1932 Martin 0-18T

In the early 20s the most popular fretted rhythm instrument in dance bands was the tenor banjo. Tenor banjos were loud, an important attribute in those pre-amplified days, but they weren’t very subtle. By the mid-1920s advances in recording technology and the development of louder guitars like the Gibson L-5 led bands to start dropping the banjo in favor of the guitar. Guitar companies like Martin, Gibson and Lyon & Healy started making what we now know as the tenor guitar after realizing that there was a market for an instrument that played like a banjo but sounded like a guitar. Tenor guitar never sold in huge numbers but in the 1930s and 1940s they found a home with vocal groups like the Mills Bothers and the Cats and the Fiddle. And in the late 1950s and early 1960s, the tenor guitar became popular with folk groups like Kingston Trio and the Brothers Four. The tenor guitar also became popular as a backup instrument for Texas-style fiddler. These days Neko Case and Ani DiFranco are among the players are keeping the tenor guitar flame burning.

The Mills Brothers in the mid-1930s featuring John on his Martin 0-18T

Martin built this 0-18T in 1932 during the period they were developing 14-fret guitars like the OM. When this instrument was built it was tuned in fifths like a tenor banjo, CGDA, and most players up to the Kingston Trio-era tuned it that way. Thanks to Nick Reynolds of the Kingston Trio, who tuned his tenor guitar DGBE, the same as the top four strings of a guitar in standard tuning, most players these days use this tuning. Tenor guitars from this era are very lightly built and they sound very good with either tuning. This particular guitar boasts the scarce shaped top, an option that not many players chose. Because this instrument was intended for banjo players, Martin opted to fit it with banjo tunes rather than guitar tuners. Does that make this a guitar with a banjo neck or a banjo with a guitar body? If you’d like to bring this fine O-18T home to figure out that conundrum yourself, just send $3750 to the fine folks ate Players Vintage Instruments and I’m they would be happy to help you solve the mystery.

Nick Reynolds and the Kingston Trio demonstrate DGBE tenor guitar tuning.

The Cats and the Fiddle show that yodeling, jazz and the CGDA tenor guitar work well together.