Mandolin/Mandola w/capo?

[telepbrman]

I am a bit confused, What fret would I capo a Mandola to get a Mandolin tuning? Has anyone done this? I am thinking about buy one get two type of deal...later, thanks, dy.

[John Flynn]

It should be the 7th fret if you are tuned CGDA. Also, if you want to "buy one, get two, you might consider a 10 string, tuned CDGAE. There are a couple of builders who make them custom order. Then you have conceptually "two instruments" without a capo.

[mandroid]

actually no capo required, not much space left if you do.

>transpose:> mandolin D chord shape on mandola = G
g shape as on mandolin is C, C makes F. F~B, etc.
melodically, the 3rd is G, 2nd D, the first A, go up the neck on the A string from there so to speak.
on the G , , 5th fret is middle C on music scores, except the Viola, which uses another clef, alto, in #written music for viola..

you can borrow freely from tenor banjo, its also a CGDA tuning..
have fun , isnt that the purpose...

[telepbrman]

7th Fret...thanks for the scoop, dy.

[mandroid]

addendum,to Transpose suggestion: check your setup. fwiw, I use a Ghs Octave string set on mine, they're lighter guages than d'addario sets for mandola, but still 6 wound strings.

[acousticphd]

actually no capo required, not much space left if you do.

I tend to second that sentiment. Hopefully you can find a way to acquire both instruments. Of course you can try capoing anywhere you like, but I think you lose a lot of the resonance and great mandola "character" by shortening the fingerboard so much. I will occasionally capo my mandola (17" scale) at the 2nd fret to play in the key of A; this transposes the chord shapes to make it as if playing in "D" (rather than "E" with no capo), but otherwise I wouldn't want to capo.

[JiminRussia]

acousticphd, I agree with what you are saying and also the effective nut width with the capo at the seventh fret will put it out there in a range that I can't use one finger to fret two courses of strings at the same time easily. Did I say "easily"? Shoot, I can barely do it on the first fret with a 1 3/8" wide nut now!