South American "bandola" as a sub-baritone uke?

MatthewVanitas

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A couple years ago, I was mucking around down in Colombia, and for US$75 picked up a cheap model of a local string instrument, the "bandola llanera".

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Mine played okay (despite sharp frets and meh build), good sound, and pretty quickly I started trying it in both open tunings and uke-based tunings.

Normally it's tuned ADae
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But if you play around with it (and especially if you fiddle with string gauges) you can get a uke-like tuning, and with a low A that's below the D of a baritone (am I right?) you can get a sub-baritone uke! I didn't post it earlier since they just weren't easy to find online, but I see that these days you can get them as low as $150 on eBay from Venezuela; I haven't gotten one and judged the quality, but at that price even if it needs some settup that's not bad. And what with the absolute economic chaos in Venezuela, you can google up some serious local luthiers and probably get a great price on a custom-made one.

Just wanted to alert folks to a possible cool option that can take uke-style tuning but at a pitch around or maybe even below baritone, and is definitely visually distinctive.
 
I would love to hear this as well!
 
No sound samples of my own; I sold my $75 Colombian one for the same price once I got back to the US since I was going traveling and had to cut down my collection. Also brought back a tiple requinto (uke-like tuning with *tripled* steel strings) and gifted it to a musician friend who loves it.

You can check YouTube for clips; post your favorites here! Note that the *traditional* style of bandola playing is more like mandolin, so it may be harder to find clips that give you an idea of its ukeability.
 
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Why do I think of Jerry Gourd looking at this? :p

Very interesting. What's the scale length?
 
I understand it varies, but generally 18-19" so comparable to a baritone uke.

Honestly, if I wanted a baritone, I think I'd just get one of these and put bari strings on it since they're inexpensive and look cool.
 
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"Ukeability" is a pretty vague term given all the ways the Ukulele is played today. These are generally "bass-line" melody instruments and since they use classical strings, have relatively deep tunings, and relatively short scales (considering the depth of the tunings), they are usually played with a pick (and picked hard!) to get more clarity and decent projection.

Is that the way you had in mind to play it, or did you find something else you liked?
 
When I had one, part of the time I just tuned it uke-style but at the lower pitch the strings were made for, and just strummed basic uke chords on it (just using my fingers). Wasn't too muddy at all, sounded like a good lower bari.

The neck is kinda short given the tall body, so you can't go very far above first position, but for basic chord strumming it worked great and sounded lovely for the price.
 
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