Tenor guitar

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The tenor guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string version of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument (in its acoustic form) was basically developed so that players of the four-string (or tenor) banjo could double on the guitar. Later, solid-body electric models were also produced.

Construction

Tenor guitars are interesting four stringed instruments normally made in the shape of a guitar, or sometimes with a lute-like pear shaped body or, more rarely, with a round banjo-like wooden body. They can be acoustic and/or electric and they can come in the form of flat top, archtop, wood-bodied or metal-bodied resonator or solid-bodied instruments. Tenor guitars normally have a scale length of around 23 inches.

History and development

All the major guitar makers, such as Gibson, Epiphone, Martin, Gretsch, Guild and National, have manufactured tenor (and plectrum) guitars as production instruments. Makers, such as Gibson, even used to offer the tenor (or plectrum) models as a custom option for their six string guitar models at no extra charge. Gibson also had a line of tenor guitars under their 'budget' brand name of Kalamazoo. Budget tenor guitars by makers, such as Harmony, Regal and Stella, were made in large numbers in the 50s and 60s and are still widely available.

Tenor guitars were manufactured continuously by Gibson and Martin from the 1920s until the 1970s. National Instruments also made significant numbers of resonator tenor and plectrum guitars between the 20s and 40s, some of which were also used by jazz musicians as a second instrument. Dobro, the company formed by the other Dopyiera Brothers, after they split from theirn brother, John, running National Instruments, also built resonator tenor guitars.

Tuning

Tenor guitars are usually tuned in fifths (usually CGDA, similar to the tenor banjo), although other tunings are possible, such as "guitar tuning" or "Chicago tuning" (DGBE), "Irish" or "octave mandolin" tuning (GDAE) and various "open" tunings, for slide playing.

The normal CGDA tuning is very "open" and it gives the instrument wonderful voicings from both open and closed chords. The fifths tuning also makes for very logical chord shapes that can be moved up and down the neck. The instrument is equally well suited to both rhythm and lead playing.

Related instruments

The plectrum guitar is a close four stringed relative of the tenor guitar with a scale length of 26-27 inches and tunings usually based on the plectrum banjo - CGBD or DGBD. Plectrum guitars are also very suitable for guitar tuning - DGBE - because of their longer scale length but are much less suitable for CGDA tuning because of the high A string. Plectrum guitars were not made in as large numbers as tenor guitars and are now more rare.

Plectrum guitars played a similar role for plectrum banjoists in this period but this was much less common than for tenor guitars. One of the best known plectrum guitarists from the Jazz Age was Eddie Condon, who started out on banjo in the 1920s and then switched to a Gibson L7 plectrum guitar in the 1930s and stayed with it all his musical life up to the 1960s.

Use and performers

Tenor guitars are now very closely associated with the tenor banjo with its similar standard CGDA fifths tuning and they initially came to significant commercial prominence in the late 1920s and early 1930s as tenor banjos were slowly being replaced by six string guitars in jazz bands and dance orchestras. Tenor banjo players could double on tenor guitars to get a guitar sonority without having to learn the six string guitar. This is a practice still carried out by many contemporary jazz banjo players. This period is generally regarded as the initial "golden age" of the tenor guitar.

Two of the McKendrick brothers, confusingly both named Mike - 'Big' Mike and 'Little' Mike, doubled on tenor banjo and tenor guitar in jazz bands dating from the 20s. According to Bob Brozman in his excellent book on National instruments - The History and Artistry of National Instruments, they both played National tenor guitars and they are both shown in the book in photos with their National tenor guitars.

"Big" Mike McKendrick both managed and played with Louis Armstrong bands while 'Little' Mike McKendrick played with various bands, including Tony Parenti. Brozman's book also features photos of Hawaiian music bands that include players with both National tenor and plectrum guitars.

The Delmore Brothers were a very influential pioneering country music duet from the early 1930s to the late 40s that featured the tenor guitar. The Delmore Brothers were one of the original country vocal harmonising sibling acts that established the mould for later similar acts, such as the Louvin Brothers, and even later, the Everly Brothers.

The younger of the Delmore brothers, Rabon, played the tenor guitar as an accompaniment to his older brother, Alton's, six string guitar. Rabon favoured the Martin 0-18T tenor guitar and the Louvin Brothers later recorded a famous tribute album to the Delmores which featured the Martin 0-18T tenor that had been played by Rabon. Delmore Brothers recordings are readily available and make very enjoyable listening.

