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Thread: Is this a mandolin??

  1. #1

    Default Is this a mandolin??

    I found this instrument at my grandfather storehouse and i will restore it
    But i dint know what kind of this instrument
    Its kind of mandolin?

    It has a 7 string (4 string doubled at 1,2,3 string)
    And i dont know what string gauge to use because i think that 4th single string should have a higher gauge (maybe) than 1,2,3 string

    Thank you

    https://imgur.com/pfuzYIT
    https://imgur.com/CjcnU6F

  2. #2
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    No, it is not. I have no idea what it is. It wasn't made in the US. One of our world instrument people might be able to jump in. For posterity:
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    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  3. #3
    Moderator MikeEdgerton's Avatar
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    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    I believe it's a Lavta.
    "It's comparable to playing a cheese slicer."
    --M. Stillion

    "Bargain instruments are no bargains if you can't play them"
    --J. Garber

  4. #4

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    That style of tuner button is often seen on French made instruments- or possibly somewhere that was in the French Empire such as north Africa or the eastern Mediterranean. Of course, they may have been taken from another instrument, so looking at the back of the headstock might offer more information.

  5. #5
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    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    You may want to spend an hour or so wading through this site - https://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/index.htm

  6. #6

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    Could well be a kind of mandolin with an ethnic flair. 4 courses of strings with just one for the bass pair. Why not, actually? What is the scale and overall size of the instrument?

  7. #7
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    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    It was last strung as a Uke - look closely at the bridge.

  8. #8

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    You may want to spend an hour or so wading through this site - https://www.atlasofpluckedinstruments.com/index.htm
    I see at that page, i found it close to gambus/dambus in term of that string
    But, dambus is fretless

    Quote Originally Posted by vic-victor View Post
    Could well be a kind of mandolin with an ethnic flair. 4 courses of strings with just one for the bass pair. Why not, actually? What is the scale and overall size of the instrument?
    It scale around 16inch / 408mm

    Quote Originally Posted by Ray(T) View Post
    It was last strung as a Uke - look closely at the bridge.
    Yes, this bridge similar with uke

  9. #9

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    "It scale around 16inch / 408mm"

    Sounds like a mandola then.

    There were unusual mandolin family instruments made in Turkey and the surrounds, I'd look that way for more info. May I ask where is your grandmother originally came from? Thanks.
    Last edited by vic-victor; Jun-14-2020 at 5:14am. Reason: mistake corrected

  10. #10

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    Quote Originally Posted by vic-victor View Post
    "It scale around 16inch / 408mm"

    Sounds like a mandola then.

    There were unusual mandolin family instruments made in Turkey and the surrounds, I'd look that way for more info. May I ask where is your grandmother originally came from? Thanks.
    Its in indonesia btw

  11. #11

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    I am not an expert in world instruments, but this looks like a gambus to me, or at least closer to that than anything else I can find. Although many of these are fretless, there are also many examples of fretted gambus as well. Most of them don't have an open oval hole like that, but there are example of those too.

  12. #12

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    You might try looking here for some great documentation on different gambus shapes and styles: inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierre/webpage_HTML1/GAMBUS_PROJECT_page.htm

    If you look on this one, you can see a fretted, oval hole gambus from Indonesia. It has a angled pegbox, so not quite like yours, but getting close (and immediately to the left of it is one with a straight pegbox): http://inthegapbetween.free.fr/pierr..._indonesia.pdf

  13. #13

    Default Re: Is this a mandolin??

    Nice Gambuz document, Southern Man, thanks. Pandolin is the closest from all the pics there, which is - surprise, surprise, - as the name suggests, a version of a mandolin.

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