About Fletcher Instruments

Fletcher Instruments has been formed to manufacture and market a new line of
stringed instruments - the TenorTone guitar. TenorTone guitars are a line of
hand-crafted four-string guitars patterned after an early 1920's vintage tenor guitar,
offering a small body guitar with a four-string banjo-style neck. The TenorTone guitar
offers a beautiful throaty sound that is a wonderful complement to a wide variety of
acoustic music traditions.

The TenorTone offers a short-scale neck (21"), floating bridge, ladder bracing and a
banjo-style peg head. The standard TenorTone guitar is offered in an all mahogany body that
gives a rich and delightful sound to the instrument.

Jody Platt, founder and owner of Fletcher Instruments, purchased an original SS Stewart tenor guitar (circa 1920) in the late 1970's. Jody, as an old-time banjo player, found that she could retune the tenor guitar to various open fiddle tunings and flat-pick melodies an octave low to the fiddler. This opened up many more playing opportunities. The TenorTone sound was welcomed into almost any jam session. It has been her main instrument for years, adding a bright new sound to old time music.

The TenorTone is tuned an octave below the fiddle (GDAE) and can easily follow common fiddle open tunings (e.g. GDGD, AEAE, etc). Four strings give an advantage over an octave mandolin or other double coursed instruments, offering speedy tuning changes.

Jody's playing of her original SS Stewart tenor guitar would often get enthusiastic responses from a variety of musicians who wondered where they could find something like her "little guitar." When Jody's son Jamie Dougan expressed an interest in building instruments, she suggested that he build a copy of her tenor guitar.

With over 20 years of experience performing with her "little guitar," Jody has been able to establish a clear and distinctive vision for the new TenorTone guitars. With Jody's support and encouragement, Jamie first built a number of prototype TenorTone guitars. This collaboration has resulted in the establishment of Fletcher Instruments and the availablity of its line of TenorTone guitars.

The Fletcher Instruments TenorTone guitar is finding its place among a wide variety of acoustic music genres. The obvious markets are in the old-time and Irish music communities. But this unique voice offers both a beautiful and subtle sound that is a complement to any number of music traditions.