View Full Version : What is this?
barefoot
Jun-17-2008, 12:05pm
What is this? Looks like the strings are grouped in threes.
<a href="http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-nice-old-mandolin-or-Lute-12strings-Guitar-shape_W0QQitemZ170230025167QQihZ007QQcateg
oryZ10179QQssPageNameZWDVWQQrdZ1QQcmdZViewItem" target="_blank">http://cgi.ebay.com/Very-ni....iewItem</a>
Either a tricordia or mandriola. Tuned like a mandolin, plays like a mandolin, just 50% more vibrating metal. Since it's guitar shaped, I would normally call it a tricordia. I think that's a Kaycraft logo on it, but one of the vintage experts should know for sure.
Michael Wolf
Jun-17-2008, 3:41pm
Isn't this a Tiple?
A few days ago a similar instrument sold at ebay here in Germany: Hoyer (http://cgi.ebay.de/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=170226645495)
That Hoyer is clearly a mandriola ... four sets of three strings, and has octave strings on G and D.
The instrument pictured could be a Columbian or Venezuelan tiple, because those normally have 12 strings. Most tiples found in the US have 10 strings (an octave pair, a triple with an octave string, a triple with an octave string, and another octave pair) but some do have 12.
Here's a picture of me when I was first learning how to play my tricordia.
Jason Nagati
Jun-17-2008, 4:40pm
It appears the three complete courses are strung thin-fat-thin. Is this a mistake in set-up? I thought triple course were usually thin-thin-fat or thin-fat-fat.
The seller has it strung over the bridge in a goofy, unplayable way. It reminds me of the optical illusion of the factory with three smokestacks at top, but only two on bottom.
This one is certainly screwed up (one of the reasons it's hard to say exactly what it is without measuring the scale), but thin-fat-thin isn't too unusual. That way, you get roughly the same tone whether you pick up or down. Strung asymmetrically, you get different tones, because you will start with a fat string picking one way and a thin string picking the other. Depending on the player and the musical style, that's either a bad thing or a good thing.