Re: Mandolin or ukulele strung like mandolin (GDAE)?
If you were looking for a melodic instrument for ITM, then re-tuning a ukulele GDAE would be a great advantage, although it would certainly be lost in a session.
For a chordal instrument in ITM I would use 'low-G' tuning on a ukulele. The standard (assuming you're looking at a soprano or concert uke) is gCEA, where the 'bass' string is an octave higher than expected (known as re-entrant tuning). This gives the classic ukulele sound. Low G tuning lowers the G string an octave to yield GCEA. The instrument now takes on a much more guitar-like quality well suited for accompaniment in ITM.
The two-finger chords of a mandolin (or ukulele tuned as one) are generally less satisfying than the guitar-type tunings as they are not as solid in the bass. A lot of players will use octave mandolins or bouzoukis in ITM for chording, but the sound is usually used to enhance the rhythm rather than provide the foundation. A mandolin is rarely used for chording because of its higher voice (too close to the fiddle and flute), although it is sometimes done very effectively.
People are now doing all kinds of things in ITM and related musics, but the classic ukulele sound is not really there just yet. If I were going to do it one way or the other, I would buy a concert size ukulele and tune it in low-G tuning.
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