Tenor guitar

[deleuran]

Some time ago I became aware, that there were such a thing as a tenor guitar. I have heard a little. Very little, and it is not an instrument you come across every day. Not to speak of people who play it. It seems like it has been played a great deal in the late 1800's and early part of the 1900's. A lot of the early ones were regular guitars, rebuild with the neck of a tenor banjo. Later it has been manufactured as a regular instrument, and it is still possible to get if you look hard enough. It has been used in both old time and jazz music. It was a simple way for the tenor banjo players to become guitarplayers as well, as it has only four strings, and is tuned like a tenor banjo.
I have come across a cheap but reasonably good tenor guitar, at the british Hobgoblin music store. And Now I try to learn some cords.
I would love to hear from any of you, who have any experiences with this funny guitar, and or the tenor banjo. Tips and tricks will be welcome.
I'll try to put in a picture of the thing:

[deleuran]

I found some videos on YouTube with the tenor guitar, and there are lots more, than I can show here. Take a look around youtube, if you have become interested:

[dulcimike]

Ah, I see you've found two videos of Casey! Casey is our resident tenor banjo/mandolin/bouzouki/guitar/fiddle player at the Chattanooga Irish Session, but he does play some Old-Time, as well.

[deleuran]

Casey? It's the young guy who plays Arkansas Traveller? He's a good one. There are more videos with him on YouTube, playing that tenor guitar. I guess he's the best one to be found there. His tenor looks exactly like mine. I toy around with it as it is a new instrument to me, but I have firgured out to play Arkansas Traveller. Maybe inspired by Casey. I do play it on mandolin, and the difference is not big. Just a little more space between the bands.
Say hello to Casey from me.

You can find some homerecordings with me, among other places here:
ezfolk.com/audio/bands/4745/blog.php
And here: www.myspace.com/hungryjesper

Jesper

[nickp]

I have one of the Hobgoblin ones. In fact, its probably my fault they have them because I kept nagging them to say they would be a good line to stock. Mine is tuned an octave below mandolin (I'm normally a mandolin player) using string gauges of 10, 17, 30 and 40.

I also have an old pressed plywood archtop one tuned the same and also another by a UK maker tuned as the 4 high strings of a guitar.

[deleuran]

Hey Nickp. Thank you for nagging them. I like this funny guitar very much. And can't keep my hands off it these days. I tune it CGDA. The standard tuning for tenor banjo. I'm not a tenor banjo player though, so I have bought a book on ebay. A tenor guitar chord bible, with 2,200 chords. So I have a lot to learn. But less can do it I guess, as I play mainly old-time. I play mandolin too, so I found out real quick that the chords I use there can be used on the guitar. And I can play some of the melody lines I play on the mandolin. It's just a different key.
Hobgoblin were out of strings for it, but promised to send me a couple of sets for free, as soon as they got them in stock. So I bought some D'addario string from USA. They have gauges 10, 14, 22, 32.
But I found out my luthier sell strings seperately, so I can experiment a little with it.
He took a little off the bridge, 'cause the action was a little too high.

I found this place on the web, for people who are interested in the tenor guitar:
www.tenorguitar.com/index.htm
And here is a collection of tenor guitars. They come in many shapes it seems:
www.tenorguitar.com/pyott.html

Thank you for replying to this post, Nick. I'd like to continue the talk, as something pops up on the subject. Nice to meet a fellow tenor guitar player. It's a rarity.

Cheers
Jesper

[dulcimike]

Jul 18, 2008 10:14:47 GMT deleuran said:

Casey? It's the young guy who plays Arkansas Traveller? He's a good one. There are more videos with him on YouTube, playing that tenor guitar. I guess he's the best one to be found there. His tenor looks exactly like mine. I toy around with it as it is a new instrument to me, but I have firgured out to play Arkansas Traveller. Maybe inspired by Casey. I do play it on mandolin, and the difference is not big. Just a little more space between the bands.
Say hello to Casey from me.

Jesper

Yep, he's good. I will say Hi to him for you.

[nickp]

Looking at the different gauges I'm sure my choice of 10, 17, 30, 40 is too heavy. The 2nd string (in my case A using octave tuning) is too loud in comparison to the others.

[nickp]

Drat, hit the wrong button... continuing the previous post.

However, if I make that one lighter I'll probably have to make the 30 & 40 (D & G) lighter which will lose me some bass. Maybe I'll just have to put up with it. Perhaps taking the E to an 11 might balance it better.

Nick

[deleuran]

If you have a dealer who will sell the strings one at the time and don't insist on selling sets only, I guess it will be worth experimenting with the gauges.
You say you tune it an octave below the mandolin. That is GDAE. I have bought a book called The Tenor Guitar Chord Bible 2,880 chords. It operates with two tunings. Standard which is CGDA and Irish tuning GDAE. That's the one you use. I have tried to tune mine down to the irish/mandolin tuning, and I think the strings become much too loose/floppy, and I am not crazy about that. I would imagine that it would be an advantage to use heavier gauges with that tuning?
But I don't know. I haven't tried. For now I stick to the standard tuning, in principle it is the same as playing the mandolin. Just 3 tones higher.
Take a look at this hobgoblin link:
www.hobgoblin.com/local/contfram.htm
It is La Bella strings with gauges 12, 16, 26, 38 As they say ideal for GDAE tuning.
They are out of stock right now, but they have promised me a couple of sets for free, because they didn't have any when I ordered the guitarm, and ordered strings at the same time.
I look forward to try the GDAE tuning. As I said the gauges I use now are not suited for tuning down.
Mabe if you try to nag them on the strings, they'll hurry up a bit.

A couple of days ago I made a little home recording, where I play the tenor and mandolin in the left speaker, and a parlor guitar and dulcimer in the right. The vocals have become a little weak. But what the hcek. After all it is old-time:
www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=5522&Path=ChasedOldSatan1.mp3
And on this one I play the tenor together with the parlor and the mandolin.
www.soundlantern.com/UpdatedSoundPage.do?ToId=5478&Path=IftheRiverWasWhiskey22.mp3

Hope you like it.

[deleuran]

Just checked the hobgoblin link, and it only leads to the front page.
If you search on tenor guitar, the strings pop up as well.