# Octaves, Zouks, Citterns, Tenors and Electrics > Four, Five and Eight-String Electrics >  Smallest Travel Mandolin

## Mike Herlihy

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=WBJTNqo5aQY

This has to be the smallest travel mandolin ever made. And it's electric too!

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## John Flynn

Nice try, but the Risa is still smaller. Full scale length, too!

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## John Flynn

A picture:

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## mando.player

Having owned a RISA, I think I'd opt for the YouTube instrument.  Maybe mine was a bad one, but it wouldn't stay in tune for 16 bars.  I was constantly tuning it and finally gave up on it.

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## Martin Jonas

My Risa stays in tune just fine, but I think there is something to be said for replacing the ungeared friction tuners with planetary banjo tuners (I think Rigk Sauer offered that an an upgrade at some stage).

I do like the Youtube instrument, though, although it looks like it may not be full-scale.  I'm intrigued by the pickup -- any idea what it is?

Having said that, my Amazing 8-string is barely bigger than that and since my latest round of changes (which I will post about sometime soon) it now has a humbucker rail pickup, tone and volume controls, a five-way rotary switch for single coil taps and parallel/series configuration as well as a completely separate under-saddle piezo pickup with on-board preamp, three-band equalizer and volume.  It's the Swiss Army knife of e-mandos!

Martin

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## mando.player

That pickup looks to be half of a P-Bass pickup, ala a 4 string mandobird.  I've have better experience with rail style pickups.

I'd like to see your swiss-army emando, it sounds iinteresting.

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## John Flynn

> Having owned a RISA, I think I'd opt for the YouTube instrument.  Maybe mine was a bad one, but it wouldn't stay in tune for 16 bars.  I was constantly tuning it and finally gave up on it.


I had the same experience initially and I considered an "upgrade" to banjo tuners, but I found out those Grover friction tuners are considered premium tuners by the uke community and uke players prefer them over geared or planetary tuners. I figured those folks know a lot more about short-scaled nylon string instruments, so I kept reading and experimenting.

I finally figured out what I imagine all uke players already know, which is that using friction tuners requires a different technique, both in getting the tension screw set right and in operating the tuners. I set my tension screws just a tiny bit tighter than required to keep them from slipping at pitch, but no tighter than that. Then when I tune, I use very fine movements. You can change the pitch by just putting some pressure on the tuner, even if you feel no movement. BTW, I found that always tuning up, not down, as with steel strings, is not necessary, which is a plus. I get all strings to pitch using a tuner, then I fine tune by ear. My Risa will then stay in tune a very long time and seems unaffected by temperature or weather.

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## mandroid

friction pegs seems OK with Nylon strings , I have a GDAE tuned spruce headed Banjo-Uke  it seems OK.
un-elastic steel strings is a PIA, definitely, prefer reduction geared tuners  on the steel strung ManJo.

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## Martin Jonas

> I'd like to see your swiss-army emando, it sounds iinteresting.


I've just updated the old thread with pictures of the latest modification here.

Martin

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## Rob-C

Hi there - I am the builder of the travel mandolin in the youtube clip. Thanks for your interest!

It's not the first electric mandolin I've built - there are a few more on my web site, including a very strange headless version I was commissioned to do a year or two ago:


To pick up a couple of points from this thread:

The scale length is 14.1" the same as my Jimmy Moon flattop mandolin. Nut width is 30mm - again the same as my Jimmy Moon.

The pickup is indeed one coil from a P-bass. I find the version with alnico magnets sounds better than the ceramic magnet version. I too have had some success with the twin rails pickup - I use one that's sold as a Telecaster neck pickup replacement. It would have been too wide for the body on this mandolin though.

This is one of my solidbody electric ukuleles with the rails pickup fitted:


Re - the Risa instrument, yes it is slightly shorter and is lighter than mine, but it has the disadvantage of not being suitable for steel strings, which was an essential requirement for my mandolin.

Thanks again for looking,

Rob.

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