Electric tenor guitar - suggestions? recommendations?

After falling in love with baritone ukuleles, I recently bought a Blueridge BR-40T tenor guitar, which I've had strung for DGBE tuning. I like it a lot. I'm now thinking of buying an electric tenor guitar and came across this Eastwood Warren Ellis Signature electric tenor guitar. Here's a link to a review on Premier Guitar's website. Has anybody had any experience with these electric tenor guitars? Is there another electric tenor guitar out there that anyone can suggest or recommend? I appreciate any thoughts on electric tenor guitars. Thanks in advance!

I don't know if you're still looking, but I have heard good things about the Eastwood tenor - though you should know that it has a wide neck/string spacing, more like a bass than a traditional tenor guitar. I have an electric tenor from Zither Music Co. in Texas, and I think it's an excellent quality guitar for a good price. It also has a wide neck.

Rob Dick of Jupiter Creek in Australia, who is well known here for his solid body ukes, makes electric tenor guitars as well - actually his tenor guitars are also his baritone ukes, as they have a similar scale length and, like a baritone uke, a tenor guitar is often tuned DGBE (though CGDA and GDAE are probably more common).

Then there's Soares'y Guitars, which mostly makes tenors modified from stock 6-string electrics. I've never played one but they seem to be pretty well respected in the tenor guitar world.

All the above-mentioned tenors go for $500 or less for a basic model. There are some higher-end makers, like Earnest Instruments or Jonathan Mann (his 4-string octave mandolin is, in effect, a short-scale tenor guitar), and you can always ask a luthier to build one to your specifications (I just met a guy in the next town who made this).

Good luck with your search, and let us know if you get one!

I've looked at the Eastwood and love the style. Would want to try it first, though. I have a Jupiter Creek electric baritone and it's nice, but plain. Soares also sells electric tenors on ebay. Any four-string cigar box guitar with a pickup can substitute.

Thanks for the responses. I've emailed with Mike at Soares'y Guitars and he indicated that the necks he builds for his electric tenors are similar to the necks of the Blueridge BR-40T, the acoustic tenor I have. I'm pretty sure I'm going to ask him to build me an electric guitar, but now I have to decide between an Epiphany Les Paul body and a Fender Stratocaster body. Does anyone have any thoughts about either of these two or have an idea as to how they compare? Thanks!

I don't have any personal experience with these guitars, but they're widely available - if you're near a guitar store of any size, you could try them out in person.

I have a Warren Ellis electric tenor guitar.
Have it set up to DGBE tuning.

It is a thing of dreams.
The fretboard is wider than ukes, kinda feels a bit like classical-guitar width, except it's tapered.
Bit like Oscar Schmidt ukulele necks.
Tone is sweet and has great sustain.

Definitely recommend. At the prices they're offered, it's terrific value.

Thanks, Kissing. The only thing I heard about the Warren Ellis electric tenor is that Eastman uses something like a bass neck, which is a bit wider than a tenor guitar neck and results in slightly wider spacing of the strings at the bridge than is the case for most acoustic tenors. I'm glad you like yours. How are the electronics on it? I just wish I could find one somewhere around here to test drive, because they really do look nice and they seem like a great value. I've been emailing with Mike at Soares'y Guitars, and he tells me the necks on the tenors he makes are more like those of my Blueridge acoustic tenor guitar, and that the string spacing at the bridge on his guitars is 11 mm. I'm likely to get an electric tenor from him with a Fender Stratocaster body and electronics.

mds725 said:

Thanks, Kissing. The only thing I heard about the Warren Ellis electric tenor is that Eastman uses something like a bass neck, which is a bit wider than a tenor guitar neck and results in slightly wider spacing of the strings at the bridge than is the case for most acoustic tenors. I'm glad you like yours. How are the electronics on it? I just wish I could find one somewhere around here to test drive, because they really do look nice and they seem like a great value. I've been emailing with Mike at Soares'y Guitars, and he tells me the necks on the tenors he makes are more like those of my Blueridge acoustic tenor guitar, and that the string spacing at the bridge on his guitars is 11 mm. I'm likely to get an electric tenor from him with a Fender Stratocaster body and electronics.

