12 string bandurria in UK

[NickR]

This looks to be in good order from a quick glance The seller has it listed as a guitar, so it may not be seen by someone who would be interested. I am reasonably local to this auction but eight strings is my limit- at the moment!

https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/324929437...cAAOSwPUthsCCz

[Dusepo]

If you want a 4 course instrument, you could string it like a south American bandurria - 4 triple courses.

[EdHanrahan]

Friends of mine play bandurria which is an instrument that I find mystifying. "Standard" tuning is not in 5ths, nor is it like guitar/uke. Only 6 or 7 frets fully clear of the body, 12 in total. With a much wider neck than mandolin I suspect that, even strung as 4 courses of three, it may not adapt to mandolin-ish chording. BUT, in native tuning with a competent player, it certainly blends well into a mandolin orchestra.

[Jim Garber]

I agree with Ed. Tuning is something like: G♯, c♯, f♯, b, e and a and the neck is unbearably wide and short. I do have one (of course) and thought of stringing it like an octave 12-string guitar. Historically it was what kicked off the mandolin craze in the US in the 1880s when the Spanish Students came over here to concertize. People thought they were playing mandolins.

[John Cadd]

3 years late here but a quick question Who Sells Bandurria Strings ? The scale of 11 inches and the large tuner head plus the strings run all the way down the instrument. Mandolin strings would fit but that`s only the top 4 strings . I found one seller --Clifford Essex --I thought La Bella made them too . The length confusion is distracting me .

[Ray(T)]

Hi John,
Look no further than darkest Derbyshire. Newtone will make you sets of whatever gauge and length you want. Their “configurator” will tell you how much they’ll cost you - https://newtonestrings.com/shop/cust...v=79cba1185463
Ray

[John Cadd]

Galli strings is the name I had not heard of .They are Italian . The name is not prominent in the adverts .I found GHS Bandurria strings -made in Germany ( in Dresden ) but the postage was more than the strings .Beware .
Newtone looks good but you have to know about gauges first. Nice to see they consider the length as well . I want to play with single strings so the price is halved for me .I will be converting violin music to mandolin so the strumming part is not needed .I can`t manage every piece as there will be technical obstacles without a bow . Some very light brass plectrums look likely to win the finger pic competition .I think steel strings would mess up my nails very quickly .

[John Cadd]

I got used to buying La Bella guitar strings. But I could not find Bandurria La Bella s on ebay . I found them on the Thomann site. Price included VAT but excluded £ 10 postage.That`s a bit cheeky .

[Jim Garber]

Here are the gauges in inches for each course of the Labella set that you like:
1 - 010P - 010P
2- 014P - 014P
3- 019W - 019W
4 - 023W - 023W
5 - 030W - 030W
6 - 035W - 035W

[John Cadd]

Thankyou Jim for the gauges

[BillWilliams]

I found them on the Thomann site. Price included VAT but excluded £ 10 postage.That`s a bit cheeky .

John, Lord of the Strings in the Netherlands stock La Bella and their postage is more reasonable for me (€5.95 to Portugal vs €20 for Thomann) so probably also for you.