# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Tenor Guitars >  8-string tenor guitars?

## swankerme

I've been looking around for a mandolin-family replacement for my acoustic guitar and I believe I have decided that an 8-string tenor guitar is exactly what I am looking for. Rather than beating the bush with various guitar-bodied octave mandolins, it seems like a tenor guitar is the ideal replacement - but I think that only having 4 strings would give a "weak" or "thin" sound. 

Does anyone have experience with 8-string tenors? Have they been done before, and are there any reputable builders?

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## Richard Singleton

link below to info on 8 string tenors played by Nick Reynolds of the Kingston trio:

http://www.lazyka.com/linernotes/Odd...icks8-Strg.htm

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## ptritz

So what exactly would be the difference between an "eight-string tenor guitar" and a "guitar-bodied octave mandolin"?   There are plenty of CBOM-type critters with the same scale length as the typical tenor guitar, and any tuning that works on one would work on the other.

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## Bill Snyder

But he couldn't call it a guitar.  :Smile:

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## Richard Singleton

Soares'y imports an eight string tenor. Reports on the Cafe on Soares'y instruments on the Cafe have been mixed, you could do a search.  Here is the web site link.

http://soaresyguitars.com/

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## GD Armstrong

I have built a couple using the same body and string length as my regular tenor guitar but I call them "guitar bodied octave mandolins". They are a bit louder plus that little bit of chorus that comes from paired strings.

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## swankerme

> So what exactly would be the difference between an "eight-string tenor guitar" and a "guitar-bodied octave mandolin"?   There are plenty of CBOM-type critters with the same scale length as the typical tenor guitar, and any tuning that works on one would work on the other.


From what I am discovering, there essentially is no difference. Tenor guitars were designed to supplement tenor banjos, so most were tuned CGDA, but this is essentially just a guitar-shaped mandocello. So if you have a "guitar-bodied octave mandolin", I would be more inclined to call it an 8-string tenor guitar.

It's all just nomenclature. It's really about the sound!

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## allenhopkins

> ...Tenor guitars were designed to supplement tenor banjos, so most were tuned CGDA, but this is essentially just a guitar-shaped *mandocello*...


*Mandola,* rather -- octave higher than a mandocello.

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## crazydave911

Whatever you might want to call them, they are still being built  :Laughing: . Still a newby to this world (and forum) but thought I'd show off my girl once more  :Smile: 



Dave

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## journeybear

I have a National steel tenor guitar that despite having single strings has what would hardly be called a "weak" or "thin" sound. It obviously is a different sounding instrument than an acoustic guitar - but so is a double stringed instrument. If you are looking to replace your guitar with something similar sounding, you may have to embrace the likelihood that there will be a difference of some sort. When I got this, I soon realized that it forced me to adjust my playing style. It was a trade-off -  I lost tremolo, but gained string bending and using slide. And of course, a whole lot of volume!  :Mandosmiley:

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## Charles E.

A tenor guitar is what it is, a cross over instrument for tenor banjo players from th 20's. Even if you double the strings you will have no bass and twice the tuning. Accept it for what it is and even embrace it, it is a great mid range instrument that finds itself happly between the guitar and the fiddles, banjo's, what have you. There is a lot of chord work and lead playing that can be full filling.

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