Help needed for newbie

[bigmomma]

I started playing the mandolin about a year ago and totally love it. Looking for a different sounding stringed instrument. First thought about an octave mandolin not so sure now. I am a small woman with smallish hands. I can reach the open F on the mando.
I want to play something that is strung like the mandolin GDAE so I don't have to start from scratch. My learning curve is still quite steep. Wondering if a tenor guitar could be the next step? Concerns are string gauge are they much heavier than the J 74's and neck length? Elderly has a Blueridge 40T that is in my price range. Kala got good reviews but can't be tuned GDAE. Need some advice on how to spend my husbands hard earned money. Thanks

[fox]

If you want to play chords then scale length might not matter so much but for melody a shorter scale (21") might be a good idea.
I am sure you can tune the Karla to GDAE but you would not be starting from scratch with CGDA anyway.

[bigmomma]

Can't seem to find anything with a 21" scale except for custom. Do you know of one?
Thanks

[Seonachan]

The Kala is 21" (21 3/8" to be exact). The Ozark is about the same. Fletchers are also at this scale but are much more expensive. There are several vintage options as well that are often selling in the Kala/Blueridge price range, like the small-bodied Regals, Harmony (Supertone), SS Stewart, etc.

[bruce.b]

Don't be concerned about string gauge, a well set up tenor guitar is very east to fret. I prefer short scale tenors (21.25") over long scale (23"), but I don't find the difference to be that great. The short scale is slightly easier for me to play, but I do fine on a 23 incher.

I have the Kala and I think it would work ok tuned GDAE, I just wouldn't expect the G string to be that strong. I might be wrong about that since I haven't tuned it GDAE yet. Vintage or Kala will get you a 21 inch scale inexpensively.

[Steve Ostrander]

How about a mandola? Shorter scale than OM, tuned a fifth below mandolin. Same chord shapes, just a different key.

[FatBear]

As one newbie to another here are a few things I've discovered. I have only been playing the mandolin for 3 years. I also wanted to try a guitar-sounding instrument but wanted one tuned in 5ths. I couldn't find a tenor guitar to try out so I bought a baritone ukulele on Craigslist and tuned it in 5ths as an experiment. So here is what I've learned from that and from finally finding a few tenor guitars to try out

Fretting the strings: mandolins have short, high-tensioned strings and two of each. Fretting a tenor guitar with only one longer string for each note is much easier by comparison and should not be a concern. Fretting a baritone ukulele is so easy it seems like you are barely touching the strings.

The stretch: the longer the scale the farther apart the notes are at the nut end of the fretboard. That means you may have to learn some new chord shapes if that is your thing and moving around to play melodies can be quite a stretch for your fingers. This was the main reason I wanted to try an inexpensive test instrument (the ukulele) before committing to the more expensive tenor guitar. I think it will be a while before I can really move around well on the longer fretboard, but I keep improving and I know I'll get there. I suspect that the sheer distance means that really fast songs will probably always be difficult as will moving smoothly from a note up high to one down low. (Legato, I believe it is called.) But these finger exercises on the longer scale sure have made the mandolin easier to play! Anyway, the longer the scale, the more difficult you are likely to find it, but if you are persistent you can probably adjust to any of them. It just might affect what you are able to play. But hey, any instrument has inherent limits on what it can play. Otherwise there would only be one instrument in the world.

Capo: you can use a capo to shorten the scale length while adjusting and then just gradually move it towards the nut as you become more proficient.

Tuning: there are other ways to tune these instruments. This forum is filled with discussions and postings on it. Standard tenor guitar tuning is CGDA. You can play all of your mandolin songs exactly the same with this tuning but the actual notes you are playing will be a 5th lower. No problem if you play by yourself, but you'd have to learn new fingerings to play with others. Other people tune them GDAE which is an octave lower than the mandolin. So your mandolin music could be played directly and would be in the right key, but lower sounding. Still others use tunings borrowed from standard guitars or custom tunings to fit certain songs or styles that they specialize in. These are probably of no interest to you or I at this point, coming from the mandolin world as we do, and would just further confuse things.

Strings: They are not necessarily any heavier than mandolin strings, just longer and in singles rather than doubles.
There seems to be a lot of difficulty around selecting sets of strings. There are a few standard tenor guitar string sets, but with different scale lengths or non-standard tunings (even GDAE) you may find that you need to experiment. They really do make a lot of difference. After all, it is their vibrations that create the sound in the first place. I have gone through a lot of strings trying to get the best sound and feel out of my baritone ukulele in 5ths tuning and am just about there. (I still need to find a better A string.) In fact it has become so pleasant to play now that I have found the best strings that I might just keep it, even though I now have a tenor guitar on order. Don't tell my wife.

The sound: there is a lot of variation available. You would do well to listen to youtube videos and try to find instruments to try out before you commit. (Unless you are one of those people with money to throw around, then you can just order up something to try out then Craigslist it if you don't like it.) The length of the scale makes a big difference as does the size of the body and the materials it is made of. If there is a particular style of music that you are going to focus on, you might study what kind of guitars those players are using. I have seen a range from loud and brash (spruce top and maple sides/back) to extremely mellow (baritone ukulele made from mahogany and using nylon strings.)

These are what I've learned from a newbie's perspective. I hope it is helpful.

[GKWilson]

bigmomma,
If your husband has enough money, a Fletcher may solve all your problems.
They have a 21" scale and are made to be played GDAE.

I bought a Tenor with a 24'"+ scale. It was made to play as GDAE.
That is what I also wanted in a Tenor.
I have some hand issues and had problems with the length.
I thought I would have to get rid of it.
Instead I lowered the tuning to F and capo'd to the second fret.
This made the scale just under 22".
My Tenor, as many are, was marked on 9th not 10th fret.
So, the markings were still the same till the 12th fret.
[Thanks to the person that gave me this idea on a long lost thread.]
After a long time I was able to remove the capo.
This would bring a 23" scale down around 21".
I think a Blueridge would be a good option for this.
I'm not sure of the other well knowns.
As they are built to be tuned CGDA.

The other option would be the Baritone Uke.
The problem there is finding the right strings.
There are several threads in the archives that would help with this.
It would be a nice transition instrument.
And, later be lots of fun for camping and beach.

Come and join us.
I'm sure what ever you decide will bring hours of enjoyment.
Gary

[cargomaster]

It's funny, I'm the opposite of most you folks. I'm an old guitar player. I have a 21.1 inch scale tenor tuned GDAE, that I love. Fretting is fine. I just tried a standard mandolin on the weekend, and I can't handle the tiny little neck and short scale. And I'd have to agree on the above, double courses of strings, as on a mando, are way tougher to fret than a slightly longer scale tenor with single strings. By a big margin.

Of course, not coming from a mando background, I'm not playing like a mando player. Melodies are interesting, as you have to move around some.

[bigmomma]

Just wanted to thank everyone for all their insightful, informative information and of course time. I have just placed an order for the Blueridge 60T from Amazon at the most amazing deal ever. Comes with a Golden Gate hard case for get this $404.00. My mandolin teacher is going to set it up to GDAE for me. I am so psyched!!