Mandolin/Mandola?

**SatDish** · May-30-2012, 3:47pm

Hi
New to the forum so please be nice

My mother inlaw got me this from a charity shop for £2 she thought it was a Ukulele as i have got 4 Ukulele's i know it's not a Ukulele,
it has a solid top and and a plywood type sides and back it has foreign writting on the inside, it needs new strings so i need to know what ones to get for it. it may not be a great make but it will make a fun addition to my Ukulele's

Thanks in advance.

Glenn

**sunburst** · May-30-2012, 4:04pm

What is the scale length (distance from nut to bridge)? if it is 14" or less (35 - 36 cm), mandolin strings should work. If it is longer than that, mandola strings might be better (along with mandola tuning).

**mrmando** · May-30-2012, 4:06pm

It's Russian, but I don't know what it says.

The bridge is in the wrong place = needs to be just below the inlaid pickguard, not smack under the soundhole.

I'd use light-gauge strings to avoid putting too much tension on it ... doesn't appear to be all that solidly built.

**SatDish** · May-30-2012, 4:25pm

Hi thanks for the replies, distance from nut to where bridge should be (just under painted patern?) is 36cm.

Oh its solid it built like a brick.

**JEStanek** · May-30-2012, 5:25pm

To position the bridge do this measure the distance from the nut to the 12th fret, then double it to get it approximately correct. Then bring a string to pitch and, using a tuner, tune a note with the string open, then fret the string at the 12th fret (will be the same note only an octave higher), then move the bridge towards the headstock if the fretted note is flat and towards the tailpiece if it is sharp. Mandolins have a scale of 13 7/8 inches to 14 inches. Mandolas are a couple inches longer.

Jamie

**sunburst** · May-30-2012, 5:27pm

Never mind, Jamie was typing faster...

**xntric** · May-30-2012, 5:59pm

Four years of college Russian (nearly four decades ago!), and all I can tell you is . . . Mandolins . . . something, something . . . Leningrad . . . something, something . . . price 9 rubles, 70 kopeks. Have no idea what that translates to in pounds sterling. Built before 12/25/1991, when the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic (рсфср) changed its name to Russian Federation.

**allenhopkins** · May-30-2012, 7:35pm

Google search on "Russian mandolin" turns up a number of similar/identical instruments. I'd go by Jamie's "rules of thumb" above to determine whether you have a mandolin or a mandola.