Hello, new member here. First Tenor guitar, an Ibanez AVT1

[hammer40]

Just wanted to say hello. I just recently purchased my first tenor guitar, an Ibanez AVT1-NT.

I'm new to instruments in general. I started to learn my first one, the ukulele, about a year and a half ago. I started on the tenor scale, added a baritone not to long after that, and now adding a tenor guitar. I still have a lot to learn, but have made pretty good progress on the ukes. I love the difference in the sound from each scale, and I'm really looking forward to learning the tenor guitar.

I still love the uke and have no plans to give them up, just really enjoy the variety that 4 strings has to offer. Who knows, maybe someday I'll even attempt 6 whole strings!

Most forums love pictures, so here are a couple of the AVT1 from Sweetwater. This is the exact guitar I received.

[fox]

Hi hammer, welcome to this thread.
I love the Ibanez shape, I guess you have it tuned like your uke?

[hammer40]

Hi hammer, welcome to this thread.
I love the Ibanez shape, I guess you have it tuned like your uke?

It ships CGDA, so I thought I would give that a try for a while. I will at some point try DGBE, like my baritone uke, and we'll see which tuning of the two I prefer.

Yes, the old school "parlor" shape won me over as well.

[GKWilson]

Congrats. I haven't seen one of these in person yet.
Would like to try one out.
Gary

[John Kelly]

Fine-looking instrument you have there. Another possible tuning is as an octave mandolin - GDAE from low to high! The world is your oyster, so enjoy the new tenor.

[Steve Zawacki]

That's part of the fun of TG. Tune it as you like and enjoy. There is no wrong way, as long as no one gets hurt.

[hammer40]

Thanks for the welcome everybody!

[Frank elliot]

Hi. I've been thinking about ordering one of these for awhile now. Hard to find here in Australia so I'll have to have it shipped from the States. Love to see one before I buy but not possible. I have a question that some one here might be able to answer. How much thinner is the neck on this guitar than a standard
Tenor Guitar?

[hammer40]

Hi. I've been thinking about ordering one of these for awhile now. Hard to find here in Australia so I'll have to have it shipped from the States. Love to see one before I buy but not possible. I have a question that some one here might be able to answer. How much thinner is the neck on this guitar than a standard
Tenor Guitar?

Here are the neck stats from Ibanez for the AVT1

Scale 580mm
a : Width at Nut 30mm (1-23/128")
b : Width at 14th Fret 36mm
c : Thickness at 1st 22mm
d : Thickness at 7th 23mm
Radius 400mmR

I believe the Blueridge BR-40T has a 1-9/32" (32mm) nut width. I don't know what any of the other tenor guitars necks are.

[Frank elliot]

Thanks for that. A lot can happen in a couple of days. Found one in a local music store. Played it for a few minutes and bought it. The neck is a tad smaller than I'm used to but doesn't seem to be causing too many mistakes. Not sure I'm in love with the sound. Might be a bit tinny for my ear. But it's certainly a really nice looking guitar.

[Dolamon]

Frank - re the 'tinny' sound. Most of these guitars are sent out with what essentially is a set of tenor banjo strings on them. These are generally way too light (thin) to really work the top of a tenor guitar. Plus ... they are probably old and tired. Graham MacDonald (sort of a southern neighbor of yours ... ACT) has a remarkable String Tension Calculator on his website which may help you make a better choice http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html . Go to the site, scroll down to the actual gauge program (after reading the instructions) and open up either the Mandola 47cm or short bouzouki 56cm. You can fudge around and experiment with different string tensions and find something which is closer to being balanced.

These new guitars are really quite robust compared to the earlier examples from the 20's and 30's. Just don't get too overboard and work at a balanced tension across all four strings. I got an Aria tenor a few years and put on what I thought was a slightly too sturdy a string set and was amazed at the richness which happened ... compared to the weeny strings it came with. I needed to adjust my neck relief once and it still amazes me with the sound.

Good luck - Dion