12 String Mandolin

[rstaight]

Was wasting a little time at work searching Amazon for a mandolin case. Came across a 12 string mandolin.

Now I thought this is interesting. So how are these tuned? Are they like a guitar?

[allenhopkins]

These instruments are often called mandriolas or tricordias. They generally are tuned like mandolins, with four courses of three strings each, GDAE low to high. Sometimes the middle string of each course is tuned an octave below the other two strings, producing a sound reminiscent of a 12-string guitar.

The 12-string mandolin never achieved wide popularity; it's harder to play melody than the conventional 8-string, because fretting three-string courses is clumsier than fretting double-strung courses. The instruments strung with an "octave" string on each course, often have intonation issues, because strings of widely varying diameter fretted together, often intonate inaccurately in terms of maintaining the octave pitch differential (cf. tiple!).

When strummed for chords, 12-string mandolins have a big full sound, jangle-y and "busy" sounding. The four three-string courses give the fretboard a "crowded" feel, but there's no denying that the instruments put out a lot of volume. Could be fun, but sort of a "niche" instrument, IMHO.

[rstaight]

Allen,

Thanks for explanation. It still sounds interesting though.