Should I buy this tenor?

[A 4]

I've never played tenor guitar before, but I always figured one day I would get one of the Blue Ridge tenors tuned to GDAE, so I could play without learning anything new!

Today, while ducking a rainstorm in a local antique mall, I came across this tenor.

139159 139160

I would appreciate some opinions on it. It looks like a small, round, label is missing from the headstock, and there is no label inside, but it is stamped "KY 7". Looks to have a mahogany body, and I don't know about the top. Looks like a maple neck, and strongly striped fretboard, maybe rosewood (except it isn't very brown or reddish at all) or zebrawood? There was a zero fret, or at least I think. I've never seen one before. The soundhole seemed quite small. Any idea what it is? I tried to search images of tenor guitars, but without luck.

Also, anything I should check out, before making a decision to purchase? The only concern I had was that the body is bowed out, slightly, from strings pulling on the bridge. Also, the bridge appears to be held in place with screws - is that normal? I'm not a guitar person. There were only three strings on it, and I didn't want to tune it too much, but I thought it sounded kind of nice. Quiet, but nice.

Is there any way to know if would be able to be tuned GDAE (or maybe all of them can). Is it a tenor guitar at all, and not disguised ukulele? It did have steel strings. The asking price, by the way, was $189, and the owner wasn't there to talk to. What do you think, should I go back and get it, given that I sort of wanted a tenor anyway?



Thanks.

[bingoccc]

This may help. http://www.tenorguitar.com/what.html Being tuned in fifths means that mandolin fingering will still work, it's just a matter of being in and remembering that you are in a different key.

[mrmando]

No, pin bridges shouldn't be held on with screws.

Not sure what to make of this. The fretboard and truss rod cover don't look like factory work. This might have been done by an individual builder. Hard to say without more photos. Is the binding real or painted on?

If there's some fault in the top due to string tension, that sounds like a big deal to me.

[MikeEdgerton]

No, pin bridges shouldn't be held on with screws.....

Well that rules out the Harmony and Stella tenors of the 50's and 60's. They were all held on by those same two screws. When they split like they always did it was easier to replace the bridge because it wasn't glued on.

[A 4]

Thanks, all.

Bingoccc, you are correct, I'm just being lazy wanting GDAE. Mrmando, MikeEdgerton beat me to finding the picture, but there are tenor guitars out there with screwed on bridges:
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The bridge on this one looks good. Even though the top is pulling up a little, the bridge seems well attached to the top. And the screws do not look like a handyman special, either. Slotted screws, well seated, right on the cenerline - I would guess original. If it matters, there are no bridge pins. The guitar uses ball end strings, and they are not pushed down into the body with pins, but the balls (actually metal hoops) exit the bridge parallel to the top, on the side opposite the fretboard.

Now that you mention it, the truss rod cover does look a bit rinky-dink, if there is, in fact a truss rod. The fretboard seems odd to me, but looking at tenor guitar photos now, I see a lot mother of pearl, so maybe this colorful fretboard is not so strange. And is a zero fret a normal thing on an older guitar? However, there is an ink stamp visible in the center of the small soundhole: "KY 7". So maybe, if the neck or fingerboard was replaced, the body was a factory build. Hard to imagine a serial number of "7" though.

[Robert B]

KY 7 could be the model number, rather than a serial number.

[whatitis]

I'd try to get him down to $150. With some work it would be worth the risk in my opinion. Jake Wildwood of Antebellum Instruments would very likely be able to identify the maker. Looks like a Kay to me but I am far from an expert.

[A 4]

Thanks for the advice. My current best guess is that this is a Silvertone tenor. There are pictures online that look similar:
http://www.elderly.com/items/80U-1587.htm

Has the same pickguard, small soundhole, screwed on bridge. Similar headstock, but I don't see any with a truss rod cover or a zero fret.

db

[fox]

The classical guitar style bridge is unusual for a steel string guitar, I would of though that would be a distinguishing feature?
I would be interested to see the bracing as that might also give a clue...

[MikeEdgerton]

Silvertone was a Sears brand name. Sears never built a single musical instrument (unless you count the time they owned Harmony). I suspect it's a Kay as well.

[allenhopkins]

A bit weird to have a "tie" bridge on a tenor guitar; you would find one on a baritone ukulele, so perhaps a hybrid of some kind? That kind of bridge is generally used for nylon strings, rather than steel, though I have an Apollonio 12-string guitar that anchors the strings to the bridge without bridge pins.

If it is a TG, bridge could be a replacement, a bari uke bridge that was put on after the original failed. Baritone ukes would almost never have truss rods, but the truss rod cover also looks after-market, so another modification? And if it had a zero fret removed, how's the intonation? I had a Harmony Stella 12-string from the 1960's that had a zero fret, but they're not common on US-made instruments.

And if it's a Kay, I assume it's plywood. To me, lotsa unanswered questions, would make me cautious about purchase. Cheap enough, but one has to wonder what will happen with steel TG strings tuned up to pitch -- or to GDAE, even more so.

[Coffee Guy]

Looks like you can almost read what it says on the headstock

[A 4]

In person, you definitely cannot read anything on the headstock. And the soundhole is bound, so I can't tell if the top is laminate or not. The back looked like mahogany from the inside, I couldn't tell anything from the outside.

Is it possible that someone added a truss rod at some point, and replace the fingerboard in the process? I didn't think that was a thing people did, but maybe. Maybe because it was a much loved instrument?

[A 4]

Oh, I suppose it may be a Kay:
http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2010/04/c1955-kay-tenor-guitar.html

Similar headstock, soundhold, tuners and pickguard. No screwholes in the headstock for the logo plate, and no end pin on the one in the antique shop, though.

[bruce.b]

My opinion is no, don't buy it. It's not worth the asking price.

[A 4]

My opinion is no, don't buy it. It's not worth the asking price.

You are probably right. But still...

I may go back with a tuner and see if they will let me try to tune the strings that are there, and see if it intonates OK; then see if the action is close. It's just so tempting; I'm not concerned about collectibility or anything, so the Frankenstein nature of this guitar doesn't bother me. Maybe this could be my gateway tenor?

[fox]

Buy a blueridge & you wont be disappointed .. sorry as I know you really want to buy it but that is my opinion.

[whatitis]

For that matter $179 for the all lam Ibanez PFT2-NT might be a better investment. Sure, it lacks the vintage cool factor and intrigue, but you wouldn't have to worry about having work done on it, other than maybe minor setup stuff.

[Charles E.]

Sure, it lacks the vintage cool factor and intrigue,[/QUOTE]

There is no vintage cool factor in that tenor. It was cheap when it was made and cheaper now. Not worth the time or money.

I would look at a Blueridge or a Kala.

[A 4]

OK, I think the consensus is pretty clear here: don't spend 1/3 the cost of a Blueridge tenor on this one. Thanks for that, and I do take it seriously.