Re: scale lengths
Originally Posted by
AndyV
I just came across some Stahl propaganda that shows a family of instruments; mandolin, tenor mandola, bass mandolin, mando cello, mando bass.
Anyone know what scale lengths they would be?
I understand there being no octave mandolin (or nothing going by that name anyway). Stahl being pre "octave mando". Curious though that they have an octave mandola, but nothing called a mandola.
Unfortunately during Stahl's time there was little standardization in naming conventions. Perhaps one of the Stahl experts will chime in here, with more information on the Stahl names. Today there is still no consistent international system for naming mandolas. Check out the European string makers (such as Optima) -- most use simply "mandola" to refer to GDAE tuning.
Generally speaking, the GDAE tuning for mandola is probably quite a bit older than CGDA tuning. "Octave mandola" was (and in some places, still is) the standard term for what today (in the USA) is usually called "octave mandolin." In fact, the "octave mandola" term for GDAE octave tuning still shows up here on the Cafe, often enough to cause confusion.
Exploring Classical Mandolin (Berklee Press, 2015)
Progressive Melodies for Mandocello (KDP, 2019) (2nd ed. 2022)
New Solos for Classical Mandolin (Hal Leonard Press, 2020)
2021 guest artist, mandocello: Classical Mandolin Society of America
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