A micrometer or dial caliper on the old strings would go a long way toward solving this mystery. MMc
I've done the same and on a 22" scale I can get by a .009" on the high B strings but a few tunings later they are suspect to a TWAAAAAAANG so I settled for .008". I aim for 20 - 22lbs tension per string....
But not being there when the OP did his thing far be it from me to say he was an octave off...
More "meat" for the technically minded from folks who know something about strings and tension:
http://daddario.com/upload/tension_chart_13934.pdf
http://www.mcdonaldstrings.com/stringxxiii.html
takes a lot of the fun (and guesswork) out of the equation
Also Mount Joy Music Spring Wire Specifications with Break Strength/Lbs. by Diameter.
(Scroll down.)
belbein
The bad news is that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. The good news is that what kills us makes it no longer our problem
Not necessarily any mistake at all, given that an octave mandolin is sometimes called a mandola. We don't have the benefit of knowing precisely what the OP was told at the time of purchase. They can scarcely be blamed for the OP's pitch problem when a year later he mistakenly tries to retune his OM as a mandocello and finds it sounds lousy - it would.
Time to let it go.
Well, the reason it's high strung is that it can't let it go.
belbein
The bad news is that what doesn't kill us makes us stronger. The good news is that what kills us makes it no longer our problem
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