Does bending de-tune quicker on mandos?

[pigpen]

I don't bend strings too often, but I really like the dissonance of the two strings going out of synch (hopefully just temporarily) when I bend 'em occasionally.

However, it seems that bending makes my strings go out of tune really quickly, much more so than on any of the other stringed instruments that I play, including twelve-string guitars. Is it the increased string tension of the mandolin? Is it my tuners? My main instrument is a 1916 A-, but my instrument doesn't go out of tune quicker than on my newer instruments with quality tuners, at least when I don't bend.

I certainly realize that the doubled strings will emphasize the strings going out of tune, but it seems that my mandolin definitely goes out quicker than the twelve string guitars that I've played. I'm a-thinking that even a 4 string mando will de-tune quicker than guitars with bending.

Thoughts?

[Keith Wallen]

I definitely like to bend the strings (see the post a video thread it can be a problem. The thing that helped me the most was stringing up in a manner that locks the string in the peg.

[mandroid]

Note how much closer the frets are to each other, on a mandolin, than a guitar, thats a half step of the scale,
so a lesser % of tension loss is heard as 'Out', off pitch.
Fingering a note on a double bass viol is much more forgiving than a violin, because the scale length is a lot longer, so say 3mm of distance is a bigger % on a short scale, than a long one.

[pigpen]

mdln (another Keith!), I also found that once I started stringing up with locking strings like on www.frets.com, I had less de-tuning. Plus, it was quicker, easier, and looks better! Not too shabby for any one technique.

mandroid, I hadn't thought of the scale difference. I've been thinking mostly of the string tension. Given the scale difference, even fret size might make a change, with my tiny frets less likely to de-tune than banjo frets.

Cheers. Any other thoughts?