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View Full Version : 6 string to tenor question



khal
Apr-02-2009, 7:35pm
In reading other posts of people who use a 6 string acoustic guitar as a tenor tuned DGBE, people have placed the 4 strings in the center 4 string slots, leaving the top and bottom empty. Would it harm the guitar to use the bottom (regular string placement) slots and just remove the top 2 strings? I am thinking of using a Taylor Baby as a tenor (I like the Mahogany top). It has a truss rod, but would this string pacement warp the neck?

Thanks,
Kim

mandolooter
Apr-04-2009, 4:30am
I doubt it but Im no expert by any means. You could always loosen the strings a bit when your not playing it. What string guages ya planning on going with? I bet after a bit you'll be jonesin for a regular tenor!

khal
Apr-04-2009, 5:30am
I like heavier gauge strings. In the past I used a Thomastik flatwound 14 for the high E on a 23" scale guitar. I think you are right about jonesin for a regular tenor. I think I might go with the Ozark.

SincereCorgi
Apr-04-2009, 12:34pm
I think I might go with the Ozark.

Have you considered the Gold Tone TG-18? I'm very pleased with mine, all solid and excellent intonation, plays very well after getting a proper set-up (they say they set them up in Florida, but mine wasn't quite in adjustment when it came). I don't mention this to disparage Ozark – I have never played one – but the price of shipping from Europe is so high that you might as well consider the domestically-available Gold Tone.

khal
Apr-04-2009, 5:15pm
I've never seen a Gold Tone in person. The body seems pretty big in the photos. What attracted me to the Ozark was the small size. Is the Gold Tone big or is that just the photo?

allenhopkins
Apr-05-2009, 10:43am
Gold Tone says their TG-18 is "bigger than a Martin, smaller than a Gibson."

Here's (http://www.instrumentalley.com/Gold-Tone-TG-18-Tenor-Guitar-p/tg-18.htm) a link that gives the upper and lower bout dimensions.

khal
Apr-05-2009, 11:39am
Thanks, that's useful info. It's not as big as I thought but may be bigger than what I'm looking for. It's too bad I can't try one out around here. That's always the problem.

dburtnett
Apr-11-2009, 5:49pm
I've strung up a six string this way: D_GDAE, that _ means no string. I play it like a long Octave Mandolin, and with the space I can hit that low growly D when I want it, and avoid it easily too.

I keep a Tacoma Papoose strung similarly as a short Octave too.

acousticphd
Apr-13-2009, 11:26am
I've thought quite a few times about getting a small guitar (like a Baby, or a Papoose, or short-scale parlor) and trying to convert it to either an 8 string, or to a 4 string. The radical mod that always comes to my mind is cutting down the neck from both sides toward the center, to leave a tenor-width neck. You can imagine how ugly an amateur job like that could turn out. But I have seen one example of that done to a former 6-string that came out looking pretty good.

I'd like a size-5 (a la Martin's small guitar) tenor. A few times it has seemed like the most affordable way to do it might be to buy a used 5-15 six string, which I have seen go for $500, and pay some money to have the neck thinned.

The 5-string approach is an interesting idea involving maybe the least modification.. Many tenor guitars have a wider string spacing than on a 6-string, anyway. So by replacing the nut with one spaced for 5 strings, you would have tenor (or OM)+ 1.

Jill McAuley
Apr-18-2009, 12:35pm
A big thumbs up for small bodied tenors here - I finally got to play one of the Fletcher Tenortone tenor guitars this past week and the small body shape is so comfortable to hold, they also sound absolutely lovely!

Cheers,
Jill