The History of Tenor Guitar

Tenor guitars are one of the evolutionary dead-ends of the guitar family; yet they sound great and still have a few adherents among musicians and collectors. Tenor guitars are versatile and easy to play, and featured in jazz, Hawaiian and roots music. Their history, while relatively short and buried in the history of the tenor guitar's six-string big brother, helps round out the saga of how guitars became popular in the early part of the 20th century.

Genesis of the Tenor Guitar

Guitars trace their history back to the 15th century; tenor guitars barely make it back to 1925. Until steel strings became practical on a guitar, louder instruments like banjos and mandolins covered the musical spectrum. With the advent of steel strings and recorded music, a need arose for a smoother-sounding instrument to cover the musical space occupied by mandolins and tenor banjos--hence, the tenor guitar.

The first known tenor guitars were made around 1924 by two large Chicago-based instrument manufacturers, Regal and Lyon & Healy. The instruments were tuned the same as the tenor banjo--C-G-D-A, low to high--and targeted at converted banjo players.

By decade's end, Martin and Gibson had hopped aboard the tenor-guitar bandwagon. Martin in particular made a wide variety of tenor guitars, starting with the 5-17 in 1927 and proceeding through the full Martin spectrum of body sizes, styles and ornamentation, even archtops.

Variations and Innovations

The tenor guitar quickly became a platform for experimentation, as people began trying out new ways of making the guitar louder. In the '20s, National and Dobro began manufacturing resonator guitars made of either metal or wood with an aluminum acoustic amplifier where the soundhole normally would be. National began making metal-bodied tenor resonator guitars in 1928, and continued making them through the '30s.

The Electric Era

Electrical amplification became prevalent in the '30s, ending the resonator guitars' brief run, and some of the first electric guitars were tenors. When Rickenbacker began making Spanish-bodied guitars in the '30s, it quickly made tenor and mandolin versions. Similarly, the company produced a tenor version of its semi-solid bakelite guitar in 1936. Gibson followed a year later after with an archtop electric tenor; by 1939, Vega and Epiphone (among others) came out with electric tenors.

Decline and Discontinuation

As musical groups became smaller, tenor guitars struggled to provide sufficient depth and fluidity of sound. Still manufacturers kept offering tenor guitars. Martin kept tenors in its catalog through the '60s and continues to offer them on a special-order basis. Gibson offered tenors into the '70s, and, like Martin, will make special-order tenors. This has generated some interesting pieces, like the Gibson SG tenor pictured in Gruhn and Carter's "Electric Guitars and Basses" or the Vega six-string tenor (with two sets of doubled strings) in the same book.

Contemporary Use

Few performers still use a tenor guitar as their main guitar. Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio was the last high-profile tenor-guitar user. Lynda Kay Parker of the Lonesome Spurs is the most famous contemporary player.

For the player interested in vintage guitars on a budget, tenor guitars are an attractive alternative.

References

• John Teagle; Washburn: Over One Hundred Years of Stringed Instruments; 1996
• George Gruhn and Walter Carter; Electric Guitars and Basses; 1994
• Arnie Berle; Tiny Grimes: The 4-String Guitarist of Swing Street; 1981