Re: I need some advice on getting my first big Mandolin:)
1. Instruments made of plywood are generally rated as acoustically inferior to those made of "solid" (non-laminated) wood. The difference is more important for the instrument's top, which is the primary vibrating surface; there are lower-priced mandolins with solid tops but laminated back and sides, sort of a compromise. This doesn't have to be a determining factor for a student-grade instrument, since easy playability is more important than sound, but if you intend to keep the mandola for a while, you might want to try to get one with at least a solid top.
2. The Richwood is being sold at such a low price, that it might well be worth buying just to see if you like having and playing a mandola -- whether you end up keeping it or not. You're not risking a lot of money if it doesn't meet your needs.
3. You can tune a mandola any way you want, if you obtain the right gauges of strings. However, if you don't tune it like a mandola, it won't really sound like one. A mandola tuned like a mandolin will sound like a mandolin, with perhaps a lower timbre, but the same notes. Playing it will involve more finger "stretches" to deal with the longer scale, and you won't get much of the "big mandolin" sound you're seeking.
4. Octave mandolin has the GDAE tuning in a lower octave, so the chord shapes are theoretically the same, but the much longer scale (generally 30-40% longer) means that certain chords easily fingered on your mandolin, are difficult to make on the OM. I play all three instruments -- mandolin, mandola and octave mandolin -- and they involve different approaches. Octave mandolin, as I play it, calls for many first-position chords with open strings, and liberal use of the capo. Not that I'm a wiz on the instrument, but I do play it regularly.
5. Transposing between GDAE mandolin tuning, and CGDA mandola tuning, is not as hard as some might make it. The chord shapes are familiar -- they just result in different chords. E.g., what would be a G chord on the mandolin, becomes a C chord on the mandola. Once you learn that you've "moved over a string," that the 1st string of the mandola is the same as the 2nd string of the mandolin, you can figure out chords and melodies fairly readily.
I'd take a shot at the Richwood for $150 (unless that means you don't eat for a week), and see what happens. One thing I love about the mandolin family, is how varied the sizes, shapes and sounds are, from "piccolo" mandolin to mando-bass -- and I've got at least one of each...
Allen Hopkins
Gibsn: '54 F5 3pt F2 A-N Custm K1 m'cello
Natl Triolian Dobro mando
Victoria b-back Merrill alumnm b-back
H-O mandolinetto
Stradolin Vega banjolin
Sobell'dola Washburn b-back'dola
Eastmn: 615'dola 805 m'cello
Flatiron 3K OM
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