Tenors and Mandos and More, Oh My!
by Freddy Angelico
We get a lot of questions about the names that we use for our instruments tuned in fifths. We understand why; it can be confusing! What’s a tenor guitar, versus a tenor baritone? How is an octave mandolin different from a mandocello? In this blog, we’re going to do our best to demystify things by breaking down the six broad categories of these instruments, and give you some context to decide which one best suits your musical needs. Let’s get started!
Tenor Guitars
The handsome Rivolta Duocata Tenor
Strings: 4
Tuning, low to high: G2-D3-A3-E4
Scale Length: 23”
Background: Tenor guitars emerged as the sound of jazz softened into swing in the 1920s. Instrument manufacturers sought to provide an instrument that would allow tenor banjo players to play guitar, without having to learn a new tuning. Today, tenor guitars are used by musicians in a wide variety of musical styles, from folk and jazz to country and rock. We get questions about the purpose of tenor guitars so often, we decided to compile them into a “Frequently Asked Questions” blog.
Why we love them: Many of us started out as six-string guitar players, and tenor guitars force our brains out of the musical ruts we can get stuck in sometimes. Find yourself going to the same licks and patterns over and over? Try a tenor guitar! The unique tuning but familiar geography makes it a great choice for any guitar player looking for new inspiration.
Tenor Baritone Guitars
Eastwood Tenorcaster Tenor Baritone Guitar
Strings: 4
Tuning, low to high: C2-G2-D3-A3
Scale Length: 26”
Background: When Eastwood first released tenor guitars back in 2011, we didn’t know how popular they were going to become. It wasn’t long before tenor players began asking for a “baritone” version of our tenor guitars: something that would allow them to use the same chord shapes but reach a lower pitch. So while the name “tenor baritone” may seem like an oxymoron, it makes sense when you think of where they came from!
Why we love them: Our tenor baritone models extend below the pitch range of standard guitar and well into it as well. This gives them a rich, deep tone and makes anything you’d play on a tenor sound bigger. Speaking of rich tone, these instruments feature the same tuning as cellos and can be thought of as “fretted cello guitars.” We’ve really enjoyed seeing cello players like ThatCelloGuy and Ken Kubota take center stage with our tenor baritone models.
Cremaine “ThatCelloGuy” Booker on tour with Hozier and his Warren Ellis Tenor Baritone 2P
And if that's simply not cello-y enough, there's also the MRG Cello Guitar. This unique instrument is tuned just like our tenor baritones but features a fretless neck, which gives it a sound all its own. Check out the great Ben Sollee playing his MRG Cello guitar!
Mandolin
The Eastwood Mandocaster and its left-handed counterpart
Strings: 8
Tuning, low to high: G3G3-D4D4-A4A4-E5E5
Scale Length: 14”
Background: Mandolins are common in folk, country, old-time, and bluegrass music, but you can find them in many more genres of music all over the world. Whether you play a “bandolim” in Brazilian choro music, a “gittern” in 12th century France, or a “bandolin” for Trinidadian parang, you’re part of a long history of people who have been captivated by the sound of the mandolin.
Why we love them: What sets our mandolins apart? Why, electricity, of course! We love the sound of the mandolin, but we especially love seeing how plugging in and turning up transforms the mandolin’s sound. A familiar fiddle tune quickly becomes an outer space adventure with a little delay and reverb! They’re also excellent travel instruments, compact and fun to play.
Mandola
Eastwood's Model S Mandola in Sunburst, White, and Black
Strings: 4 (Model S Mandola) or 8 (MRG Mandola)
Tuning: C3-G3-D4-A4
Scale Length: 18”
Background: One way to think of a mandola is as a “baritone” version of our mandolin models. Just like the relationship between tenor and tenor baritone guitars, the mandola takes anything you could play on mandolin and gives it a deeper sound. It also features the same tuning as a viola, so if you’re a viola player looking to expand your sound or go electric, it’s worth giving our mandola models a look.
