I ran across this Bruce Weber short promo video on octave mandolins from a few years ago. He describes their 20" scale octaves as "octave on valium" in comparison to their 22" scale octaves. I think he is mostly referring to differences in volume, being able to compete with banjos and do well in bluegrass situations. I have owned a longer scale octave (22.5" not Weber) in the past, and compared to my current 20" Bitterroot F I don't really think volume wise they are that much different. In other ways, the short scale is very different, but I don't think I would characterize the 20" this way.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v8fv2vz9rsI
Bookmarks