c.1965 Harmony Monterey H410 Mandolin
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My Blueridge (very early, no truss rod) did not sound good with GDAE strings, but my Regal did and my Herb Taylor #173 is a cannon as it was specifically made for the Irish tuning. Like banjos, each instrument is little different and will respond differently. You will have to experiment with gauge and string material to see what works best for you. Pick style may make a difference too. I found that I did best with a 35 BC but others differ in their picks when they play the same instrument.
I have my Dobro Tenortrope Tenor Guitar tuned GDAE and I love the tone.
This is tuned GDAE
Having a normal size guitar body helps...
nigel
The original question of stringing Tenor as Octave.
Here ya go:
Jason built my Tenor when he was at Breedlove.
He's a great guy and brings his instruments to
Wintergrass every year.
vincit qui se vincit
I've used GDAE Octave Mandolin Tuning on the Tenor Guitar for Jazz. I added a Pickup & plugged it into the amp to get a nice Jazz tone:https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kG9L1AcYwlo
You have certainly got guitarist hands.
|When I used to work in The (now sadly defunct) Music Room here in UK, I used to restring the tenor guitars and tenor banjos on a regular basis.
Every Chinese made TG and TB seems to come with strings ok for CGDA, and at least in the UK and Ireland we far more commonly want the Irish Tenor tuning so GDAE, i.e. the same as octave mandolin.
With suitable choice of gauges, GDAE is no problem, likewise uke tunings including re-entrant if wished.
I'd guess at a .013 E on a shorter scale TG to a .011 E on a longer scale. YMMV.
Hope this helps.
www.stevetilston.com (double bass duties)
GDAE Tuning on a Tenor Guitar does mellow out the sound a bit & produces a more "Guitar-ey" sound.
Last edited by s11141827; Aug-14-2023 at 8:04pm. Reason: fine tuning needed
Lots of tenor banjo string sets to choose from most are very light.
Available in nickel, bronze, ball end loop end but if it is easier for you just buy single guitar strings.
Standard strings for a 23” tenor would be 12p 20w 30w 45w so super light would be 9p 16p 22w 32w
Personally I dont like plain a A string so perhaps you could try 10p 16w 26w 38w.
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