High-strung Mandola

[houseworker]

It can be surprisingly hard to tell the difference between different octaves particularly when comparing different instruments

Tavy has it spot on. No time wasted at all, definitely one of the more stimulating discussions here this weekend.

[moxie]

A micrometer or dial caliper on the old strings would go a long way toward solving this mystery. MMc

[houseworker]

A micrometer or dial caliper on the old strings would go a long way toward solving this mystery. MMc

If you read the thread I think you'll find a definitive solution has already been arrived at.

[Eddie Sheehy]

LOL, something like that: I wanted to know what scale length I could go up to and still tune GDAEB on a 5 course instrument. The issue being that thinner strings are also more fragile so you can't actually get a higher pitch from them.

For the record, seems like somewhere around a 9 or 9.5 will give you the highest possible pitch on any given instrument. Breaking tension was around 25 or 28lbs respectively, but you'd want an actual playing tension no more than ~22 or 24lbs otherwise you'd break a string every time the temperature changed!

I've done the same and on a 22" scale I can get by a .009" on the high B strings but a few tunings later they are suspect to a TWAAAAAAANG so I settled for .008". I aim for 20 - 22lbs tension per string....
But not being there when the OP did his thing far be it from me to say he was an octave off...

[buchrob]

More "meat" for the technically minded from folks who know something about strings and tension:

http://daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf

http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html


takes a lot of the fun (and guesswork) out of the equation

[Jacob]

Also Mount Joy Music Spring Wire Specifications with Break Strength/Lbs. by Diameter.
(Scroll down.)

[belbein]

the music shop and I assume they outfitted correctly (although they also told me it was a mandola, so I'm not sure).

Anyone can make a mistake, but I'm sure curious what the name of that music shop is. It sounds like something that would happen at a big box music store. Not to mention any names.

[ThunderHuffy]

I'm sure curious what the name of that music shop is..

It was a fairly small shop in Bellingham, WA. In fact I think it was called "Bellingham Music."

[houseworker]

Anyone can make a mistake, but I'm sure curious what the name of that music shop is. It sounds like something that would happen at a big box music store. Not to mention any names.

Not necessarily any mistake at all, given that an octave mandolin is sometimes called a mandola. We don't have the benefit of knowing precisely what the OP was told at the time of purchase. They can scarcely be blamed for the OP's pitch problem when a year later he mistakenly tries to retune his OM as a mandocello and finds it sounds lousy - it would.

[Pete Jenner]

Time to let it go.

[belbein]

Well, the reason it's high strung is that it can't let it go.