Octave mandolin set up question

[David Houchens]

I'm building my first Octave mandolin and wondered what the standard (if there is one) string height at the 12th fret. I set my mandolins at 2/32.
Also I set up my mandolins with the finger board about dead flat.
With longer, larger strings I'm figuring the Octave will need a little relief?
Thanks

[laura809]

I'm not sure what the standard is, but my Flatiron OM is set up at about 7/64 on the low side, and 5/64 on the treble side. It seems like a nice comfortable action.

[sunburst]

I've had to mill some extra relief into the bass side of octave/bouzouki necks for players who play hard. It was the only way to minimize buzzing and keep the action reasonably low, so I'd say yes, it will need some relief in the neck. As for action height, I don't know. It will depend on the scale length, string gauges and the player. Probably come down to experimentation.

[David Houchens]

Thanks Laura and John. I've got J72's and J76's on the way. We'll see how this sounds soon. In the white for now.

[Max Girouard]

I engineered a drop off on my octave necks, so that after the 12th fret there is a slight downward slope to help eliminate string buzz on those upper frets. I set them up at 0.070 on the bass and 0.060 on the treble ( at the 12th fret ) with a very slight amount of relief in the neck.

[Folkmusician.com]

An Octave mandolin should also be referred to as a "buzzomatic". The low string tensions allows the strings to flop around. The playing style is the key point here, but also the string spacing. One of the first things to set off buzzing is the wound string pairs slapping one another. I sometimes base the height off of this. If the strings are going to slap each other then that is ultimately going to determine how hard the player can pick and I can set the action to where it is on the verge of buzzing just as the pair of strings touches one another. If the strings have enough spacing between the pairs, then this does not come into play.

The nut height is finicky on the octave as well. Again, low tension strings flopping around need more clearance at the first fret. Lastly, the intonation is more difficult to deal with. Some experimentation is probably in order.

[David Houchens]

Thanks to all. This gets things going in the right direction. I have a fair dropoff starting at the 12th also. I was going to start it off as setting up an acoustic guitar. The space between courses was something I knew I had to deal with but hadn't rally got to that or the height at the first fret either. Thanks for keeping me on course.