Tenor guitar: Difference between revisions
[[File:1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar.jpg|thumb|left|1932 [[C. F. Martin & Company|C.F. Martin]] 0-18 T sunburst]]
[[File:1932 Martin 0-18 T Sunburst Tenor Guitar.jpg|thumb|left|1932 [[C. F. Martin & Company|C.F. Martin]] 0-18 T sunburst]]
The [[Delmore Brothers]] were a very influential pioneering country music duo from the early 1930s to the late 1940s that featured the tenor guitar. The Delmore Brothers were one of the original country vocal harmonizing sibling acts that established the mold for later similar acts, such as the [[Louvin Brothers]], and even later, the [[Everly Brothers]]. The younger of the Delmore brothers, [[Rabon Delmore|Rabon]], played the tenor guitar as an accompaniment to his older brother, [[Alton Delmore|Alton]]’s, six-string guitar. Rabon favored the Martin 0-18T tenor guitar and the Louvin Brothers later recorded a tribute album to the Delmores that featured Rabon’s Martin 0-18T tenor played by mandolinist Ira Louvin, but tuned as the four treble guitar strings. Another 1930s band that featured the tenor guitar was the [[Hoosier Hotshots]], commonly considered the creators of mid-western rural jazz. Their leader, [[Ken Trietsch]], played the tenor guitar, as well as doubling on the [[tuba]].
The [[Delmore Brothers]] were a very influential pioneering country music duo from the early 1930s to the late 1940s that featured the tenor guitar. The Delmore Brothers were one of the original country vocal harmonizing sibling acts that established the mold for later similar acts, such as the [[Louvin Brothers]], and even later, [[Everly Brothers]]. The younger of the Delmore brothers, [[Rabon Delmore|Rabon]], played the tenor guitar as an accompaniment to his older brother, [[Alton Delmore|Alton]]’s, six-string guitar. Rabon favored the Martin 0-18T tenor guitar and the Louvin Brothers later recorded a tribute album to the Delmores that featured Rabon’s Martin 0-18T tenor played by mandolinist Ira Louvin, but tuned as the four treble guitar strings. Another 1930s band that featured the tenor guitar was the [[Hoosier Hotshots]], commonly considered the creators of mid-western rural jazz. Their leader, [[Ken Trietsch]], played the tenor guitar, as well as doubling on the [[tuba]].
In the early 1930s [[The Selmer Company|Selmer Guitars]] in Paris manufactured four-string guitars based on guitar designs by the Italian luthier [[Mario Maccaferri]] that they marketed to banjo players for use as a second instrument. The two main four-string Selmer models were a regular tenor guitar with a smaller body and a 23 inch scale length for standard ”’CGDA”’ tuning, and the Eddie Freeman Special, with a larger body and a longer 25.5-inch scale length, using a [[Reentrant tuning|reentrant]] tuning for the A string which was designed by English tenor banjoist [[Eddie Freeman (musician)|Eddie Freeman]] to have a better six-string guitar sonority for rhythm guitar work than the normal tenor guitar with its high A string while till using the same cord shaped familiar to tenor banjoists. Selmer heavily promoted the guitar through ”[[Melody Maker]]” and Eddie Freeman even wrote a special tune for it called “In All Sincerity”. However, the guitar was not commercially successful in the 1930s, and many were subsequently converted to much more valuable six-string models. Originals of the Eddie Freeman Special are now very rare and are consequently highly valuable.
In the early 1930s [[The Selmer Company|Selmer Guitars]] in Paris manufactured four-string guitars based on guitar designs by the Italian luthier [[Mario Maccaferri]] that they marketed to banjo players for use as a second instrument. The two main four-string Selmer models were a regular tenor guitar with a smaller body and a 23 inch scale length for standard ”’CGDA”’ tuning, and the Eddie Freeman Special, with a larger body and a longer 25.5-inch scale length, using a [[Reentrant tuning|reentrant]] tuning for the A string which was designed by English tenor banjoist [[Eddie Freeman (musician)|Eddie Freeman]] to have a better six-string guitar sonority for rhythm guitar work than the normal tenor guitar with its high A string while till using the same cord shaped familiar to tenor banjoists. Selmer heavily promoted the guitar through ”[[Melody Maker]]” and Eddie Freeman even wrote a special tune for it called “In All Sincerity”. However, the guitar was not commercially successful in the 1930s, and many were subsequently converted to much more valuable six-string models. Originals of the Eddie Freeman Special are now very rare and are consequently highly valuable.
Four-stringed guitar
The tenor guitar or four-string guitar is a slightly smaller, four-string relative of the steel-string acoustic guitar or electric guitar. The instrument was initially developed in its acoustic form by Gibson…
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