What is Elvis Costello playing here?

TheOtherDennis

I've had a DVD of a US programme for years. It seems to have been part a series of small club gigs by various people, and this one features Elvis Costello and the Impostors not long after The Delivery Man came out.

When he's playing The Delivery Man, he has a Gretsch hollow body - but I've just noticed tonight that it only has four strings. I've never seen anything like it before, and a quick search tells me nothing. It's neither a bass nor a banjo, but it has a very distinctive sound.

Any ideas?

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=oUcaJEbXAkM

EricTheWeary

Gretsch 6120 Tenor ( or something very similar). 

Ooh, actually this specific one:

https://www.vintageguitar.com/17600/gretsch-6120-tenor/

EricTheWeary

I associate the tenor guitar with Seth Lakeman ( although, obviously, acoustic) and Warren Ellis. I think the off the shelf options for an electric would be the Eastwood Warren Ellis or the Fender Tenor Tele.

https://youtu.be/1oRYPigPAgo


https://youtu.be/wRR6CK71JUg

https://youtu.be/TNgGS1bvOlc

Kittyfrisk

Wow! I know we live in desperate times, but banjo discussions in a guitar forum
Have we really sunk so low 

Henrytwang

I believe that tenor guitars were first made by Gibson and Martin in the 1920s followed by other manufacturers. They were often used by banjo players wishing to offer guitar tones without learning a new instrument  as the guitar began to become popular in bands. They can be tuned in various ways, ( even like the top 4 strings of a guitar), they have become popular again in recent years often but not exclusively with folk musicians. Fenders new 4 string Telecaster is an interesting new chapter in the tenor guitar story.

TheOtherDennis

EricTheWeary said:

Gretsch 6120 Tenor ( or something very similar). 

Ooh, actually this specific one:

https://www.vintageguitar.com/17600/gretsch-6120-tenor/

Ta for that, Eric. The search I did found nothing like it.

Kittyfrisk said:

Wow! I know we live in desperate times, but banjo discussions in a guitar forum
Have we really sunk so low 

Hey, they've got strings and a fretboard, what's your problem? 

EricTheWeary

Henrytwang said:

I believe that tenor guitars were first made by Gibson and Martin in the 1920s followed by other manufacturers. They were often used by banjo players wishing to offer guitar tones without learning a new instrument  as the guitar began to become popular in bands. They can be tuned in various ways, ( even like the top 4 strings of a guitar), they have become popular again in recent years often but not exclusively with folk musicians. Fenders new 4 string Telecaster is an interesting new chapter in the tenor guitar story.

I love the look of that Tele.

If you watch/ listen to any of the Seth Lakeman stuff on acoustic tenor guitar ( he is also a superb folk fiddle player, singer, songwriter, live performer and general hunk - the bastard!) it  sounds much fuller than you think it might but sits really well in a band mix ( in his case usually another guitar, double bass and percussion). They'd certainly be a good instrument for a singer who does occasional guitar because of it's limited range - even an open tuning and one finger chords.  

TheOtherDennis

I'm a fan of Seth Lakeman, and I agree, he does seem to be on the better looking side of humanity - the beeb showed part of a gig he did at the Cambridge Folk Festival a few years ago, and the ladies in the audience were watching him with some very intense gazes indeed.

Paul_C

There's a tenor acoustic on this, which I like a lot (along with the song)

EricTheWeary

Paul_C said:

There's a tenor acoustic on this, which I like a lot (along with the song)

That's a nice example; it doesn't do the plinky plonky thing of a uke or banjo yet doesn't occupy all the sonic space that a 6 string acoustic would. I don't think there are any notes on it that you haven't got on a regular guitar so arguably there is a redundancy to owning one but it sits so well in a band mix.