The Tenor & Plectrum Guitar Club

[mandoloony]

Because we need to see more 4-string guitars.

Here's my stock as of this week:

 

[Jullecaster]

Can you explain a bit how these are tuned and played? Like a uke? Like a bass?

I'm intrigued and just about know that these things exist. Feel free to chase me away because I'm not an owner.

 

[Nightclub Dwight]

I have a 1965 Gibson Tenor TG-0. I removed the pickguard and think it looks much better. Mine is tuned DGBE.

 

[mandoloony]

Can you explain a bit how these are tuned and played? Like a uke? Like a bass?

I'm intrigued and just about know that these things exist. Feel free to chase me away because I'm not an owner.

The tenor banjo came about ca. 1910, and is tuned in fifths like a mandola (albeit with single courses and a longer scale): CGDA from the bottom up. Then, in the 1930s, the banjo fell out of favor and the guitar came in, so all those banjo players wanted a crossover instrument; folks put the neck of a tenor banjo on the body of a guitar, and the tenor guitar was born. However, a lot of folks feel that tenor guitars sound better with a lower tuning, so they often use GDAE - same intervals, just transposed down a fourth into octave mandolin tuning. Tenor banjos are sometimes also tuned "Chicago" style like the top four strings on a 6-string guitar, but this is relatively rare on tenor guitars.

Like the tenor banjo, these were originally developed to play the jazz and pop styles of the '20s and '30s. The chord voicings are similar to the mandolin family (of which they're really a member) but the long scale and single-stringing makes them great for chording all over the neck and playing chord melodies. Folks also discovered that, like mandolins and their kin, they're great for European folk music - GDAE is sometimes called "Irish" tuning for this reason. Of course, you can play anything you want on them; I've recorded my share of electric tenors through an overdriven amp.

The plectrum guitar - you guessed it, it evolved from the plectrum banjo - has a longer 26-27" neck and is tuned like 5-string banjos were in the early 20th century, just without the short drone string. It's a semi-open tuning (CGBD) that was a way for 5-string banjoists to do jazz chords without the drone string getting in the way.

 

[BajoMano]

Tenor Tele, Blueridge BR40T, Vanderbij (Dutch luthier - 1980s?), Eastwood WE Baritone (cello tuning)

 

[trapdoor2]

I had a beautiful Gibson TG tenor, looked like it had been in a closet since 1951. I traded it off but had to have another tenor, so I found a Harmony to restore (mild). Last year I gave it to my best friend's daughter. She was looking for one.

Of course, I play tenor and plectrum banjos. I'd love to find a plectrum guitar but have never run across one.

I tend to tune tenor guitars CGDA but bari-uke strings work great and DGBE is easy, so is DGBD (esp. for rhythm work). CGBD means I can do 19th C fingerstyle banjo stuff. The slow, sustain-centric stuff really sounds good.

I'll find another one soon.