All you Octave Mandolin pickers out there, what is the most common and most used scale length.
All you Octave Mandolin pickers out there, what is the most common and most used scale length.
21.5"
Not sure, but I use 540mm or 520mm, slightly shorter than the 21.5 inches (540mm) mentioned.
I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe
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21 here
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22-3/4" here
For melody playing as a continuation of tunes I play in mandolin and mandola, I'm challenged but happy with my 20-inch scale on my Weber OM. -- Paul
He joyously felt himself idling, an unreflective mood in which water was water, sky was sky, breeze was breeze. He knew it couldn't last. -- Thomas McGuane, "Nothing but Blue Skies"
I'm playing all the right notes, but not necessarily in the right order. - Eric Morecambe
http://www.youtube.com/user/TheOldBores
My octaves are from 19"-20" , I don't like much longer
Ibanez 70's 524, 521, 3 511's,2 512's,513,1 514,3 80s 513's, 522
J Bovier F5-T custom shop
Kiso Suzuki V900,
The Loar lm600 Cherryburst
morgan monroe mms-5wc,ovation
Michael Kelly Octave Mandolin
Emandos Northfield octave tele 4, Northfield custom jem octave mandolin 5 octave strat 8
2 Flying v 8, octave 5, Exploryer octave 8 20"
Fender mandostrat 4,3 Epip mandobird 2,4/8, Kentucky. KM300E Eastwood mandocaster
Gold Tone F6,Badaax doubleneck 8/6
17" and 20". Thinking of swapping the 20" for a bouzouki.
- Jeremy
Wot no catchphrase?
21" on my Eastman. It's the only octave I've owned, so can't compare it to anything else.
Brentrup Model 23, Boeh A5 #37, Gibson A Jr., Flatiron 1N, Coombe Classical flattop, Strad-O-Lin
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Mine’s 19” but it’s an electric. I’d want longer on an acoustic, but it’s great amplified.
My Davidson carved top OM is 20.5" and my Trinity College arch top is 20".
Anglocelt
mainly Irish & Scottish but open to all dance-oriented melodic music.
Mandos: Gibson A2, Janish A5, Krishot F5, Taran Springwell, Shippey, Weber Elite A5; TM and OM by Dave Gregory, J E Dallas, Tobin & Davidson.
Thanks to all that replied to my question. I've made dozens of
them with a scale length from 20" to 24" and now see that the shorter ones are the most popular.
I wouldn't jump to that conclusion based on a limited sample of respondents here. From another source, consider the current inventory of OMs at The Mandolin Store, which currently lists scale lengths of 23", 21", 20", 20", 22", 21", 20 3/8", 21.5", 21.5", 23", 23.5", 21.5", 23", 21", 22", 20", 20", 20".
So in that one store, 5 out of 18 mandolins listed are 20", and 5 out of 18 mandolins are 22" or longer scale. The rest are somewhere in the middle. I think this is relevant, because we can assume the store owner is tracking trends in sales, and ordering stock in a range of what people are interested in. If 20" was the most popular scale length for an OM, I would expect to see both luthiers and store owners like this having mostly 20" models in stock.
In my experience, some people want the shorter scale for easier fingering, other people want the longer scale for more sustain (assuming the same build, because sustain will vary across different brands). Personally, I play a 22" Weber OM, a bit of a finger stretcher, but I do like the sustain.
When I first looked for an American made octave in the early 2000s, 22 and 23 inches seemed pretty common. I found a Weber with 23 inch and an Old Wave with 22.5 inch scale. I loved the sound. Now I look at Webers and all the new ones seem to be 20 inch. But I took care of that and just bought a Bouzouki with a 24" scale, and have a Weber mandola at 17" and mandolin. I will likely sell the mandola and mandolin when I get really serious about down-sizing because I just like the long scale length, sustain and deeper drone.
Late to the party, but my short scale bouzouki is tuned gdae so is essentially an octave mando and comes in at 590mm.
Makes melodies a real stretch, but the sound is lovely. I bought it more for accompanying songs and for that it's brilliant.
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