Still 5' 7"

In some parts of the world I am incredibly tall. Unfortunately, I live in Montreal and not amongst the pygmies of central Africa and thus remain firmly rooted in the slightly below average height range. For the next month however, I can satisfy any lingering fantasies of giganticism through my work in the shop. I recently started the woodwork on a tenor guitar that I will be showing at the Montreal Guitar Show in the beginning of July. I can say with relative certainty that I haven't actually grown in the past few weeks, but working on such a small guitar certainly makes it seem that way...

On the left is a nearly complete Western Red Cedar / Indian Rosewood guitar next to the top and back of the tenor

So what is a tenor guitar you ask? (go ahead, ask....I'll wait...) A tenor guitar is basically a regular guitar's kid brother -- four strings, smaller, and tuned in fifths. I'm not sure why a kid brother would be tuned in fifths instead of fourths, but let's just go with the analogy, okay? In the evolution of the modern guitar, tenors were introduced in the 1920's as the missing link between the banjo and guitar. They provided banjo players with a feel they were accustomed to but with the voice of a guitar. They're also super cool.

In other exciting news, for those of you who read Acoustic Guitar Magazine, turn to page 53 of the current issue (with Neko Case holding a tenor guitar on the cover!) to see a picture of one of my guitars. Huzzah!