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Thread: Mandolin strung as mandola

  1. #1
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    Hi y'all.

    I've been playing mandolin for 35 years, and for quite a while I've wanted to try a mandola. The problem? None in this area to try, and I don't want to buy on spec just to find out I don't like it.

    So what did I do? I took and old Gibson A model and shifted the strings over and added a course of C strings on the bottom. I know this is not a real mandola (scale is wrong, it's not designed for the lower frequencies, etc.) but I like it.

    What am I asking you guys for? Recomendations on string gauge for the "C"s. I had some old .042 electric guitar strings, and they worked, but the sound wasn't exactly right. I have put on some bright brass .48s, and they sound better, but I think they are too heavy. What do y'all think?

  2. #2
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    I tried the same thing with a 16" Troubadour mandola stringing it as an octave mandolin. I used one of the online string tension calculators to figure the normal string tension and worked backwards to find strings that matched the tension. It's close to right but I still need to mess with the string sizes a bit. To get the low G I need a .061, I have a .058 on right now. It's close as an open string but is real weak fretted.

    http://www.greenmanhumming.com/html/...ringCalcX.html
    http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html

    I used both of these.
    Kevin Vail

  3. #3
    but that's just me Bertram Henze's Avatar
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    Quote Originally Posted by (Maxwellt @ Oct. 17 2007, 02:48)
    I know this is not a real mandola (scale is wrong, it's not designed for the lower frequencies, etc.) but I like it.

    ... I have put on some bright brass .48s, and they sound better, but I think they are too heavy. What do y'all think?
    48s on a mandolin must be like carrying an anvil on a bicycle.

    I understand this is supposed to be just a testing setup, but I question the test results regarding the sound - only longer instruments sound good on lower frequencies. You'll find out how far you can overload a mandolin, but you still don't know what a mandola would be like. At least you can be sure that any real mandola will sound better than your testing setup; if you like that, you'll like the mandola.

    The same applies for playability - the main issue for a mandolinist changing to lower frequencies is the longer scale, and you need a real longer scale instrument to try that.

    Bertram
    the world is better off without bad ideas, good ideas are better off without the world

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