Re: How often should my mandolin need to be tuned?
Seems to me a lot of people are missing the point. The question isn't how often should the OP's mandolin be tuned, but how often should it need to be tuned. The answer to that is, not that often, or not as often as he says. Sounds like something is wrong here. What make and model is the instrument in question?
For comparison, my 1917 Gibson plain A holds tune really well. I got to the gig late yesterday - stuck in traffic at a standstill for 25 minutes - so I had ten minutes to set up and tune up before showtime. But though I was a bit stressed and rushed, I was relieved to find only one string had to be adjusted, and only just a bit. And I hadn't played much during the week since the last gig. That's a well-behaved mandolin. Yes, I know this flies in the face of convention, especially conventional humor, but there it is.
BTW, I first heard that old saw about tuning from Kate Wolf's accompanist, Nina Gerber, who put it thus: "Mandolinists spend half the time tuning, the other half playing, thinking that they're out of tune." I like how that incorporates the insecurity involved.
But that's just my opinion. I could be wrong. - Dennis Miller
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