So named because of it’s sonic register. The number of strings is irrelevent.
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devnulljp
Supporting Member
Paul Galbraith plays an 8 string classical guitar ... with an end pin ...Someone had better come up with the definitive definition of what a guitar is thenEvery one I can find says 6 or 12 strings...
Bucky Pizzarelli played 7-string jazz guitar
Keith Richards' tele has only 5 strings
This is a BC Rich Bich 10 string
Tenor guitar has 4 strings and is still a guitar
PBass is a 4 string bass guitar
...
Whatever Leo Fender designed (leaving Tutmarc out of it for a moment) was an extension of what he was doing with electric guitars, but it was meant to be played in a lower register.
They don't sit in their own special category described only by register, like no other instrument ever. I don't even know why I have to keep saying this.
Part of the reason people find this hard to comprehend, I think, has to do with the fact that we don't often describe guitars in standard tuning by register. But, as you've pointed out, we do have tenor guitars. We also have piccolo guitars.
What on earth would we call a guitar that was specifically designed to play in the bass register? Would that look different from what we play? I want someone to describe that instrument to me and point out all the ways in which it would be different.
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Deleted member 165050
Guest
Afaik it's called a bass because it is tuned the same as a double bass, and called a guitar because it's a flat-bodied instrument played like a guitar i.e. held horizontally. Probably.
That was my Uncle Vince's solution for everything. Good times!
The guy who owned the music store I used to work at started it in the 1940's. He had a lot of DIY solutions to various problems that only later were met by specific products.
Oh, no: I was referring specifically to strangulation via garrote. You know, allegations.
Oh, well that's very different and I know nothing
Yes, I saw one in Seattle. Predates Leo significantly, but it was not nearly as commercially successful
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Deleted member 165050
Guest
The only tenor guitar I've owned was tuned CGDA like a cello, I guess you can tune them any way you want though.
I think the real question here, is....would the Fender Custom Shop make one?
Oh wait...wrong thread sorry.
Oh wait...wrong thread sorry.
The tuning is optional and doesn’t determine tenor or bass. It’s the sonic register that counts. High or low - bass is low, tenor is high. What the notes are doesn’t count because “A” can be 110hz, 220hz, 440, 880 etc. it‘s whether it’s in the tenor register (high) or the bass register (low) that counts. We get pretty loose with our terminology these days but a 4 string guitar tuned like a cello to me, would not be a tenor guitar because of it’s lower register. It would just be a 4 string guitar - possibly baritone.
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I mean, it checks all the boxes - headstock, tuners, neck, frets (not necessary), body with pickups, bridge. The parts are there, everything else is kind of details and that can really muddy the waters.
If I recall the tuning was the same, but I could be wrong.
I'd say it's a bass, just a shortscale.
If I recall the tuning was the same, but I could be wrong.
I'd say it's a bass, just a shortscale.
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Deleted member 165050
Guest
Being a cello player myself I've had to venture into tenor clef although that's quite high and horrible to read. The tenor guitar I had was like cello I think although it was a while back. Maybe I'm mis-remembering and it was GDAE like octave mandolin. They all overlap anyway...
The intended range and tuning will determine the answer. If the low string is tuned to E an octave below a guitar, then the answer is yes.
It might have been called a "bass fiddle" by its inventor...but that doesn't mean that's what it "is." A "bass fiddle" is an upright instrument that can be played arco or pizzicato. This thing is designed solely for pizz use, and to be held much more like a guitar.
It might have been called a "bass fiddle" by its inventor...but that doesn't mean that's what it "is." A "bass fiddle" is an upright instrument that can be played arco or pizzicato. This thing is designed solely for pizz use, and to be held much more like a guitar.
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