Bubinga/Sitka tenor guitar

[Mark McLean]

This is my 5th build. A friend requested that I make her a tenor guitar as she has very small hands and liked the narrow neck of a tenor. I didn't know much about them but did a bit of research and designed this based on a L-OO body (Gibson made a lot of L-OO tenors back in the day). It has a 23 inch scale length, 12th fret neck join, zero fret (to adapt a neck blank that I already had to the required scale, and because I like a zero fret). Waterfall bubinga (from Bob Cefalu) and a sitka top. Fairly plain maple bindings (didn't want to compete with that crazy bubinga) and ebony fb, headplate and bridge. The sea creatures inlay theme was by request. The finish was a rattle can satin nitro, which was a bit different from the hand applied oil finishes that I have done in the past. Finishing is still my weakest skill. I tried it tuned in CGDA but much prefer it tuned celtic GDAE with heavier strings (more mellow, better sustain and the lower string tension feels better). I wish I knew how to play it!

tenor front.jpg (155.44 KiB) Viewed 8850 times

tenor side.jpg (142.6 KiB) Viewed 8850 times

[martintaylor]

Great job! I love Tenors and have built a few. I have built Martin style tenors from the 1930s. Do you have it tuned traditionally CGDA or in Irish tuning GDAE?

[charangohabsburg]

Very nice and clean work there, Mark!
And of course a gorgeous back. How did these Bubinga back and sides behave when working on them?

[Mark McLean]

Hi Martin. GDAE worked best for this one. When I first strung it up I tried CGDA but didn't like it. Firstly, the string tension was high and rather hard to play - especially when compared to the six string instruments that I am used to, where I often tune down to open D or DADGAD. Also, the higher tuning made a rather shrill and tinny voice, and I broke some high E strings! When I put some heavier gague strings on it and tuned to GDAE it was a completely different instrument, with a much more mellow voice and better playability.

Markus
It is fairly brittle wood and I was a bit nervous about bending the sides with such figure. I bent them by hand, and I used some Supersoft II. But they bent very easily and no cracking at all. I probably coud have done it without the Supersoft. However, when I routed the binding ledges I did get some chipping of the edges. In retrospect I should have anticipated that and scribed a line by hand before attacking it with a power tool. It wasn't too bad and the small gaps filled without showing up. One of the good things about such busy figured wood is that blemishes tend to disappear into the overall pattern. The bubinga was otherwise very easy to work. It sands and planes well and seems pretty non-toxic. I get bad reactions to some other timbers (e.g. cocobolo). For this quite feminine guitar it worked well aesthetically.

[charangohabsburg]

Thank Mark, that's some very valuable information for me - guess why.

[kiwinoz62]

That's nice.
Love the simple yet effective rosette & the finish to the soundhole.
The centre stripe with the neck stripe compliment one another & the bubinga looks terrific.
You're workmanship is nice & clean & up there with the best.

Well done. .