The Guitar Gibson Never Made: Custom Archtop Tenor Guitar

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[@travisb1757]

That TG is truly a work of art. The sound is so resonate and full compared to other TGs I have played. Awesome instrument. This should be the standard way to make a TG.

[@MMauricette]

I agree that not enough people know about Tenor guitar. It's a great option to a 6 string guitar. Since 90% of 6 string players end of quitting the first 3 months to 1 year. That 90% should pick up a tenor guitar. I tune mine DGBE and play reggae, slow rock, R&B and pop music and I absolutely love it!

[@geoffreycarter3981]

i've definitely seen Gibson Archtop tenors before. There's one somewhere like Reverb right now

[@vonneusohl]

Wonderful sounding tenor guitar! Traditional jazz guitarist Eddie Condon had Gibson build a four string plectrum guitar version of the L5 back in the 1930s or 40s.. It had a longer neck and was tuned CGBD.

[@v2807]

The tenor guitar reminds me of the northfield octave mandolin.

[@aniquinstark4347]

This is the exact instrument I've been envisioning for years. Although mine would be set up for DGBE because I play a lot of baritone ukulele

[@braillynn4903]

Beautiful tone out of that tenor.

[@mellowfred8935]

Awesome video. 👏 Im down the rabbit hole, looking for the jazz swingy sound. Seen a Johnny Lawyor video and loved it.

[@andyduckering8731]

What a beautiful instrument.

[@christinerobins4601]

Love it! I'm especially fascinated because last week I bought a use Aria TG, tuned CGDA. It's perfect for my vocal range--C is my fbest key for singing. I can strum, finger-pick, or play single-note melodies or double-stops. It's opened up a whole new world for me. TGs are also great for giving your 4th finger a workout!

[@CraigMayhem]

Very cool. I want one! I build instruments and have been keeping my eye out for an archtop body because no one seems to make a tenor archtop. I usually convert baritone ukes to tenor guitar because the wide neck is more forgiving for my sloppy style of play. If anyone can't afford a custom tenor you can also use a 3/4 sized guitar (Oscar Schmidt makes a sturdy one) - you just have to customize the nut and bridge but that's fairly easy. I've turned one into an octave mando resonator using the guts of a full-sized reso (because I don't think anyone makes a tenor/octave mando resonator).

[@TonyfromBham]

I love tenor guitar. At least 1/4 of my gigs are on it. It’s a Gibson ETG 150 with a P60 pickup.

[@kevininman2013]

That’s really nice Baron, I love the sound. I just bought the Northfield octave arch top mandolin. I really enjoy it. I hope you enjoy yours as much as I enjoy mine.

[@nickyreynolds3326]

Jeez, I wish. That thing is beautiful

[@peterrahill9263]

231st subscriber LIKE. 5.6K+ view. Well done, Lawrence & Baron.

[@ukulelezaza]

What a beautiful looking and sounding tenor guitar, congrats!

[@lizkirby8805]

Thank you for all you do !!! Being watching your videos for a while and you are a wonderful inspiration So happy for your new tenor guitar, such a lovey instrument I would love love love to get one myself Hopefully one day Thanks again

[@robertschuler6825]

Congratulations on two stunning guitars. Actually they are similar to the Gibson L 50 not the L 5. Gibson made a L50 tenor version with a 16.4 wide body until 1970.

[@peterwu8471]

Lovely!

[@joekagerer]

Oh Baron, you left us with a cliff hanger, what will it be??? We'll all have to wait and see!

[@RobinBassett]

Really nice.

[@TinFoilHatPipeDude]

What a great guitar, congratulations! The old brand Levin from Gothenburg, Sweden made beautiful archtop tenor guitars in the 30’s. They gave the musicians the option of either a traditional tenor scale or more a plectrum guitar scale ehich they called a four string orchestra guitar. Woderful instruments and very rare, even the tradtional tenor scale from this company are very rare. The recommended tuning for those longer scale guitars was reentrant CGDA. However, I think they used the same plate thickness, body size and brazing as their six string archtops. Those were smaller than most more modern archtop guitars. Apparently Epiphone took into account the different thickness and bracing required for four strings, but Im not sure they ever made a long scale plectrum style guitar. My beautiful Blackstone from the 40’s has a normal tenor guitar scale. Looking forward to the next video! Be well! Emil

[@JWNOSNHOJ]

My understanding is that the standard tuning for the shorter scale 4 string tenor guitar (typically around 23" scale) was and is CGDA the same as the Tenor Banjo. The standard tuning for the longer scale 4 string Plectrum Guitar (typically around 26" scale) was CGBD the same as the long neck Plectrum Banjo. This apparently comes from the transistion from banjos in Jazz and dance bands to more guitar sounding instruments such as the Tenor Guitar and Plectrum Guitar, which made it easier for banjoists to convert rather than learn the six string guitar. Tenor banjoists went for the Tenor Guitar and Plectrum Banjoists went for the long scale Plectrum Guitar.

[@misfit144]

I don’t know if you know , what’s neat about the lloyd loar L5s is the sides were maple but that back is Burch which I find weird some times they almost sound like they have reverb built in.

[@richardingraham6353]

Pono makes a few flattops like that . They are my favorite instrument , I tune them most DGBE so they are the same as my Baritone ukulele

[@brianm556]

That's a beautiful instrument Baron! Glad you're enjoying it! How does it compare to your Collings tenor you used to own? I really enjoy your tenor guitar videos!! Perhaps you'd consider adding to your excellent tenor guitar lesson series. Awesome content as always.

[@davidhallowell3457]

Nice tenor. I play a 4 course bouzouki. You are probably fine with standard GDAE tuning, but I wonder if you’ve tried GDAD? Doesn’t sound like a big difference, for chord playing, it offers nice drones (where the E sort of gets in the way).

[@eugenelayton5231]

Skip to 4:55 where he actually gets out the tenor guitar or 6:15 where he finally plays it.

[@gaboralexnagy5609]

Are those behind the nut and tailpiece string mutes available anywhere? They'd come in handy for my archtop as well.

[@TimMelon]

Very nice. Great sound. What kind of strings did you use? Regular mando strings? Octive mando strings. Mix and match guitar strings?.....

[@MandoLessons]

I buY custom single ball ends. This one has 46 32 22 13 for GDAE

[@mandolinlasse]

The strumming sound is fantastic and very different from other arctops, they are usually not so good for strumming.

[@humnpwr]

Very nice but what is that silvery looking 4 string in the back ground???

[@MandoLessons]

An old Rickenbacker electric tenor :) kzbin.info/www/bejne/m5nIimxtqZyVmK8

[@RenatoAnesi]

Please search for a Record called "TENOR GUITAR IN CONCERT" that's The only Record of solo tenor guitar played finger style CGDA tuned, check It out

[@larssjogren6390]

Wonderful instrument, it must have cost very serious money to...at least 10 000 dollar i would guess.