Tulsi electric mandolin

I spoke with the custom mandolin makers in Chennai about Tulsi mandolins. Since I don't play carnatic style but only western style, he has given me three options - 4 stringed, 5 stringed or 8 stringed. I'm not interested in buying an 8-string electric as I'm looking for a guitarist sound and single strings also make it convenient to play rock slides.

I'm in a dilemma of how many stringed mando I need to buy - 4 string or 5 string. The advantage of a 5 string one is that one extra string which gives room for lower notes. But finding and playing chords in it is going to be an issue. I'm pretty much accustomed to 4(or 8) string chords.

Can you give me suggestions on which one to buy?

All your chord shapes work, 5 strings give you more options. I've a 5 string octave and a 4 string mandolin. If you want electric guitar sounds then a 5 string covers a slighty larges spread of notes than an electric guitar (an octave up) and makes transposing a bit easier. There are chord apps for phones which do help with getting the most from those strings.

5 strings are great for playing e guitar type things. That lower range gets you down to C, the 3rd fret of the A string on guitar.

Sonic, which app do you use for mando chords? :)

I use chordguru 1.0 on windows phone. You can set up custom instruments number of strings how many frets and spread of frets i.e. limit it to 3 frets nothing is too much stretch set it for 5 or 6 and impossible to play stuff comes out. I have mine set for four frets and most are usable. The beauty of fifths tuning is you can do a lot with a few three note chord shapes.
Jim Rickters book, Rickter Mandolin; Blues, Thoughts & Junk is well worth a read too. He explains very well some very useful chord shapes which once you know the notes of the fretboard and root position (I'm getting there slowly) you can play most chords you'll need for a start anyway

Hi Varun,
How much is Tulsi Mandolin? Please let me know.
Thanks
Raj

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Originally Posted by mctxp

Hi Varun,
How much is Tulsi Mandolin? Please let me know.
Thanks
Raj

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Raj, I have ordered it and according to them, it'll dispatch in about 25 days. I might be receiving the parcel probably in the last week of this month. I'll let you know about it for sure.

I ordered a five string one sonic :D Found the chords in SmartChord app, which was already there in my phone. I just had to change the tuner settings to choose the 5 string option. 5 string chords are not that difficult afterall. Very similar to 4 string chords.

No they're not too bad same shapes different names for a lot of them. I do like my 5 string octave The low C adds something to the sound. I'll be adding a five string mandolin as soon as time allows. I do have to sort my daughters electric Uke first.

Raj, beginner models cost around Rs. 8000 and professional models cost around Rs. 15,000. It's better to go for a professional model if you can afford. It has still not reached me and the maker has promised that it'll be ready for dispatch in a couple of days and by march, it's expected to be in my hands. I have bought a decent practice amplifier, Vox VX 1 modeling guitar amp.

Raj, I finally got it and it sounds like a dream!! I love the work that they have done

Hi varun19r, do they ship mandolins to USA? I am thinking of getting one and a violin from them too.