Rondo Music Tenor Guitar

[Paul Busman]

No, they don't have one...yet.
If you're not familiar with them, check out Rondomusic.com . They carry lots of imported string instruments at really reasonable prices. I've owned several and have been much impressed with their quality, especially at the price. I've sold them, but only because I didn't have the time to play them, not because of the quality.
I've been curious about a tenor but can't afford to spend much. On a whim I wrote to them and asked if there was a chance that they'd carry a tenor. The owner, Kurt wrote back asking what dimensions, scale length etc. would be desirable.
Not owning a Tenor I thought I'd let people here make suggestions as to specs. Body style? Tunings? I'll forward a link to this thread to Kurt once some responses appear. Who knows, we may have input in bringing a new guitar to market!
For my purposes, I'd want it to be able to accommodate GDAE tuning, and have other features (whatever those may be) making it good for Irish music.

[Jacob]

Rondo Music has recently introduced two new electric ukuleles.
Homage to LP & to SG.
&
Have one of each - concert uke 15 inch scale tuned to mandolin GDAE, ( .010p, .013p, .024w, .036w)
Took just a little nut slot enlargement for the G & D.
Have considered tuning one to mandola / tenor guitar CGDA, but am having too much fun playing fiddle tunes on a slighter longer scale.
Fit & finish is really nice. The humbuckers are well balanced and pretty hot.
They present the E string at a volume equal to that of the other strings.
Many pickups used on electric mandolins suffer from significant volume loss on the E string.
These don't.
Specs say they have a pre-amp, but no batteries are required.
A tenor guitar tuned to octave GDAE would be a very nice addition.
NFI, just a satisfied customer.

[thx712517]

I play a 22 7/8" scale tenor and find the first position finger stretches a bit much coming from standard guitar. I'm curious to try the shorter 21" scale tenors out there to see if it makes the stretch a little easier.

As far as body styles go, something like a Les Paul
Junior, single or double cut, with a wraparound tailpiece and a single P90 or humbucker would be fun. Really strip it down to the bare essentials.

[Jim Garber]

I am just curious why people are recommending solid body electrics when the OP mentioned playing Irish music. Sounds like a flattop 21" scale would work. Electrics would be fun but not ideal or usually welcome for an ITM session.

[Paul Busman]

Are there any particular specs that would make a Tenor suitable to handle the higher string tension of GDAE? Bracing? Just leave that to the builders?
For Irish I'd love to see a teardrop shape like my Trinity College OM but I'm not sure how the rest of the Tenor world would like that.
Hmmm...next time I change strings on the OM, maybe I"ll only put singles on it for a while and see how that sounds.

[fox]

There are already lots of budget mass produced tenors guitars around but only one with a 21" scale, there seems to be quite a few people looking for a shorter scale.
The bracing should be the same no matter what the tuning - its just a matter of choosing the right strings.
The standard scale is 23", shorter scales normally have smaller bodies & that often means less volume & less bass, less sustain.
So a large body, short scale with built in pickup would be nice but I doubt if it would be cheap?

It appears that the Blueridge BR40T is the bench mark budget tenor guitar, after that the price jumps up to 2k + for custom shop models.
Perhaps a solid wood, correctly braced BR40 size and shape model would be a top seller if the price was below 1k?

[Jim Garber]

There are already lots of budget mass produced tenors guitars around but only one with a 21" scale, there seems to be quite a few people looking for a shorter scale.

Is the Kala Tenor the one you are talking about? Specs say 21.5". Price seems pretty reasonable with a solid spruce top. I like the Kala ukes I own.

[fox]

Yes Jim, that one and I forgot about the Ozark...
http://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/acoust...mZXBoCifDw_wcB

[Paul Busman]

How well would a 21" scale work with GDAE tuning. On the tenor banjo the strings are kind of floppy for GDAE and it sounds better with heavier strings.
I'd be hoping for something even lower in price. Rondo sells some acoustics in the under $100 range that people seem to like. For my purposes, even "good enough" would suffice.
They sell some 3/4 scale guitars. I wonder if one of those strung with 4 strings, new nut and bridge would work as a tenor.

[fox]

Well that is what most manufactures do... stick four strings on an existing short scale six string body!
The problem with that is the bracing will be suited to 150-170lb of tension whereas tenor guitars are braced for around 80-100lbs.
21" scale works fine with GDAE or CGDA it is the bracing and body size that makes for a full sound.
I use a 20" scale tenor banjo as in my avatar, I tune it GDAE but I have suited the string tension to be the same as they would be on a standard 23" scale. I use 14. 20w 32w 48w for the 20" scale & 12 18 28w 38w on my 23" scale banjos.
Tenor guitars tend to use slightly higher tension than tenor banjos as the best results seem to come from around 20lb per string.
Obviously some folk prefer slightly different gauges to others.

[thx712517]

I mentioned the solid body option because it would be the least expensive, in my mind, for a manufacturer to offer a unique instrument. I would think a hollow body acoustic would carry a higher production cost.

[Verne Andru]

I'm very interested in a 21" tuned CGDA.

I know Rondo - haven't owned one, but everything I've seen says you get good quality at good prices. Kurt has also shown an affinity to accommodate customer requests, so I'm glad he's trying to find out more about tenors.

Of the models he currently has on his site, these would be interesting tenor candidates:

Agile AS-1000

http://www.rondomusic.com/as10002ts.html

Agile Cool Cat

http://www.rondomusic.com/coolcatsunburst.html

Agile Harm

http://www.rondomusic.com/harm3semitoast123.html

Agile Valkyrie

http://www.rondomusic.com/VALKnatash.html

My personal preference is for a 21" White Falcon version

[Verne Andru]

A word of caution to Rondo - if they do a tenor make sure they have someone who knows tenors to advise on the little quirks like, tenors are tuned in 5th and the fret-marker should be at the 10th, not 9th fret. Letting something small like that fall through the cracks and kill an otherwise well considered project.