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Thread: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

  1. #26

    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post
    ...In the guitar world, in standard tuning, it doesn't matter what size the guitar is (baby, parlor, 0, 00, etc.) the tuning is still the same; it doesn't go down a fifth or an octave when size increases (until you get to a baritone or bass...certainly not a different range associated with different body sizes...
    ..
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    Last edited by catmandu2; Jan-12-2021 at 3:10pm.

  2. #27
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post
    I don't know what you are thinking. My F5 and F4 mandolins, banjolin, resonator mandolin, electric mandolin, 10 string mandola, F4 and F5 octave mandolins and 10 string F4 mandocello are all tuned in fifths. (So are my violin, octave violin, 5 string viola, 5 string octave viola and 10 string Hardanger viola). But they're not all tuned the same. My F4 OM and mandocello use octave pairs (like a 12 string guitar). The mandola and mandocello are an octave apart. These are the standard tunings for these instruments, but not the only tunings in use by players. The different instruments of the mandolin family have different voices, different ranges.

    In the guitar world, in standard tuning, it doesn't matter what size the guitar is (baby, parlor, 0, 00, etc.) the tuning is still the same; it doesn't go down a fifth or an octave when size increases (until you get to a baritone or bass guitar). So to me there may be a different timbre but certainly not a different range associated with different body sizes. Obviously there are multiple tunings employed by guitar players as well - DADGAD, droo D, double drop D, hundreds of slack key variations. But these are not inherent to the build of the instrument. These can be employed on any guitar body size.
    I have owned a Terz guitar that is tuned a 3rd up, and a friend on mine owns a baritone guitar that is tuned down a 5th. I have to transpose on the fly when I play with him.
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  3. #28
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    I think you are talking to the "wrong crowd" suggesting mandolins are limited in scope of applicability. I have 3 guitars, I almost never play them, I have 12 mando type instruments varying from mandocellos to octaves, to mandolas to mandolins and almost never miss a day playing at least one of them.
    I do choose different instruments for different styles or tunes, it has more to do with tone and sometimes fingering than a particular style of music.
    I agree guitars have a lot of variation in style strings and tunings, and various musical applications, and perhaps mandolin and mandolin family have less diversity ( I will accept that there are probably not only a lot more guitar players than mandolinists, but since 1950 or so, there have simply been more guitars than mandolins on the planet at any given time) but fretted strings instruments in general have uncounted variation in # of strings, tuning, bridge and body style, and on and on.
    I could easily name a dozen albums of very different musical styles using mandolins.
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  4. #29

    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    I know, addressing "crowds" of various persuasions is often risky business. Fwiw, I never "dissed" mandolins...only pointing out some apparently little-known info on guitars, and hopefully avoiding sounding condescending about it..

    Don't want to make anyone angry here. I like mndlns too, Mean Old Timer. ✌
    Last edited by catmandu2; Jan-12-2021 at 4:34pm.

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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    No problem here, just a typical MC discussion.
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  6. #31
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    catmandu2 no harm! no censorship! The aspiring kodger in me loves to spout opinions based on nothing but personal bias!
    I was a guitar player for a long time and I moved to mandolin (partly) because there were simply too many guitar players at jams, now there are too many mandolins, so I actually had to bring a guitar a few times and realized I am very out of practice....
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  7. #32
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    You can't argue with math

  8. #33

    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Edited.

  9. #34

    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by Mandobart View Post
    You are very much mistaken. Guitars can come in 0, 00, 000, parlor, orchestral, dreadnaught and jumbo sizes, but they're all tuned the same. But mandolin family instruments can be mandolinetto, mandolin, mandola, octave mandolin, mandocello and the elusive mandobass. Different sizes, different tunings. There are wood and metal bodied resonator mandolins, banjolins, carved top, flattop...? And musical genres? Mandolins are used in classical, swing, gypsy jazz, folk, blues, bluegrass, country, rock, Nordic, Irish trad, Italian, Greek.... It will just take time for you to absorb it all.
    I’m not mistaken at all. I was comparing guitars and mandolins. Not other related instruments.

  10. #35

    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Well it does get dicey quickly caz there are so many types of instruments, especially gtrs.. then taxonomy and all that .. which can lead on to lots of interesting discussions. I especially like different tunings, temperaments, instruments, early trad stuff..it's prbly been one of the most enjoyable things about music..resonance. that Micheal Hedges stuck with me early on..

  11. #36
    Registered User Jill McAuley's Avatar
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    I only have one mandolin (and one guitar, and one tenor banjo) because the herd needed to be thinned over the years either due to financial need or more recently, a transatlantic move home - the thought of trying to fly more than three instruments back to Ireland with me was too daunting to contemplate. As someone who likes to accumulate instruments though, if I had unlimited resources I could add the following types of mandolin (not mandolin family) instruments to the stable:

    - bowl back
    - flat top
    - cant top
    - pancake
    - A style with f-holes
    - F style with f- holes
    - F style with oval hole
    - 2 point
    - guitar bodied jazz mandolin
    - violin style (Campanella/Pomeroy/Kelley for example)
    - travel mandolin
    - electric mandolin
    - carbon fibre mandolin
    - resonator mandolin

    I've probably left something off that list as well.
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  13. #37
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Quote Originally Posted by esslewis View Post
    Long-time guitar player here and by now I’ve accumulated a few — acoustic nylon, acoustic steel, bass, acoustic bass, a number of electric six strings, etc. I’m fairly new to mandolin though (and loving it), but at least for me, despite of course having a lust to acquire one or two more (mostly because they’re so flipping beautiful), I just can’t justify it like I can with guitars, where there are so any more varied sounds and applications and types of music that call for different guitars. That just ain’t the case with mandolins, as far as I know. Or maybe I’m totally naive, and the Collings MT that I have should never ever EVER be used in a pop or rock or country song... ().
    Thoughts? What excuses do all you multi-mandolinists have for your MAS? Not that any are really needed...
    What? We need an excuse for MAS ? It is contagious and like Covid19 you will eventually be infected !

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  15. #38
    Registered User Eric Platt's Avatar
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    You can get multiple version of mandolins for different sounds, like many here have pointed out. If I want to equate it to guitar, it would be like having a Martin, Gibson and Taylor acoustics for the different sound qualities. Sure, they are all acoustic guitars, but each has it's own sound.

    Same with mandolin. That said, there are a lot of folks who can and do get by quite nicely with just one. Whatever works for you.
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  17. #39
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    Default Re: Multiple guitars but just one mandolin

    Good point Eric, Tony Rice pretty much used the same guitar for most of his recording / performance career ( tone poems a noticeable exception), John Reichman pretty much sticks to his Loar though I have heard him on other mandos and octave, same with Thile. Mike Marshall played his Loar (and mandocello) for a long time, last time I saw him at Freshgrass he had a Northfield.
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