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Considering that typical tenor guitar necks are modelled after banjo/mandolin necks, which are super narrow, I would say that the Warren Ellis neck feels very comfortable for a ukulele player. It almost feels like it was made for ukulele players. It's bigger than a uke of course, but the dimensions of the neck feel like a big uke.
Definitely not a bass guitar neck (I play bass guitar too).

Haven't tried a Blueridge acoustic tenor guitar, but I have the Ozark acoustic tenor guitar, which has a banjo-like neck (narrow and fat).
I find the Warren Ellis much more comfortable to play - it feels much like a baritone ukulele with a slightly wider neck.

Electronics work really well. Eastwood guitars have a great reputation.
These are made in Korea, so they're quite high quality.

There are only 2 things that I wish could have been different though:

1. You only get 1 pickup. The instrument is certainly big enough to accomodate for having 2 or 3 pickups, but Eastwood decided to only give it 1 pickup. The one pickup does sound very good - a warm, rich single-coil tone with plenty of sustain (and the rest is up to the quality of your amplifier and equipment).

2. The truss rod is the type that you need to unscrew the neck to be able to access. No idea why they designed it this way.
Not that I ever really touch the truss rod on instruments, but I would have preferred it if it was more easily accessible by being adjustable at the headstock without having to remove the neck.




The other thing to take note of is that the instrument will come setup like a tenor guitar, with the CDAE tuning. This setup is very different to DGBE, so it will need to be properly adjusted. I got mine setup professionally to DGBE tuning and a lighter gauge set of strings. Plays like a dream now.

It takes electric guitar strings, but you'll need to use a higher gauge than expected, to accomodate for the shorter scale.


I do have a few videos where you see a glimpse of me playing it, such as this one:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2Xs9fjtP7Ww&feature=player_detailpage#t=120s

But I'm not really all that good at playing electric + I'm using a really cheap amp.
With a high quality amp and in better hands, it would sound tons better.


The instrument has really good reviews - it appears to be a professional-quality instrument at a stunning price.

Thanks, Kissing, for the detailed review of your Eastman Walter Ellis and the link to your YouTube channel. You play wonderfully. I'd probably be fine with either a Warren Ellis or a Soares'y as I like the neck on my bari ukes and on my Blueridge equally. A Soares'y built from a Stratocaster does have three pickups, though.

kissing said:

It takes electric guitar strings, but you'll need to use a higher gauge than expected, to accomodate for the shorter scale.

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Not necessarily. Depends on how flexible you like your strings. Standard strings will bend much more easily on a shorter scale because they're not pulled as tightly. Give an electric a slightly twangy-metallic sound, to my ears (a bit like Frank Zappa's guitar on Apostrophe). Also depends on the scale length. At 23", a tenor guitar isn't as far from a regular guitar as a baritone uke. I find regular/medium strings tend to feel/behave like a lighter gauge string on a shorter scale.

eastwood, tenors

I've played an Eastwood tenor tuned to DGBE but with the original strings. They did feel a little loose and twangy. Not bad at all, but I could see how a heavier gauge might be an improvement.

I've also played a Harmony acoustic tenor. That neck is much thinner than a bari uke's. The Eastwood's neck is wider than that Harmony was- it's closer to a bari uke's width. But (someone correct me if I'm wrong) the fret size is still more like a guitar's than a bari uke's. And, of course, the scale length is a bit more guitar-like than uke-like.

I'm currently ordering a custom cigar box tenor-baritone-uke-guitar from Mike Button at Hoochbobble. I'm ordering one with a 19" neck (to be as bari-like as possible), a magnetic pickup, and soundholes.

So far he's been very good to work with. I'll post a review when I get it.

Mike Soares of Soares'y Guitars has sent me some photos of FrankenStrat, the electric tenor guitar he's building for me with a Fender Stratocaster body. Here are a couple of them:

SO cool looking! When will it arrive?

(ps: your PM box is full)

luluwrites said:

SO cool looking! When will it arrive?

(ps: your PM box is full)

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Thanks! It'll be here on Monday, and I'll start a New Tenor Guitar Day thread for it. And thanks for the heads-up about my PM box. I've cleared some space.