1933 National Tenor is on the way

[JPL]

The good folks at Vintage Nationals set this 79 1/2 year old beauty up as a lefty in CGDA and it's on its way from California to Illinois. Been fascinated by tenors and Nationals for years . . . decided to combine the two. I like the Irish, I like the New Orleans, my next-door neighbor is starting a bluegrass jam . . . I'll figure something out.

[Michael Eck]

Congrats! You're going to love it. I'd been eyeballing that one on the web, but I scored one (1930) in trade for a vintage Martin locally and I can't put it down.

[JPL]

My ideas always run ahead of my chops, but we'll see. I won't be able to blame the gear if it sounds bad, that's for sure.

[JPL]

Finally got the new tenor. I knew it would be smallish, but I was still a bit surprised. Nice straight neck, some substantial fret and fretboard wear, but not to the extent it's hurting playability. In terms of tone and volume, this little guy wants to raise a ruckus. Amazingly loud, and this combined with the tenor tuning is clearly just the thing to cut through a big band. Much more sustain than a tenor banjo, so I gotta figure out how to approach those Dixieland strumming patterns.

Gonna see if the local music shop has a suitable capo --- some simple old New Orleans tunes (Careless Love, etc.) are my first priority, but I also want to try some fiddle tunes, with keys of C and G uncapoed and D and A capoed up to DAEB. My limited bag of blues mandolin tricks all sound fantastic on the tenor.

The interesting thing about this instrument is that it's really a different beast than a tenor banjo, a 6 string resonator guitar, or even a standard tenor guitar. There are several established approaches for these other instruments you can adapt to the reso tenor, but to a large extent it's terra incognita.

[Michael Eck]

Glad to hear the report. You are right that it's a different animal than a tenor banjo, and I'm curious to see if you'll be able to make those Dixieland patterns work. I use both TB and TG in my jugband, but for different purposes. Cape-wise, Paige or Shubb banjo/mandolin capos will work fine, although they might not be able to go too far up the neck.

As an FYI, I was able to find an arched-lid Epiphone electric guitar case to hold my National tenor. I slip a t-shirt in at the body end to take up the extra space.

[Charles E.]

I have posted this guy before, he does a nice job with his National Tenor.....

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H5hsOQTUMcw

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=uPVZV...feature=relmfu

[JPL]

Thanks for the tip on the case. Not sure if the one I have is original, but it is certainly vintage.

I've seen that guy on Youtube --- nice stuff. Eddy Davis has some great videos, too, and seems to have an inexhaustible well of forgotten songs.

Man, this thing is loud.