Why we love them: Our mandola models are good for a whole bunch of musical styles, but we think they’re an especially good choice for any mandolin player looking to take up more space in a rhythm section. Mandolins, with their very high pitch, tend to stand out in an arrangement no matter what you play on them. Mandolas allow mandolin players to tuck back in a mix and take on a more “guitar-like” role.
Octave Mandolin
Strings: 8
Tuning, low to high: G3G2-D4D3-A4A3-E4E4
Scale Length: 23”
Background: Traditionally, an octave mandolin has all strings tuned one octave below a mandolin. Our octave mandolins do contain those notes, but they also contain mandolin pitches on the G, D, and A courses. If you’re familiar with a twelve-string guitar, you know they take six-string guitars and make them sound more jangly with octave courses on the lowest four strings. You can think of our octave mandolins as the “twelve-string” version of our tenor guitars.
Why we love them: One very gratifying thing is seeing the way gigging musicians and songwriters use our tenor guitars. Perhaps you’re one of them, and you find yourself covering a lot of Byrds, John Denver, or other artists often associated with twelve-string guitars. Our octave mandolin models give tenor players access to that unmistakable sound.
Mandocello
Strings: 8
Tuning, low to high: C3C2-G3G2-D3D3-A3A3
Scale Length: 25.5”
Background: Most mandocellos are to the cello what a mandolin is to a violin. It takes a cello, doubles the strings, and flips it on its side. It’s like a very low-pitched version of a mandolin. Like our octave mandolin models, our mandocellos contain both those extra low notes and the notes of a mandola, which is one octave higher, on the C and G courses. If the “twelve-string” metaphor worked for you with the octave mandolins, you can think of our mandocellos as “twelve-string” versions of our tenor baritone models.
Why we love them: These instruments sound massive. If you enjoy playing instruments tuned in fifths and you want to make the most sound possible, our mandocellos warrant a try. They have all the richness of our tenor baritone models, plus added texture and depth from the octave strings. They really sound like nothing else out there.
A few oddballs
We would be remiss not to mention a few of our instruments that don’t fit neatly into these categories. There’s the Warren Ellis Mandostang, which is basically a four-string mandolin. Fewer strings makes it easier to tune and many folks find it easier to play. They’re great for mandolin players who want to really shred!
We also make a couple of five string models. There’s the Mando 5, which is inspired by the legendary Carnatic musician Uppalapu Srinivas. You can tune the Mando 5 a variety of fun ways, and it ships tuned C-G-C-G-C, in tribute to Srinivas’s unique playing style.
Perhaps you’re looking at our tenor models and our tenor baritone models and you can’t decide which you want. Lucky for you, there’s the Warren Ellis 5! This 26” scale beauty is tuned C-G-D-A-E low to high, which eagle-eyed readers might notice is the tenor tuning right on top of the tenor baritone tuning.
Looking to explore other non-standard-guitar configurations? We’ve got you covered. The MRG Irish Bouzouki takes the Octave Mando model, increases the scale length, and comes shipped with a modal G-D-A-D tuning. Or how about something a little smaller, with the MRG Baritone Ukulele? That one has the same 18” scale length as our mandola models, but comes tuned D-G-B-E, like the highest four strings of a guitar. And if you’re after the most jangly instrument possible, you can hardly do better than our Mandocaster 12: a unique instrument that functions as if you’d slapped a capo on the 12th fret of a twelve-string guitar.
Eastwood Banjotar and Banjotar DLX
We also have two banjo models, the Banjotar and the Banjotar Deluxe. They are tuned in open G, with a high-pitched droning fifth string that gives banjos their unique sound.
Go exploring!
We know this can be a lot of information to absorb, especially if you’re new to instruments tuned in fifths. But the good news is you don’t have to understand every category to figure out which one is right for you. Start with a sound that excites you; maybe it’s jangle (octave mandolin), depth (tenor baritone), or brightness (mandolin). These instruments reward curiosity, so don’t be afraid to dive in and see where the tunings take you, or experiment and make them your own! And if you still have questions, we’re always just an email away. Happy exploring!