Terz Guitar

The short-scale model that changed history

Moderators: rickenbrother, ajish4

Post Reply
User avatar
iiipopes
Intermediate Member
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 5:02 pm

Terz Guitar

Post by iiipopes »

And now for something completely different: Terz guitar. That is taking a short-scale guitar, using light strings, and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. Short scale Rickenbacker instruments are perfect for this treatment. When I have the occasion to play terz, I restring my 320 with a regular set of 9's (but still with a wound 17 or 18 G string so I don't have to reintonate the saddle) and crank up the tuning to get a unique clear, chimey tone that can slot some brightness into a mix, but be its own voice: not 12-string, not Nashville tuning, not mandolin, not ukulele. 9's pulled up to terz tuning have about the same tension as 12's at regular pitch on a 320/325, so no tweak of the truss rod is necessary.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terz_guitar
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15029
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2000 5:00 am
Contact:

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by admin »

iiipopes wrote:And now for something completely different: Terz guitar. That is taking a short-scale guitar, using light strings, and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. Short scale Rickenbacker instruments are perfect for this treatment. When I have the occasion to play terz, I restring my 320 with a regular set of 9's (but still with a wound 17 or 18 G string so I don't have to reintonate the saddle) and crank up the tuning to get a unique clear, chimey tone that can slot some brightness into a mix, but be its own voice: not 12-string, not Nashville tuning, not mandolin, not ukulele. 9's pulled up to terz tuning have about the same tension as 12's at regular pitch on a 320/325, so no tweak of the truss rod is necessary.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terz_guitar
Scott do you have any soundbytes of this short-scale with the unique tuning. :)
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
User avatar
iiipopes
Intermediate Member
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 5:02 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by iiipopes »

admin wrote:
iiipopes wrote:And now for something completely different: Terz guitar. That is taking a short-scale guitar, using light strings, and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. Short scale Rickenbacker instruments are perfect for this treatment. When I have the occasion to play terz, I restring my 320 with a regular set of 9's (but still with a wound 17 or 18 G string so I don't have to reintonate the saddle) and crank up the tuning to get a unique clear, chimey tone that can slot some brightness into a mix, but be its own voice: not 12-string, not Nashville tuning, not mandolin, not ukulele. 9's pulled up to terz tuning have about the same tension as 12's at regular pitch on a 320/325, so no tweak of the truss rod is necessary.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terz_guitar
Scott do you have any soundbytes of this short-scale with the unique tuning. :)
No, I am not good with that sort of thing. Sorry.
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15029
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2000 5:00 am
Contact:

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by admin »

iiipopes wrote:
admin wrote:
iiipopes wrote:And now for something completely different: Terz guitar. That is taking a short-scale guitar, using light strings, and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. Short scale Rickenbacker instruments are perfect for this treatment. When I have the occasion to play terz, I restring my 320 with a regular set of 9's (but still with a wound 17 or 18 G string so I don't have to reintonate the saddle) and crank up the tuning to get a unique clear, chimey tone that can slot some brightness into a mix, but be its own voice: not 12-string, not Nashville tuning, not mandolin, not ukulele. 9's pulled up to terz tuning have about the same tension as 12's at regular pitch on a 320/325, so no tweak of the truss rod is necessary.
Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Terz_guitar
Scott do you have any soundbytes of this short-scale with the unique tuning. :)
No, I am not good with that sort of thing. Sorry.
Scott, tears for the terz demo. I will search for one online. :)
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
User avatar
scoobster28
Veteran RRF member
Posts: 696
Joined: Sun Jan 28, 2001 1:16 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by scoobster28 »

Couldn't you just capo the guitar at the third fret and see what that sounds like?
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15029
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2000 5:00 am
Contact:

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by admin »

scoobster28 wrote:Couldn't you just capo the guitar at the third fret and see what that sounds like?
Here is a nice video on the Terz Guitar. I think a capo on the third fret would not work for me. Interestingly the demonstration includes a capo on the Terz. :lol:

Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
User avatar
jps
RRF Consultant
Posts: 37132
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2003 6:00 am

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by jps »

These videos areof a 12-string Reverie model made by Yamamoto. Tsuneyuki makes two different versions, one normally tuned to G, the other to A. I am sure he could make a 6-string version if requested. I have played one of these in 2015 when I visited him at his home, after buying my MS-12 from Eric Schoenberg's shop in Tiburon.





https://yamamotoguitar.com/models/
User avatar
admin
Site Admin
Posts: 15029
Joined: Wed Jul 05, 2000 5:00 am
Contact:

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by admin »

jps wrote:These videos areof a 12-string Reverie model made by Yamamoto. Tsuneyuki makes two different versions, one normally tuned to G, the other to A. I am sure he could make a 6-string version if requested. I have played one of these in 2015 when I visited him at his home, after buying my MS-12 from Eric Schoenberg's shop in Tiburon.





https://yamamotoguitar.com/models/
Amazing instrument and beautiful tone and playing Jeffrey. They are much mellower than I might have imagined. Thanks for these nice links.
Life, as with music, often requires one to let go of the melody and listen to the rhythm

Please join the Official RickResource Forum Facebook Page https://www.facebook.com/groups/379271585440277
s11141827
New member
Posts: 4
Joined: Wed Jan 11, 2023 1:47 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by s11141827 »

Yeah the RIckenbacker 320 is actually "Terz" in Sizing so it makes a nice Jangling Terz Guitar.
User avatar
doctorwho
Veteran RRF member
Posts: 12522
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 3:28 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by doctorwho »

iiipopes wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:09 pm ... and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. ...
Ummm ... by my reckoning, a guitar in standard tuning, capoed at the third fret, would be voiced as G-C-F-Bb-D-G .... as I missing something here? :roll:
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
User avatar
jps
RRF Consultant
Posts: 37132
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2003 6:00 am

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by jps »

doctorwho wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 1:21 am
iiipopes wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:09 pm ... and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. ...
Ummm ... by my reckoning, a guitar in standard tuning, capoed at the third fret, would be voiced as G-C-F-Bb-D-G .... as I missing something here? :roll:
Some folks do things backwards. :mrgreen: Or maybe they play a right-handed guitar upside down? :wink:
User avatar
doctorwho
Veteran RRF member
Posts: 12522
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 3:28 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by doctorwho »

jps wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 1:04 pm
doctorwho wrote: Thu Dec 21, 2023 1:21 am
iiipopes wrote: Fri Feb 28, 2020 12:09 pm ... and tuning it up three frets to G-D-Bb-F-C-G, as if you took a regular guitar and played it capo'ed at the 3rd fret. ...
Ummm ... by my reckoning, a guitar in standard tuning, capoed at the third fret, would be voiced as G-C-F-Bb-D-G .... as I missing something here? :roll:
Some folks do things backwards. :mrgreen: Or maybe they play a right-handed guitar upside down? :wink:
Aha ... perspective ... a "my left is your right" thing ... I guess I hang out with too many vampires to have thought to look at it in a mirror! :shock: :lol: 8)
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
User avatar
iiipopes
Intermediate Member
Posts: 1428
Joined: Tue May 22, 2007 5:02 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by iiipopes »

Really?
User avatar
doctorwho
Veteran RRF member
Posts: 12522
Joined: Tue Jun 11, 2002 3:28 pm

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by doctorwho »

"Earth humor ... Arr Arr." :shock: :lol: 8)
It is better, of course, to know useless things than to know nothing. - Seneca
User avatar
jps
RRF Consultant
Posts: 37132
Joined: Wed Feb 12, 2003 6:00 am

Re: Terz Guitar

Post by jps »

doctorwho wrote: Tue Jan 02, 2024 2:03 am "Earth humor ... Arr Arr." :shock: :lol: 8)
:mrgreen: :D
Post Reply

Return to “Rickenbacker Vintage 325 Models: by Glen Lambert”