Gold Tone TG18 tenor guitar

[Luvapluck]

I'm new to the forum and play a 6 string guitar.I do,however want to play a tenor guitar and am interested in what members think of the TG18 Goldtone.I live in the UK and tenor guitars are not easy to find.I have located the TG18 with in driving distance and look forward to trying it out.Is the Blueridge a better guitar?I don't really want to buy online and would prefer to play it first so I would love to hear what any one thinks.
Thanks.

[Taylor and Tenor]

Having owned a Blueridge, two Harmonys and made several home-made tenor from childern half size guitars, I now own an Aria NA tenor. If you can find a used Aria, I would inclined to go that route. In my humble opinion, the Aria, although more costly, is steps above a Gold tone or Blueridge in both sound and build quality. I returned the Blueridge after one month because the top went south on me and the top became more wavy than a country road. I believe Blueridge and Gold Tones are made in same factory.

Another possibilty is to make one from a small body six string. Look up Gerry Cathy on Youtube, he plays a cutdown classical. As he says in the video, he toook his Dremel Tool and narrowed the neck by two strings width and uses only four strings leaving two tuners unused. Viola, he had a nylon string tenor for really short money. One of my home-made tenor projects may still be on Mandolin Cafe somewhere.

[fox]

I believe there are over 14 different model tenors for sale in the UK, several second hand ones on Ebay at the moment!

[Luvapluck]

I believe there are over 14 different model tenors for sale in the UK, several second hand ones on Ebay at the moment!

Thank you for the replies.I've had a look on e bay and will not be using it as I want to play the instrument before buying.

[fox]

I can understand what you are saying although I think that most of the mass produced, bottom end, tenor guitars are much of a muchness!
I doubt if they have carefully selected soundboard so one could easily be better than another. Then you have the issues of a thick coat of finish over the sounboard that can take a lot of playing before it, along with the wood, loosens up.
I have never got on with the factory set up or the string gauges on the ones I have bought, so unless you can find a shop with a large stock of guitars with custom set ups, you might not get the best impression anyway?
However it seems the Goldtone and Blueridge are top choices, you can read dozens of post on this thread about them...
My Blueridge is awesome, it is about 3 years old and getting better every month. I have far more expensive instrument that don't come close to it but then again I might of been lucky!

[SincereCorgi]

My dad has a TG-18 that I've used a bit. The build quality is nice but it's much, much too quiet. I suspect it might be a tetch overbuilt. If I were in the market for a modern Chinese factory instrument, I would consider a Blueridge first.

[Luvapluck]

Thanks folks.Its all very interesting stuff .

[fox]

The problem with the Blueridge is the availability & cost in the UK, I bought mine second hand for about £300 (about $460) but I can see a BR40 for £400 on Amazon($620) http://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B003YOT0B...0WM6MS2EAGHS5M

[Luvapluck]

What do you think about buying an instrument like the Blueridge from Amazon?Would it require a complete set up from a music shop or is it something I could do myself?

[fox]

Well I don't know what your expectations are but I think, as far as I can gather, you would be very unlucky to get a bad one!
Any guitar you buy should be very playable straight out of the box, most come tuned CGDA.
If you want a different tuning then that might require a bit of DIY or if you want a vey low action then a pro set up might be needed.
It would be nice to walk into a shop & choose from 20 different tenors but I don't think you can do that in the UK.
Eagle Music has a good reputation though....

[Luvapluck]

Thanks you.

[Verne Andru]

IMHO one of the key factors when buying from a big-box is coming to terms with the fact that a setup will be required. No maybe's.

To keep costs down they ship what they sell as it arrives from the factory. Many of the off-shore factories don't go much further than putting all the pieces together before they box and ship, so a nicely playing instrument is often a fluke. Some shops are better than others, but tweaking will be necessary.

Accepted industry norms are such that the reseller is expected to do a certain amount of "dealer prep" in much the same way an auto dealer has to prepare the product for sale with sales margins are adjusted accordingly. In the on-going war to sell the cheapest, prep was the first casualty.

With instruments like tenor guitars, which are not considered "popular" by any stretch, you need to educate yourself as much as possible and take a leap of faith buying on-line if that's the only way you can get what you're looking for. I've purchased a number of acoustic instruments this way and, requisite setup aside, all have been excellent purchases. But I knew what I wanted and made sure I was getting a platform I could build from.

[Luvapluck]

I think you're right.I have purchased ukuleles on line and both needed some adjustment.From my experience,it's mainly adjustment at the bridge with the saddle taking down a little.I have not yet done this myself but am building up to it.It seems that carefully sanding down,evenly,the saddle,a bit at a time is the best way and being ultra careful not to do too much.Whilst I think about it where would you buy shim material from if you did take too much off the saddle and what's it called?I looked on e bay and couldn't find anything.If I decide on a BlueridgeBR40T which seems to be a good choice reading here I will wait until Hobgoblin get them in in BirminghM or Manchester and go and try one.Eagle music have a Tanglewood and a Gold Tone that i would like to try but I think from what people say the Gold Tone may be too quiet,and they don't deal with Blueridge guitars.They have a Buchanan,I think but it's way out of my price range.All interesting stuff.I think I'm really hooked on getting one of these and I've never tried one!It would be tempting to use theDGBE tuning as I play 6 string and ukulele but I think I'll tune standard tenor tuning and learn new chord shapes.Can't wait,but it may have to be next year.