Calling Sherlock Holmes

[dgfoster]

Would you say that a mandolin is first defined by it's scale length and then it's body size/volume or is it a combination of several items?

For example if someone handed you a small bodied, stringed instrument with a body shape that didn't match any well known shapes, such as say...oh... a fish or a watermelon, what would you look for before declaring "its a mandolin Dr. Watson!"

[Ken Sager]

Four double courses tuned in fifths GDAE with a scale length between 13-15 inches would absolutely clinch it for me. The tuning may not be critical, and 5 double courses may also fit the bill.

Tuned like a duck, plucked like a duck, and strung like a duck, must be ...

Best,
Ken

[Michael H Geimer]

Once, upon seeing my Martin Backpacker Guitar for the first time, a co-worker declared, "What's that?"

"A very small guitar"

"That's NOT a guitar!"

"Why not?"

"Becuase it doesn't look like a guitar."

"Really. So, what does a guitar look like?"

"You know ... guitar shaped."

LOL!

[Kid Charlemagne]

I'd say to consult not Dr. Watson, but Dr. Bussmann. Then I'd ask how it was tuned.