Re: Ranking old tenors (generally speaking) by brand?
If you are looking at older tenors, Harmony, Stella and Silvertone tenors will all most likely be ladder braced. A lot of them will need neck resets and some will have solid tops. The tone can be "funky" but underwhelming.
Older Gibson tenors can be very nice but I would avoid Gibson tenors from the 1950's and 60's. They just stuck a tenor neck on a six string body and tend to be over built and cannot be heard in a session.
No reason a Martin style 5 can't be tuned GDAE, you just need to figure out the right string gauges. With the heavier strings required the intonation may be slightly off.
Have you looked at the Pono and Kala tenors?
Charley
A bunch of stuff with four strings
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