GUEST, DrWord, I'm not making that up.

The four-string tenor guitar (the six-string "Spanish" guitar had been around for a couple of centuries) was developed so that, back in the early jazz / big band era, string players such as violinists, violists, and cellists could play them in jazz bands and dance bands that wanted a "guitar sound" (as opposed to the "plinky-plinky" sound of the tenor banjo, which was also tuned in fifths) without the string player or converting tenor banjo player having a steep learning curve.

Most people who play the tenor guitar today, tune it like the top four strings of a standard six-string guitar.

My friend inherited a tenor guitar that was tuned in fifths, and he was self-taught. He didn't know any better.

As I say, I'm not making that up.

Don Firth