Re: 12-string mandolin tuned in fifths?
I've been experimenting with odd guitar tunings for a while now, and I have a standard-scale (about 25.5") classical guitar tuned in all fifths: C2-G2-D3-A3-E4-B4. I couldn't get any stock string up to a B4 for more than a few seconds, so I finally tried nylon monofilament fishing line for the top string -- 0.019. It works, for a while. It takes 7-10 days of constant retuning to settle in to pitch, and after that it's good for a week or two before snapping, usually spontaneously while in the case. I've experimented with different gauges and materials, but the longest I've ever gotten at that pitch is maybe 2-1/2 weeks. Of course, this is with nylon strings.
The only instrument I've ever tried to get up to a B5 is a Bolivian hualaycho -- a member of the charango family with 5-double strung courses and about a 12.5" scale. Although a number of sources give B5 as the "official" pitch for the top course, I've never gotten a metal string to that pitch on the instrument. I suspect that the tuning -- as with many of these folk instruments -- is flexible, dictated by the range of any singers present, and that a true B5 doesn't actually happen very often. I have gotten the top course to a B5 with monofilament nylon, and on the shorter scale it behaves pretty well.
If you manage to get a metal string on your axe up to B5 and last more than a day or two, I'd really be interested to learn the specifics of what worked for you.
Dr H
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"I have nothing to say, and I am saying it, and that is poetry." -- John Cage
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