Another interesting 1930s band to feature the tenor guitar was the Hoosier Hotshots, considered to be the creators of mid-western rural jazz. Their leader, Ken Trietsch, played the tenor guitar, as well as doubling on the tuba. Their recordings, which are still available, are very clever, great fun and are well worth investigating.

In the 1930s Selmer Guitars in Paris manufactured four string guitars based on guitar designs by the famous Italian luthier Mario Maccaferri that were to be marketed to banjo players as a second six string guitar-like instrument. The six string versions of these guitars had been made very famous by French Gypsy jazz guitarist, Django Reinhardt in the 1930s, 40s and 50s.

The two main four string models offered by Selmer included a regular tenor guitar, with a 23 inch scale length, tuned CGDA, and the Eddie Freeman Special (EFS), with a larger body and a longer scale length, using a re-entrant CGDA tuning. The EFS had been designed by English tenor banjoist Eddie Freeman to have a better six string guitar sonority for rhythm guitar work than the normal tenor guitar with its very high A string. However, it was still tuned CGDA so that it could still be played by tenor banjoists.

The EFS was based on a six string model and it had a larger six string body and a six string scale length of 25.25 inches, rather than the tenor's smaller body and normal 23 inch scale length. The CGDA tuning used was re-entrant with the C and D tuned in the same octave and the G and the A tuned in the same octave, lowering the overall tone. The tuning and scale length give this very unusual four string guitar a beautiful sonority that is very close to that of the six string guitar, compared to a regular tenor guitar, and it is a very interesting instrument to play.

Unfortunately, this guitar was not commercially successful in the 1930s due to concerted resistance by the British six string guitar fraternity, particularly Ivor Mairaints. Many were subsequently converted to much more valuable six string models because of the Django Reinhardt connection. Originals of the EFS are now very rare and are consequently highly valuable.

Interestingly, modern Maccaferri-style luthiers, such as David Hodson in the UK and Shelley Park in Canada, as well as others, have now started building this four string model again due to demand from their customers. Many have now been made and they are becoming more widely played. They have a beautiful sound and offer a very broad range of tuning possibilities including CGDA, GDAE, DGBE, CGBD, DGBD and ADGB.

As the six string guitar eventually became more popular in bands in the 1930s and 40s, tenor guitars became much less played, although some tenor guitar models had been made in very large numbers throughout this period and are now still common. Tenor guitars came to prominence again in the 1950s and 60s, possibly due to the effects of the Dixieland jazz revival and the folk music boom. At this time, they were made by makers such as Epiphone, Gibson, Guild and Gretsch as archtop acoustics and/or electrics, as well as a range of flat top models by Martin.

Around this time in the 1950s and 1960s, electric tenor guitars were also referred to as 'lead guitars', although the rationale for this is not now clear, unless it was for marketing purposes. Lead playing on a six string guitar often involves just using its top four strings. A major player of the electric tenor as a lead guitarist in the bebop style from the 40s to the 70s was the brilliant jazz guitarist, Tiny Grimes, whose recordings with the The Cats and The Fiddle and others, are well worth investigating.

The Martin 0-18T flat top acoustic tenor guitar was made very famous in the late 1950s by Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio. The acoustic tenor guitar became a popular instrument in the folk music boom of this period, particularly this model. In 1997, as a tribute to the Kingston Trio, Martin re-issued 40 limited edition 50 year commemorative sets of the three main instruments used by the Kingston Trio to celebrate their founding in 1957.

The commemorative set included a beautiful custom Martin Kingston Trio KT-18T tenor guitar with The Kingston Trio engraved on the fingerboard in mother-of-pearl and its label was signed by C. F. Martin IV, the CEO of Martin Guitars and all the surviving members of the Kingston Trio. It came with a luxurious green plush-lined case and this very special instrument had the most wonderful sound of any acoustic flat top tenor guitar.

In 1968 the famous plectrum banjoist Eddie Peabody designed a six string, four course, electric guitar-like instrument with a plectrum scale length of 26 inches and plectrum tuning of CGDB. It was called the Banjoline and it was mainly manufactured by Rickenbacker. The Rickenbacker version had two pick ups and volume and tone controls.

The six strings were grouped into sets of four courses with the C and the G strings doubled in octaves and the D and the B strings as single strings. Due to its doubled strings and electric pick ups, its sonority was similar to that of the doubled strings of the twelve string electric guitar that had been made famous by Rickenbacker as played by George Harrison of The Beatles and Roger McGuinn of The Byrds.

