And sometimes......just like that.....

Over the last couple of months, I have been trying to get what is sometimes called an Irish Bouzouki by way of EBay. Had a couple of very good bargains, but got clobbered in the last minute or less. My Internet connectivity is a medium-speed DSL, so that's not too unexpected, but two of the instruments truly looked possible. So just another set of learning experiences in reduced expectations? Maybe not. I had been asked to explain the difference between the various kinds of bouzouki/mandolin instruments, so I started checking a couple of sites to ensure my definitions were reasonably within standard.

On a couple of sites, there was mention of the tenor guitar. I remembered the things from the Great Sixties Folk Scare, and they did seem like something I could use, but my paradigm basically stopped and ended with "a guitar without bass strings," and I can miss the bass strings on my other guitars, so why bother? But it started to float into my elderly brain that this made little sense. The main use I had for the 1960's contribution to "Celtic" music was as a rhythm instrument, tuned to open D or G. That, I could do with a tenor guitar. The other instrument had doubled or octivated strings, but technique should work around that.

So, sometime in the next few months, I'll start getting serious on finding a tenor guitar. There are a number of older instruments on EBay and similar sources, and the price is better (it seems the things are out of style), so the fit seems to work. We'll see as the time goes on.