Ibanez AVT1 or Blueridge BR40T for newbie?

[thx712517]

Hello all, first post here. I'm a six-string guitar player planning on buying a tenor guitar as a Christmas gift to myself with my wife's blessing on exceeding the budget, and since I have been unable to find any tenor guitars or even tenor banjos in person to try out I would appreciate some input.

I've been playing guitar on and off for about ten years and I've leveled out at a decent rhythm/chord player. I took violin lessons for two years but never quite got the muscle memory and intonation to where they needed to be for pleasurable playing. I did enjoy the melodic playing immensely, and it was nice to return to the musical notation of my piano days instead of tabs. I've tried learning musical notation for guitar but my brain just doesn't want to.

Daydreaming at work one day I thought a great instrument would be an octave violin (I like the deeper tones) with frets for reliable notes, and skip the bow. That's how I stumbled on tenor guitars, specifically the Irish tuning of GDAE.

I'm trying to decide between the Ibanez AVT1 at $299 versus the Blueridge BR40T (which I've seen range from $400-$460). I can expect about $350 to purchase a guitar before I have to make some concessions and cut other spending. Since I'm unable to play them in the store to get an idea, I'm a little nervous about buying one online and would like some more information on both.

With a six-string guitar I prefer a thick neck, light weight, and good balance so it isn't neck-diving like my old SG. I have an electric PRS (an SE singlecut) as my primary guitar, a beat-up Art & Lutherie cedar top acoustic as my secondary, and a Seagull Merlin dulcimer for walking around the house and fooling around with.

I plan to play primarily melody. My wife plays the flute so there will be a great number of Celtic and Irish tunes, and I intend to play classical music and folk tunes from my violin books, just an octave lower. I favor a deeper, warmer tone and lower string tension, and I've learned with my other guitars that quality construction is extremely important.

[fox]

Hi and welcome, both of your choices have good reputations but I would go with the Blueridge BR40T.
However I do find that the 23" scale is quite challenging for me, I much prefer a 21" scale for melody work.
There is loads and loads of threads on here but perhaps you should add a Kala to your list ..... http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/sh...-Tenor-Guiitar

[crisscross]

I'm the owner of the Kala and the Blueridge in the thread fox has linked.
It's true that the shorter scale length of the Kala makes playing melodies a bit easier, but you get used to the longer scale length of the Blueridge quite quickly.
I never played an Ibanez, I like their small bodies, but I guess for GDAE tuning, the larger body of the Blueridge is an advantage.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BZ4jJipM7ug
I think those low notes need some room to resonate, and I'm not sure an Ibanez AVT1 can provide that.
The sound seems more delicate, better for CDGA tuning.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H8Xb_CVZF3o

[Seonachan]

I've owned a Blueridge in the past, and currently have an Ibanez. They can both handle GDAE fine, but the tonal quality is different. On the Ibanez and other smaller-bodied tenors, GDAE tuning has more of a banjo-like punch to the lower notes, whereas the 0-size Blueridge is obviously more like a 6-string. If you're Art & Lutherie guitar is the parlor-sized Ami, you've got a pretty good approximation of the sound you'll get from the Blueridge.

You can often find the BR-40T for under $400, either used, or new from the big online dealers during their frequent promotions.

[thx712517]

I have a Folk model, which is somewhat larger than the Ami. It's a beautiful sounding guitar.

It sounds like the Blueridge might be better suited to what I want. No offense to banjo players intended. In regard to neck thickness and shape, is it a rounded C like most guitars?

[fox]

Yes a round profile, my only crissum about the guitar is... it is in fact a six string body with a tenor neck & therefor braced for six strings! As it happens it still sounds great!
In the UK you can buy the six string version for a lot less money than the four string version!
Being the meddling person that I am, I sanded down all the soundboard bracing & fitted slightly lighter strings.
Unfortunately I don't have a standard version to test my mods against but it sure seems to work.
Anyway I doubt if you would be disappointed with a Blueridge , they are lovely to look at and pretty easy to play.
There are several models, the BR40 being the base model, the BR70 is rather Glam Rock but I would love one

https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blueridge-B...coustic+guitar
https://www.amazon.co.uk/Blueridge-B...coustic+guitar

[thx712517]

Do you happen to know if the Ibanez is similarly afflicted with heavier bracing? I remember from my violin days that a thinner top and careful bracing favorably impacted tone. Did you notice much of a difference after sanding down your Blueridge's bracing?

[fox]

It sounded pretty good before, I really cant say but I would hope it sounds better.
I don't know about the Ibanez, I think most factory build low price guitars will be over braced & besides heavy bracing does not mean a bad sound.

[ARK]

I have owned the Ibanez AVT1 and I would not qualify it as 'deeper, warmer tone'. However, it does have the lightness and balance in its build which you're after. My current tenor guitar is an Ozark 3372C, and it is markedly louder and fuller than the Ibanez.

[fox]

Does your Ozark have a cedar top or a spruce top? I bought an Ozark as my first tenor guitar, it was one of the first models out & had a spruce top.
I sold that one & have since bought a newer cedar top one, it has quite a nice voice, I love the scale length but it does not have a very big body & is a bit drowned out by the blueridge