Unfortunately, although the Banjoline was made in quite large numbers, it was not commercially successful at this time. However, it remains a fascinating instrument with a unique sound and a wide range of very interesting tuning possibilities. LP recordings of Eddie Peabody playing banjo classics on the Banjoline were recorded and can still sometimes be found.

Current use

In more recent years there has been an upsurge of interest in the tenor guitar and individual specialist luthiers, such as Joel Eckhaus of Earnest Instruments, now commonly adapt or build them as custom instruments for their customers. They are now even beginning to be mass manufactured again, such as the models offered by Gold Tone Instruments. Modern players of the tenor guitar include Neko Case and Ani Di Franco and they are often used by musicians looking to replace or augment sounds produced by more conventional instruments.

They sound particularly good in their original role as rhythm instruments in jazz and blues, as well as combining with six string guitars in jazz, blues, folk or ethnic music settings. Being tuned in fifths, they also work well with both mandolin family and violin family instruments. They can also fit very nicely into the mould of 'ethnic' sounding instruments, such as the bouzouki.

Tenor guitars can be very difficult to locate since they were mostly manufactured in the U.S.A. Up until a few years ago they were usually regarded as musical oddities with little value but now they are becoming very attractive to both players and collectors, particularly the fascinating National resonator instruments. Luthiers will build them as custom instruments but this can be an expensive option for an initial purchase. Manufacturers, such as Gibson or Martin, will also still build tenor guitars as custom shop instruments but this can be an even more expensive option.

Production tenor guitars by Gibson and Martin are still generally available, such as Gibson's ETG-150 electric/acoustic tenor guitar and Martin's 0-18T acoustic tenor guitar. Original tenor guitars in good condition by any of the major guitar makers are very desirable, both as instruments for playing, and as interesting collectibles in their own right. Some specially ordered custom tenor guitar models can be extremely rare since only one of them may have been manufactured.

Tenor guitars can range from the lower cost budget models to good quality Gibson or Martin production instruments up to their more highly prized custom-built instruments. They can usually be found in on-line auction sites, such as eBay, or being sold by many of the reputable on-line dealers of vintage instruments, such as Gruhn Guitars, Elderly Instruments, Mandolin Brothers, Bernunzio Instruments, Rothmans Guitars and Players Vintage Instruments, who specialise in tenor guitars.

Information sources

However, be very careful - getting interested in playing and collecting tenor guitars can be highly addictive. For further information see this brilliant non-commercial web site http://www.tenorguitar.com/ which is dedicated to spreading the good word about the tenor guitar. This web site includes detailed information about tenor guitars and also where they can be located.

It also has a link to the only on-line discussion forum dedicated to the tenor guitar - the Tenor Guitar Registry: http://launch.groups.yahoo.com/group/tenorguitarregistry/. For detailed information about most of the production models of tenor guitar that were ever built, see the excellent book by George Gruhn and Walter Carter: Gruhn's Guide To Vintage Guitars, as well as some of their other photographic books on guitars that also feature tenor guitars.

Akira Tsumura's book Guitars - The Tsumura Collection has a very interesting photographic section on tenor guitars which includes rare examples, such as one made by the famus luthier, John D'Angelico. Tsumura's other books on his banjo collection also feature some tenor guitars.

Prominent players

Among the most prominent musicians to use the tenor guitar were The Delmore Brothers of northern Alabama, a country music duo active in the 1930s and 1940s. Other notable players of the instrument included the jazz guitarist Tiny Grimes (who played an electric tenor guitar, tuned DGBE), as well as Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio. More recently, Ani DiFranco has used a tenor guitar on a few of her songs, tuning it in various non-standard tunings. Singer-songwriters [[Songs: Ohia|Jason Molina]] and Neko Case have also used tenor guitars in their recordings as has English indie folk musician Seth Lakeman. Actor John Michael Higgins in the film A Mighty Wind of the fictitious band The New Main Street Singers plays the tenor guitar.

External links

• [Tenorguitar.com]
• [Chordfinder for Tenorguitar and other four-string instruments]
• [Tenor guitars and ukuleles page from Seth Austen & Beverly Woods site]
• [The Delmore Brothers official site]
• [The Delmore Brothers - A History page from Native Ground Music site]
• [A German tenor guitar site]