mandola strung as mandolin

[saltybrian]

has anyone tried this? can the right pitch be achieved over that scale?

i play octave mando and tenor banjo and am more at home picking tunes on the longer scales, so i'm looking for something with a bit more space...

if the mandola is a step too far, are there longer scale mandolins out there? mine has a scale of 350mm, or 13.7795276 inches :)

[ptritz]

There are several recent threads about the long-scale mandolins that Keith Newell has been building. They're tuned GDAE, but the scale length is actually quite close to the scale length of the old Gibson mandolas.

[trevor]

You can do it with mandolas of scale length up to 16" with a .009 for the E. I have previously tried 16.5" with no luck, the E breaks.

[mandroid]

whats wrong with CGDA? they're 5th too .. just learn new names for your old fingerings.

happy with H scale.. .4M .. capo the 1st fret for Bb.

[saltybrian]

thanks for replies - food for thought. re mandroid's post, if i had to relearn in a different register, i'd be as well practicing properly in the shorter scale (and even as i write this i realise how lazy that sounds) - it's all about saving time and making less adjustments :)

[Rick Cadger]

I think Andy Irvine strings a mandola-scale instrument a tone below mandolin pitch (and drops the top string by a further tone).

[mandroid]

I think Andy Irvine strings a mandola-scale instrument a tone below mandolin pitch
that's FCGD? Brian did say he couldn't get his head around CGDA, but a capo on FCGD. 2nd fret would bring it up to the GDAE, so that may work.

or go heavier, and detune.. down, an 8va
Could end up with a second Octave mandolin, rather than trying to stretch a thin .008" or .009"
up to concert E will be quite tight ,
and so short lived, in that case I'd get a lot of those strings, as they will fatigue to failure ..
relatively earlier.
particularly when playing for volume, with a heavy Rt hand.

[Tim2723]

Yeah, I have to agree. Trying to stretch an 0.009" string that high would be a real, well....stretch. Not to mention it would probably all out of balance sonically. You don't get much energy from a string that thin and long unless it's on a banjo.

[Rick Cadger]

I think Andy Irvine strings a mandola-scale instrument a tone below mandolin pitch (and drops the top string by a further tone).

More on that.

This is from Andy Irvine's website:


Stefan also made me a mandolin / mandola. Never quite know what to call it. Its two frets longer than a mandolin. I used to play a Gibson mandola which had the same string length as Stefans. Classicly, a mandola should be tuned way down to CGDA but I always thought this stupid with a Gibson because it didn't have a big enough body, nor a long enough string length to cope with the hawser-like strings required. So I thought it logical--as it was two frets longer than a mandolin-- to tune it a tone lower, using mandolin strings. So I tune it FCGC (I nearly always have the top string tuned down a tone).

[GRW3]

Actually, only some of the chords are different. The ones that use the G D and A strings are the same. Same patterns apply forth down, fifth to the right and fifth up and fourth to the left. In guitar capo parlance key of C would be G form and key of G would be D form. So your basic mando progression on the A course would be C D E (F) and your basic mando progression on the D course would be (F) G A B. If the key of F on the A course is too high you can use the D course F set using the 233x Bb. Even if learned Ted E's FFcP system you only have to add the C course notes to the forms.

[pelone]

I have had success tuning to a mando GDAE by using either .008 or .007 for the E. I do not like too loud of an E anyway. The thinnr wire allows the string to be brought up to pitch with about 17 pounds of pull. I have used .007 on a 15 inch scaled mando with no problems.