CGda'e' tuning question

[billkilpatrick]

i finally got a set of strings to transform my charango into a 5c. mandocello. #the last time i got a similar set of 5c. strings i immediately broke the e'.

question is:

- is the CGda'e' octave progression correct?

- where on a guitar would i find the bass C to start tuning my charango/mandolin?

i hope i can make the transition - in terms of fingering positions - from 4ths to 5ths tuning. #it suddenly occurs to me (duh...) that the fingering patterns that i instinctively make in 4th's are going to fall short. #new chord structures... #why am i doing this?

ciao - bill

[Jim Garber]

Bill:
Are these nylon strings? What set are you using for the other strings?

Jim

[Jacob]

The bass C of mandocello tuning is not found on a guitar in standard tuning. #
The mandocello low C is four half-steps lower than the low E in standard guitar tuning.

[billkilpatrick]

jim - the strings are silverplated wound on nylon. they're described here:

thinmanmusic.com charangolin'

he has an interesting, alladin's cave of a site but i'm duty bound to say that he's just terrible at answering emails. i sent the money off to him and after 10 or so, progressively heated emails, 3 telephone calls from here to california and 30-something days (after which paypal say they won't intervene) he still didn't contact me. it was only after i gave up entirely that he said he would send them.

jacob - that's interesting. now i know why the e' on the first set broke. i didn't know strings in the mandolin family went below the guitar E.

how does one tune a 5c. mandocello?

- bill

[Jacob]

A five-course mandocello is called a liuto cantabile or a liuto moderno.
Its usual tuning is CC-GG-dd-aa-e'e'.
This combines mandocello and octave mandolin (octave mandola) tunings.

[Eugene]

Isn't the charango scale a little short for this octave?

[billkilpatrick]

no, they've been adapted to the charango length. i've sort of lost interest in them, however. the idea of having to re-think in 5ths what i now instinctively play in 4ths has dampened my enthusiasm for change.

also, i'm pleased with the reactions i've been getting lately with my charango tuned in g-b-e-a-d (thank you again, alex!). it sounds like something between a tenor lute and a mandolin and when confronted by someone who says "that's not medieval..." i show them an illustration from "cantigas de santa maria," say it's tuned like an early lute and call it a "vihuela de mano." as non sequiturs go, it's very satisfying.

ciao - bill