Martin TEN515: Review

[ericmeyer4]

In case anyone is interested, I have owned the latest Martin tenor for several weeks now and here is my review of this instrument.

First, it is an Elderly Instruments exclusive. I do not live near Eldery, so when I purchased it I was doing so blind. However, the gamble paid off and overall I have been very pleased with this little guitar.


Specs:
Size 5 (Mini) body of solid Sipo, single ring soundhole rosette, morado bridge. 4-string neck, solid peghead with old-style Martin decal, vintage style open-gear tuners with cream buttons and Elderly Instruments stamp on back of peghead. Solid morado fretboard (23"scale, 1-1/4"nut), small pearl dot position markers. Tuned CGDA. May be re-strung for GDAE or DGBE/Chicago tuning.

Approximate body dimensions are: upper bout 8", lower bout 11", maximum depth 3 3/4", body length 15 3/4", total length 34". Satin finish. Martin flattop hardshell case. - as posted on Elderly.com

In addition to the posted specs, the guitar comes from Elderly setup in CGDA tuning with .009-.030 bronze strings.

Sound:
Sound wise, my initial thought was that the instrument was reminiscent of a viola- dark, reedy, and warm. I was concerned that the instrument would be overly boxy, like some small bodied parlor guitars, due to its size. However, that has not been the case. The higher pitched tuning works well with the body size and materials. While it sounds great on its own and can produce a surprising amount of volume for its size, it may get lost when playing with full sized instruments.

Fit and Finish:
My only criticism for the instrument is the wood working on the bridge. It looks like it needed to be sanded for a few more minutes before finishing. The spot is not rough to the touch, but personally I feel like it should not exist on an instrument with a street price of $1,695. Despite the bridge, the rest of the guitar was very well done. It was playable right out of the box and required no tweeking.


Alternatives:
If the nearly $1700 price tag is too much, the offerings from Blueridge are more budget friendly alternatives. However, those guitars have a fundamentally different sounds due to the materials and body size. Compared to the three Blueridge models, the Martin is smaller in body size, it has a thinner neck, and a darker and more mid focused tone. Based on how it is played, I believe the Martin can be both more forceful and sweeter sounding than the Blueridge models. On the other hand, the Blueridge models seemed to have more volume on tap. However, again, they are fundamentally different guitars.

Final Thoughts:
Buy it if you are looking for a great sounding and playing tenor guitar. I liked it so much that I instantly put my other tenor up for sale.

Pass on it if you want to try before you buy and cannot get to Elderly or you are looking for a volume cannon.

Listing Here:
https://www.elderly.com/martin-size-...uitar-case.htm

[Steve DeRosa]

A few points:

• Those are nice little guitars - I remember the very short-lived 5-15 (and companion spruce-topped 5-16) of the early-2K's (hastily discontinued in favor of the vastly more expensive "Claire's Guitar" ), and I'm sorry I didn't grab one then; glad to see that Elderly brought them back...
• Don't worry about being heard with "full-size" instruments; it takes less energy to project a high-pitched sound than a low one - the piccolo solo in "Stars and Stripes Forever" can be heard above a 100-piece brass band - and as it was originally intended as a terz or quart guitar (tuned a third or fourth higher than standard) you should be right in its sweet spot in standard CGDA tenor tuning...
• An alternative tuning to the ones suggested - and one that I know from experience will cut through a large group (I use it on my banjo) - is drop-G tenor uke tuning (GCEA low-to-high), a throwback to the mid-1920's when uke players were making the transition to banjo and guitar, and all but forgotten today (TMK Chuck Romanoff from Schooner Fare is the only proponent still performing professionally); good news is that it also allows you to use standard guitar fingerings - handy if you do a lot of switching-off between instruments...
• Finally, as the owner of four hog-tops I'll be the first to tell you that most players don't know how to break them in properly - there's a reason those old parlor-size Martin 17's from the '20s-30s have projection and volume far exceeding their size, and it's not just nine decades of aging and/or old-growth wood; set it up in your favorite tuning (preferably with the heaviest strings you and your instrument can handle) and pretend you're Nick Reynolds from the Kingston Trio - just pound the snot out of it a couple hours a day for 3-4 months and you'll have a real little cannon on your hands...

Use it well and often...

[cotten]

Very nice, Eric, both the guitar and the review. I was in a guitar shop once, and ran across the Martin Sting Terz, another Martin Size 5. Wow, I was surprised how much pure guitar fun that thing was! I even enjoyed it after I glanced at the price tag. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=037u...A4DF2B2926EDC8

That encounter sent me on a bit of a search for more information. I discovered that Marty Robbins used to play a guitar similar to yours, along with Johnny Cash, Michael Hedges, and others. Here's an interesting article about Robbins and these guitars. http://uniqueguitar.blogspot.com/201...rz-guitar.html Be sure to post something of you playing your little beauty, will you?

cotten

[jnf91]

As the owner of most of a '32 0-18T, let me chime in with how amazing Martin tenors sound. It's one of my "secret weapons" when I record. I use Chicago tuning and capo way up the neck and strum the crap out of it, ala Nick Reynolds. It adds a lot of texture.

Enjoy your new guitar.

[lfoo6952]

I was trying to figure out if this instrument was a guitar or a ukulele. I never knew a 4-string tenor guitar existed. It looks awfully close to what I would describe as a baritone ukulele. Just wondering.

[Steve DeRosa]

Originally Posted by jnf91

...I use Chicago tuning and capo way up the neck and strum the crap out of it, ala Nick Reynolds. It adds a lot of texture...

Try the drop-G uke tuning I suggested - it's essentially the same as capoing Chicago tuning at the fifth fret, and it'll give you more room and more range; you'll need a custom-gauged string set, though - I use 10-13-18w-26w on my tenor banjo, and these should work on your guitar...