their strings. You can download the pdf of the tension chart on their website. It's actually pretty easy to do once you get your head around the formula and have a scientific calculator. Nice little free widget to install on OS X helped out there.

Patrick Madsen said:

Looks really nice. Any possibilities of building a short scaled tenor guitar from either of you. Not interested in a GCEA type build but extremelly interested in a short scale for regulat TG tunings.

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As long as string tension can be held for the particular note on that scale length, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Allen said:

As long as string tension can be held for the particular note on that scale length, then it shouldn't be a problem.

Click to expand...

Nice one Allen!

Good work Allen! I play tenor guitar all the time and have set them up in DCBE CGDA and GCEA. Your string gauges are good. I have used 9-23 for that tuning with success. I wouldn't go longer than 22 inch scale in that tuning.
A

Beautiful proportions and execution! I'd be very interested in those plans if they are available.

The plan my mate gave me are one of Scott Antes. It was based on a Regal tenor guitar. I didn't use them at all other than to check my baritone body shape against it to see if they were similar. The rest was done on a large piece of paper working out the dimensions on a life size sketch.

That Antes plan is for one of these: http://www.retrofret.com/images/3080_guitar/large/3080_1.jpg

Which is as about as small as a tenor guitar can be made and still sound "normal." It was a great choice for a comparison with your baritone body.

They were originally done with ladder bracing and a huge bridge patch. I imagine you went with bracing of your own design?

I braced as per my baritone uke, but a bit sturdier to compensate for the extra tension. I didn't want to through to many variable into an unknown build.