UK - new tenor guitars

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 14 Dec 07 - 03:55 AM

Well, I now have mine and am delighted with it. I had the chance to compare 4 and was hard pushed to decide although I finally made my decision based purely on the colour and grain of the front. They all sounded excellent. It comes tuned/strung for tenor so CGDA but I've picked up strings to replace it for octave GDAE. Highly recommended.

Nick

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 11 Dec 07 - 04:14 AM

Hi Bobert, now there's a story! Start saving, it may come back on the market!

Nick

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Bobert
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 08:43 PM

The Martin tenor I believe is an OO-17, nickp...

I've owned n' played tenor geetars going back into the 60's... I've had the spectrum (rhymes with pletum...) of the little sumabichs...

Yeah, I've had the 00-17 Martin, I've had a 30's Gibson, Harmony arch tops, a Gibson archie but never had one as nice as the one I own now which is a mid 30"s Dobro built resonator tenor...

Now, with that said... A few years back I was in Fredricksburg, Va. at "Picker Supply" and Bran Dillard, the owner, who loves to tempt me brought out canvas bag and inside was a hardsheel case and inside it was a perfect 30's National S-type tricone tenor... I eman it was the purdiest geeter I ever saw and he let me play it there in the middle of his geetra shop... Lotta folks gathered 'round and wondered at the sound of this very unusal geeter... I was purdy amazed myself...

"Okay, Bran, how much", I asked...

"Thirt five hundred", he said...

Well $3500 is a bunch of money so I figured that it was way outta reach for this ol' hillbilly... Then later that night it started botherin' me and it bothered me fir the next couple weeks... I couldn't get that geeter outta my head...

So I go to the P-Vine and asks her if we could go get a loan fir it and she, like women will do when they know they got you made me promise to do this and that for the reat of our lives, which I gladly agreed to do so I called up Bran and he said...

..."Sorry, Bob, we sold it..."

Sniff...

Well, nevermind... I love my Dobro reso tenor... I even recorded one song on my CD with it...

Bobert

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 03:44 PM

And there's the Delmore Brothers and (I think) the Louvin Brothers...

If you play it tuned as the high 4 strings of a guitar then you can do all sorts.

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: GUEST,TJ in San Diego
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 02:23 PM

If you want to hear what a tenor guitar sounds like on a recording, find an early Kingston Trio album and take a listen. Nick Reynolds played a Martin tenor guitar, which looked almost like an oversized ukelele, but with steel strings and a richer tone. I suspect he learned to play on a uke when his father, a Navy Captain, was stationed in Hawaii. It gave the group a unique sound.

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 03:06 AM

HI Jim, this is true but as a mandolin player who has trouble transposing....! And fortunately a local music shop who sell individual strings.

I'll report back once I've got it.
Nick

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Jim Lad
Date: 10 Dec 07 - 01:53 AM

Nick P: Not trying to rain on your parade but if you're going to play it in fifths then I would have to suggest CGDA for a decent sound. You can order ball end, Tenor Guitar strings from most of the major brand names.

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 09 Dec 07 - 01:41 PM

Alternative options for strings here:

oakwood instruments string gauges

I am expecting to change strings. It's a 58cm scale length so for GDAE I shall probably try 40 30 20 11. Can't decide on a wound or plain A (20). Having said that it will depend on what the instrument comes with and how it feels.

Nick

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Rasener
Date: 09 Dec 07 - 04:23 AM

Have you tried Hull Sttaw Legend? :-)

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Dave Hanson
Date: 09 Dec 07 - 03:06 AM

Tenor banjo and mandolin ace Tom Napper plays a Baby Taylor with 2 strings removed as a tenor guitar.

eric

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Sttaw Legend
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 03:48 PM

Does anyone know where I could get my hands on a electro acoustic tenor guitar please?

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Stringsinger
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 03:32 PM

Here's a problem. Some instruments are suited for specific tunings. DGBE may sound good on one tenor and not on another for example. It would seem that the CGDA would require a lighter guage string and thinner construction to keep the overtones down.
Whereas DGBE or GDAE would require more heft for projection.

Frank

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Jim Lad
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 03:27 PM

nickp: Thanks for that link. Wish I'd known about it before my Scotland trip.
Tenor Guitar is my chief instrument. DGBE
At that price, it's worth the risk.
Cheers!
Jim

GUEST,Otis: Your namesake in Cape Breton (Otis Thomas) is probably the finest source for tenor guitars. I'd be an old man before he reached my name on the waiting list though.

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: GUEST,Otis
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 11:04 AM

- Not that im interested particulary, but when looking for handmade guitars a few months back, i found this website of this small maker in the west country I think, and he made alot of Seth Lakemans tenor guitars. Seth Lakeman is a bore though. hehe

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 09:23 AM

A Martin - although I don't know the model.

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: Lowden Jameswright
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 07:38 AM

The Ashbury guitars are superb value, and surprisingly loud - so should be a good buy. So what does Seth Lakeman play?

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 07:13 AM

I haven't got my hands on one yet. There's no way a guitar at that price will compare with a Taylor (and isn't the Baby 6 string whereas the tenor is 4?). However, I've been very impressed with some of the 6 string Ashborys I've tried recently.

And there's a whole range of tuning you can use on them with the right strings, I'll be using GDAE (octave of mandolin/violin) but I guess people will also use the highest 4 of a guitar DGBE etc or 'proper' tenor CGDA

Nick

Subject: RE: UK - new tenor guitars
From: maeve
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 07:00 AM

It looks good, nickp. What's the sound like? Do you know how it would compare with a Baby Taylor (mahogany)?

maeve

Subject: UK - new tenor guitars
From: nickp
Date: 08 Dec 07 - 06:24 AM

For those of you who want to imitate Seth Lakeman or whose tenor banjo is just a little too loud for the local session, Hobgoblin music shops have now added a tenor guitar to their Ashury range. Looks nice and modestly priced. I'm buying mine next week... but not for either reason mentioned above!

tenor guitar

Hobgoblin have about 8 shops and it's a good guess that each will have at least one in stock - or they do mailorder.

If you are in the USA they have a partnership with Stoney End, Red Wing, Minn. but I don't know if/when they will be in stock there.

Nick