Were 5-string guitar tuned in 5ths ever a thing?

[Vitellozzo]

I've had a cheap tenor guitar, tuned in canonical CGDA, for a while and I am still in embryonic stage. Coming from the 6 string guitar, I miss the bass notes. I have seen mentions of 5 string tenor guitars, possibly FCGDA (high pitch) or CGDAE (lower pitch). Obviously I have seen 5 string guitars in other tunings (e.g. Keith Richards' open G) but this is not what I am looking for.

I have heard of Karl Kress using a 5 string re-entrant tuning (A string one octave down) but again not what I am looking for.

Roberr Fripp's new standard tuning would be an ideal candidate, but did anybody else ever play that? Is it feasible at all?

Obviously the guitar would have to have a shorter neck but wide enough to fit 5 strings.

Any input on this?

[RJVB]

Roberr Fripp's new standard tuning would be an ideal candidate, but did anybody else ever play that? Is it feasible at all?

Research "Guitar Circle".

Fabio Mittino (who posts here under "Mr Woland" IIRC) uses a slightly modified new standard tuning exclusively, and there are enough recordings of him playing standard repertoire to invalidate any notion that it would be infeasible.

[sgosnell]

I used to know an older guy who played a 5-string tuned in 5ths. He had both a custom-made model built by a friend of his, and an ES-175 with just 5 strings. He started doing that during WW II. I've used a mini guitar as a 5 string mandola, tuned in 5ths. You can use any guitar with only 5 strings. It may look a little odd, but it works well enough. You can modify the nut and bridge if you want, but it's not necessary, and IME it's easier to play with standard string spacing, just missing one string. You may need a thicker string than usual for the lowest one, but they're readily available.