Hey all!
I've been lurking around the forums for a while and need help with my recent instrument hunt.
I'm trying to find a sub $700 instrument that has doubled courses and is either tuned or can be set up with thicker strings to the G an octave below a mandolin. Bear with me because I've considered a whole ton of different ideas .
I want to use it for lyrical tremolo picking and finger picking chordal textures. I'm open to Nylon strings but there are so few that have doubled courses. A balalaika has the sweetest tone to my ears but you can't do that much on it in regards to chords and I already have so many instruments in that range. I realize that I may just have to use different instruments for those jobs but I'd like to find one that can do both.
The gold tone octave mandolins and various cheaper citterns for around $700 seem like the most logical ideas since they are tuned lower and are probably good for tremolo but I'm just not crazy about the sound. The cittern has 5 courses which is awesome I just can't find a lot of examples of them being played in the ways I'm interested in.
After playing a Puerto Rican cuatro I like the sound, it has 5 courses which is better for some finger picking chords, and is a small body with a wide neck which feels great for tremolo picking. Do people generally feel that it's easier to do tremolo on two strings when they are closer together? I kind of prefer the wider neck and string spacing of a cuatro.
Then I realized a 12 string guitar would probably accomplish so much of what I want but I'm worried there won't be enough space on the fretboard for tremolo work especially if I try to tune it in unisons instead of octaves. Also 12 strings are usually huge and would be difficult to hold at an angle for tremolo playing. I've been reading about people saying you can't change a 12 string to unisons even if you re-cut the nut because the fretboard won't be wide enough. I'm going to go try some 12 strings today and give it a good shot. There are smaller body 12 strings like this one: https://reverb.com/item/7172617-vint...natural-w-case. They might be easier to hold at an angle for tremolo playing.
There's the viola caipira which seems like a perfect larger lower tuned cuatro but I can't find any online.
The 8 string baritone uke is cool but I haven't seen any tuned that low. I have an 8 string tenor which I LOVE but I definitely couldn't tune it an octave below it's current tuning. Or could I? There are some cool examples of baritone 4 strings tuned down for example this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wYNz...?v=wYNzDsvuOKg
How feasible is that with an 8 string? Do they make them bigger than baritone? An 8 string acoustic nylon guitar? LOL.
Right now I am most inclined to buy this: https://www.ebay.com/itm/14280072847...m=142800728473
Which is set up to be tuned:
B3 B2 • E4 E3 • A3 A3 • D4 D4 • G4 G4
Which I want to be able to tune to either:
G2 G2 • C3 C3 • F3 F3 • A3 A3 • D4 D4
(all unisons)
and
G3 G2 • C4 C3 • F3 F3 • A3 A3 • D4 D4
I'd like to be able to change strings to switch between those two tunings but if not the second option is more appealing to me.
But then I have so many questions about the cuatro. How is the intonation? There is no truss rod is that a problem? Will a luthier be able to set up that to be tuned to what I want and fix some of the intonation issues if there are some?
If you bothered to read this far I really appreciate it. I wanted to write less but I feel like some understanding string-obsessed people will tolerate my indecisiveness.
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