HUDSON TENOR 4 RW 48 Acoustic April 2009 HUDSON TENOR 4RW Hudson Tenor 4RW Small bodied and with just four strings, the Tenor has gained much popularity of late. Sam Wise investigates how much soul is in this compact guitar package. T enor guitars are undergoing a quiet renaissance at the moment: Seth Lakeman is often to be seen playing one, and Flook’s recent addition Damien O’Kane is another devotee. This has led to increased interest from the folk music community, but traditional music is far from the tenor’s only potential use. Descended from the tenor banjo, the tenor guitar is a short-scale, 4-string guitar, typically tuned CGDA, the same tuning as a mandola. They first appeared in the 1920s, and became closely associated with the jazz movements of the time; indeed, they are still a big part of the hybrid ‘Western Swing’ tradition in the US. Most major manufacturers made tenors during the instrument’s heyday, with the likes of Gibson and Martin persisting into the 1970s, but for a long time it’s been a fringe instrument and, in recent years, barely visible. The connection with the likes of Lakeman and O’Kane, however, has brought about a new wave of interest in the instrument, and vintage prices have climbed notably. There are new tenors out there; many custom luthiers will build you one. Hudson is a brand manufactured in China for Cranes music shop in Cardiff, with the tenor guitar surely being the most niche item in the range. The Tenor 4’s body is small, certainly, but no smaller than many folk guitars. The neck is so much narrower than a 6-string neck, and the 4-string headstock, with its kidney button tuners, looks very vintage. The guitar is of all-solid construction, with a cedar top and mahogany for the back and sides. The top is not the finest cedar I’ve seen, with the grain not particularly even, nor notably fine, but it’s decent enough. There’s no pickguard, and the appointments are simple, but stylish, with an abalone and walnut rosette, and flame maple binding on the body which seems to shimmer in the light. The bridge is a straightforward rosewood affair, with a split compensated saddle and simple white plastic pins. The back and sides are of African mahogany, and the lovely flame maple binding works together with the abalone centre stripe on the back to make the looks really stand out. The neck also looks like mahogany, though Cranes don’t specify, and is topped with what seems to be a rosewood fingerboard. Snowflake abalone inlays complement the soundhole rosette nicely, and the simple peghead, with its open-gear kidney button tuners, gives it the vintage look most will want from a tenor guitar. Unusually, the Tenor 4 is equipped with a zero fret, just in front of the nut, which is a feature seldom seen on acoustic guitars these days. Overall it’s a nicelooking package, and I’d be proud to be seen playing it. Picking up the guitar, I was immediately struck by how different the neck profile is to most 6-strings. The overall depth of the neck is several millimetres deeper than my already chunky Washburn, and being narrower it doesn’t have the opportunity to taper as much towards the edges of the fingerboard as a 6-string neck would. The result is a neck that feels something like a hockey stick, and I really rather enjoyed it. The extra depth is certainly needed, since the neck is narrower, but your hand will presumably be the same size! The guitar looked well made in most respects. The binding and inlays are beautifully executed. There are a couple of very minor sharp edges to the frets, and I was very surprised to find that the intonation was very markedly Elegantly finished heel cap with strap button April 2009 Acoustic49 HUDSON TENOR 4 RW flat at the 12th fret, and still flat enough to be noticeable even at the 5th; this is not what I would expect from a guitar costing this much. Tenors are typically tuned to CGDA, the same as a tenor mandola, so as a reasonable mandolin player I was able to get on and play very quickly. Strangely, however, this familiar tuning didn’t really appeal to me; it seemed a little strange to be playing mandolin shapes on an instrument with only single courses of strings, so I tried DGDG, which is apparently the standard tuning for Irish music. That was better, but still a little unsatisfying, so I tried DADA, which the useful resource www.tenorguitar.com describes as a slide tuning, and found myself immediately at home. DADA gives you the same sort of modal feel as DADGAD, but without that pesky G to worry about, and I found that songs immediately began to fall under my fingers. With four strings, I found it exponentially easier to simply build the right chord through experimentation. Sound-wise, the tenor is something all of its own. It has a little of the guitar, a little mandolin, perhaps a little ukulele too, but is different from all of these. With the top string tuned to A, equivalent to fretting your top E at the 5th fret on a 6-string, it’s not surprising that the tone is bright and ringing, and starting, as it does, either on the same D as your guitar’s 4th string, or the C below it, there’s no real bass to muddy the waters. That does mean that really rich, full chords are not available, but as an accompaniment to singing, especially for those with deeper voices, it’s quite lovely. Tuned as I had it to at least parts of an open D chord it felt very natural to let lots of open strings ring out, and to fret parts of the melody, or chord fragments, further up the neck, rather than to fret all four strings. Being a cedar-topped guitar, the Tenor 4 naturally has a nice, warm tone, though to guitar-accustomed ears the tuning makes it sound really bright and ringing. Certainly the bass end of the Hudson, which is where the middle would be on a 6-string, is lovely: warm, rich and complex, and complements the chiming treble wonderfully. The treble itself has a beguiling jangle to it, and the overall effect had me wanting to let notes ring on as long as possible, campanella style. I had such a thoroughly enjoyable time playing the Tenor 4 that, after a week or two, I certainly wanted one for myself. £550 will buy you a lot of 6-string guitar; HUDSON TENOR 4 RW Price: £549 Manufacturer: Hudson Made in: Far East Body Size: Tenor Top: AA Solid cedar Back & Sides: Solid rosewood (real flame maple binding) Neck: Mahogany Fingerboard: Ebony Frets: 21 Medium jumbo Tuners: Deluxe open back geared gold plated Nut Width & Scale Length: 33mm/230mm Electronics: B-band Strings Fitted: D’Addario Left Handers: no Gig Bag/Case Included: Padded gig bag Unusually, the Tenor 4 is equipped with a zero fret, just in front of the nut, which is a feature seldom seen on acoustic guitars these days all-solid cedar and mahogany models can be had for under £300, but the Hudson has more attractive appointments than most of those guitars, and economies of scale must play their part. Overall, I really liked the Tenor 4, and felt that a cedar top is probably the ideal for an instrument like this, but the intonation issue makes it impossible to recommend it outright. Potential buyers should check before purchasing and ask the shop to make good any intonation problems before they buy. One thing is for sure, I’m sold on the tenor guitar as a concept, and I’ll be investigating the lowerpriced options in the near future. Sam Wise Contact details Cranes Music Tel: 02920 398215 What we think Pros: Lovely sound, very pretty guitar Cons: Poor intonation, expensive compared to a similar spec 6-string Overall: Wonderful alternative to your 6-string Acoustic rating out of five BUILD QUALITY SOUND QUALITY VALUE FOR MONEY 50 Acoustic April 2009 A quick release battery compartment and tidy end pin jack socket