Bouzouki or Mandolin

[dudlebug23]

Help! I love the sound of a bouzouki, and have thought about purchasing one. After looking in Elderly, I saw some Octave Mandos that are nice too. What is the difference? Is it just the length/scale of the neck? Does an octave go as low as a bouzouki, or does the bouzouki just have more upper frets due to the longer scale? I've heard someone say an octave is more of a melody/lead instrument, but why? I want to make an informed decision before taking the plunge. I love instruments...need more....

[vkioulaphides]

Why... get one of EACH!

Seriously, now: What kind of music do you want to play? Yes, bouzouki goes lower than OM; it usually also has more frets; more specs to be discussed later... But choice of repertoire would be one's first consideration, I think.

Cheers,

Victor

[Steve L]

Hmmm...it seems to me that, although the scale lengths differ, the pitch range of (Irish) bouzoukis and octave mandolins are often the same depending on your choice of tuning. #You have wandered into an area where naming the instrument gets tricky. #Bouzouki, cittern, mandola, octave mandola, tenor mandola, blarge.


I would have thought a long scale 5 course cittern or a mandocello would be lower than an octave but not a zouk, but I don't mean to challenge the vastly greater knowledge of Victor.

One thing we do agree on...get one of each!

[vkioulaphides]

Sorry, Steve. I "defaulted", in senile/chauvinistic fashion, to Greek bouzouki tuning, i.e. either CFAD or DAD which, of course, IS lower than OM. But you are absolutely right: If we are talking about "Celtic" GDAD, then the lowest note is in fact, as you say, the very same as that of the octave mandolin. My apologies.

Having said all that, one could argue that the longer scale of the bouzouki suggests inherently a lower bottom of pitch-range; I hold this truth to be self-evident: longer scale, longer strings, ergo lowest pitch of lowest (open) string. This by way of an aside.

Cheers,

Victor

[Jacob]

The difference between the two instrument styles is really the scale length.
In general, Irish bouzoukis have a scale length around that of Greek bouzoukis and acoustic guitars, 25 to 27 inches.
Octaves most commonly have a scale length from 19 to 23.5 inches.
For average sized hands, melody is easier played on shorter scale instruments.
When evaluating octave versus Irish bouzouki playing, the question of hand size, the span of your fingers, scale length and fingering technique must be considered.
#The Irish Banjo website explains the difference between chromatic and diatonic fingerings based on scale length and hand size.

[dudlebug23]

you have all been highly informative...
I wanted to use whichever instrument for some melody and some backup in, should I say it, um, a folk duo. We would play a few Celtic instrumentals, but I thought it might add another layer to my brother's fingerstyle guitar. What do you think?

[Jacob]

For playing melody, my personal choice is an octave mando with a scale around 21 inches tuned to Gdae'.
It works well for backup, too.#
Melody playing is beyond my reach on the long scale Irish bouzoukis. #

[dudlebug23]

When you say Gdae, what does that capital G mean? I've seen people write on here about tunings and some letters are capital while others aren't...I know, I sound dumb, but does it have something to do with octaves?

[Dolamon]

"Usually" the upper case letters in tuning refer to wound strings. GDae for Mandolin GDAe for Octave (a wound A set) CGDa for mandola and the occaisonal gG dD AA ee which means the G and D courses are strung in octaves. It could also refer to a sticky keyboard or a less than diligent typist (my story ..).

[Jacob]

I was using Helmholtz Pitch Notation to define the octave in which each note is located for Gdae' tuning.

Using Helmholtz Pitch notation standard tuning are:
mandolin - gd'a'e''
(tenor) mandola - cgd'a' #
octave mandolin (mandola) - Gdae' #
mandocello - CGda
guitar - EAdgbe' #