Possibly Converting a Baby Taylor to 5-string Tenor-like Creature

[InJapan]

Recently, on General Mandolin Discussions, I posted "Seeking Advice on Different Instrument Types" and got the following suggestion:

Capt. E:
Find a Tenor guitar. The single strings are easier on the fingers... Tenor guitars are normally tuned a fifth lower than a mandolin/violin as is a mandola.

That got me thinking. I actually have a Baby Taylor guitar that I hardly ever use, and it has a scale length of 22.75" -- almost the same as that of a 23" tenor guitar.

So today I played around with the tuning...
6 E: I dropped it down to a low C
5 A: dropped to G
4 D: no change: D
3 G: raised to A
2 B: dropped to A
1 E: no change: E

Obviously, this gives me two As, which isn't ideal, but I enjoyed playing the guitar tuned in 5ths, and I really liked having a low C. So it made we want to improve on the situation.

First, if I were to convert the guitar to 5 strings by eliminating the extra A (string #2) and moving the E string over to the #2 position, I wonder -- could that put enough uneven stress on the instrument to cause damage?

(There's a reason I like the 5-string idea -- the two outside strings on the Baby Taylor are extremely close to the edge of the fingerboard, and when I play melodies on the high E string, that string can occasionally slip off the fingerboard. So some extra fingerboard space for the top string would be nice.)

Then for the bottom string... The low E dropped to a C is flabby and it sounds bad. Right now, the Taylor is strung with Elixir Ultra-Thing Nanoweb 80/20 Bronze Light strings (.012 - .053), which is what Taylor recommends.

What gauge string should I use for a low C on a short guitar?

PS: I've hunted online for string tension specs for the short-scale Baby Taylor, but I haven't yet found any. However, I read that a standard scale metal-string guitar with light strings has 26.0 lbs of tension for the low E, and total guitar string tension of 163.2 lbs. Presumably, the tension on the Baby Taylor would be somewhat less???

[whatitis]

32 22 14 9 for that scale length

[Seonachan]

Keep in mind the CGDAAE you got by retuning your guitar gave you mandocello-to-octave mandolin range. That low C is not going to sound very robust no matter what gauge you put on it (that's baritone guitar territory). The more common and responsive 5 string 5ths tuning on that scale length would be FCGDA, giving you tenor/mandola tuning with a low F on the bottom. Start with the gauges whatitis recommended above, and keep your low E guitar string and tune it up a half step to F. If that feels too tight, go with a slightly lighter gauge.

[fox]

So if I have this right, you want to tune CGDAE on your guitar that is rated for around 140lb of total tension.
Most 4 string 23" tenors work best with around 75 - 90lbs.
So you can use pretty heavy strings without much fear to the instruments integrity but finding a C string that sounds good will be the biggest issue. You could start with a .065 & see how that sounds but more likely a .0.75 will sound better.
You could try 13 22 32 45 65. that would be around 110lb total.
However as Seonachan points out FCGDA might be a better option.
If you feel a little more ambitious then an octave mandolin conversion would suit the guitar.

[InJapan]

Thanks. I'll play around with both FCGDA and CGDAE.

By the way, I've hunted online but not been able to find the detailed specs for Baby Taylors. Is there a way to determine what the individual string tension, as well as the total string tension, for a 22.75" guitar is supposed to be when strung EADGBE with the recommended light strings, .012 - .053?

[fox]

As close as I can get useing MPUSTC...