When is a Mandolin a Ukulele

I've been interested in 8 String Ukuleles. My question is when is a Mandolin an 8 String Ukulele. I'm not sure if a Mandola is a Ukulele and is it different from a Mandolele? Comments welcome as ignorance is not bliss

I think that if your 8 strings are in unison and you tune in fifths the uke be close to a mandolin with synthetic strings.

Merlin basically said it all: a mandolin isn‘t a uke for various reasons, mostly the material of the strings (steel on the mandolin vs nylon or other synthetic materials on the uke) and tuning (in fifths, i.e. g - d - a -e on the mandolin): Also, the neck as well as the fretboard on a mandoline is thinner or more narrow, respectively. Most mandolins do have a differrent body shape, but there are guitar- or eight-shaped mandolins, as well.
I am not sure about this, but I think that on most eight-sttring ukes (also called taropatches) the g and the c strings are in octaves, whereas the higher two strings are in unison (same note twice). Although I read about the unison tuning on taropatches, as well.

BUT: If you get your hands on a taropatch and tune it in fifths, you could play it like a mandolin. But I think that many mandolin chords may be difficlult to finger on the wider neck and fretboard of a uke.

A Mandola, on the other hand, is much larger than a uke.
But even on a standard tuning taropatch, you can get a decent mandolin-like sound, if you play with a pick, for example. I own a concert-sized taropatch and played with a pick, I can make it sound somewhat like a mandolin (well, kind of... ).

Just to give you an impression (and to show off my taropatch a little bit...):

Take a look here, & this is the place for mandolin players.

https://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/threads/26421-Tuning-a-mandola-to-gdae-like-a-mandolin


P.S. A mandolin is never a uke.

frolicks said:

Merlin basically said it all: a mandolin isn‘t a uke for various reasons, mostly the material of the strings (steel on the mandolin vs nylon or other synthetic materials on the uke) and tuning (in fifths, i.e. g - d - a -e on the mandolin): Also, the neck as well as the fretboard on a mandoline is thinner or more narrow, respectively. Most mandolins do have a differrent body shape, but there are guitar- or eight-shaped mandolins, as well.
I am not sure about this, but I think that on most eight-sttring ukes (also called taropatches) the g and the c strings are in octaves, whereas the higher two strings are in unison (same note twice). Although I read about the unison tuning on taropatches, as well.

BUT: If you get your hands on a taropatch and tune it in fifths, you could play it like a mandolin. But I think that many mandolin chords may be difficlult to finger on the wider neck and fretboard of a uke.

A Mandola, on the other hand, is much larger than a uke.
But even on a standard tuning taropatch, you can get a decent mandolin-like sound, if you play with a pick, for example. I own a concert-sized taropatch and played with a pick, I can make it sound somewhat like a mandolin (well, kind of... ).

Just to give you an impression (and to show off my taropatch a little bit...):

Click to expand...

Thanks for your comment. I'm looking to go from a Mandolin type instrument to a Ukulele. And replacing the strings. I wonder is the fretting different?

I had this tenor mandolele custom made by Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam for $430 shipped to Los Angeles. It looks like a mandolin, but it uses standard nylon strings that I tune reentrant (high G). I added the tailpiece and fret markers to look more like a mandolin.

---

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

The lines between instruments are fuzzy. When a ukulele becomes a mandolin or vice versa is essentially the ship of Theseus paradox.

Things that affect the definition are tuning (typically gCEA for ukulele and GGDDAAEE for mandolin), scale length (similar range for instruments in each family), string material (typically nylon for ukulele and metal for mandolin), number of strings, body shape, how they're played and genre, etc.

Basically, you need to decide which pieces you care about, find something you like, and then call it what you will

keenonuke said:

I'm looking to go from a Mandolin type instrument to a Ukulele. And replacing the strings. I wonder is the fretting different?

Click to expand...

Mandolin and soprano ukulele are the same scale length (~13-14"), and you can get GDAE strings for a soprano ukulele. The fretting will then be essentially the same. There will be differences in string spacing, sound, and tension: steel strings are much higher tension than nylon and feel significantly different. You also will probably go from 8 strings in courses to just 4 strings - most 8 string ukuleles are larger.

A mandola is a slightly larger mandolin - it will be similar in scale to a tenor or baritone ukulele (~16-20") and is usually tuned a fifth below a mandolin. You can get CGDA strings for a tenor ukulele and it'll fret essentially the same as the mandola barring the steel vs. nylon string differences. 8 string tenor ukuleles are fairly easy to find.

Frolick's concert taropatch is somewhere in the middle size-wise (~15")

I wanted my mandolin-tuned ukulele to match my mandolin's scale length, so I modded a Soprano for 8 strings. I still can't stretch 6 frets for big chop G
I sometimes call it a "mandolele", but nobody knows what I mean without an explanation.

My wife has a very nice flat top/ round hole mandolin by Big Muddy. Not all mandos have arch tops and f holes. There is a good deal of variation, though genres like Bluegrass use f hole/arch tops almost exclusively.

Id say the big difference is tension. Mandolins have metal string and pretty high tension. And the 5th tuning, of course.

kohanmike said:

I had this tenor mandolele custom made by Bruce Wei Arts in Vietnam for $430 shipped to Los Angeles. It looks like a mandolin, but it uses standard nylon strings that I tune reentrant (high G). I added the tailpiece and fret markers to look more like a mandolin.

---

This is Michael Kohan in Los Angeles, Beverly West near the Beverly Center
9 tenor cutaway ukes, 5 acoustic bass ukes, 11 solid body bass ukes, 9 mini electric bass guitars (Total: 34)

• Donate to The Ukulele Kids Club, they provide ukuleles to children in hospital music therapy programs. www.theukc.org
• Member The CC Strummers: YouTube: www.youtube.com/user/CCStrummers/video, Facebook: www.facebook.com/TheCCStrummers

Click to expand...

Thanks to everyone for your comments. I think when the time comes I'll have an 8 String Mandolin looking taropatch built. Hopefully one with the Mandolin curl and a round soundport.

google Mandolinetto

weerpool said:

google Mandolinetto

Click to expand...

Thanks - I like the curly hook on the Mandolin. I'm going more for the northfield mandolin nf-f2s look but without the sunburst

I have a couple mandolins that get played rarely. I'm considering restringing to ukulele tuning.

Cornfield said:

I have a couple mandolins that get played rarely. I'm considering restringing to ukulele tuning.

Click to expand...

Not saying this in a judgmental tone, just curious. Why change the mandolins to ukulele tuning? Why not just play a ukulele, which I'm assuming you have one? What would be the benefit of turning a mandolin into a ukulele?

If you already had a mandolin and found that you weren’t really playing it but were enjoying ukulele more, it would be tempting to fiddle around with it. The allure might be the doubled courses and the steel strings.

I had a baritone built to the same size as a tenor guitar with a 1 3/8th neck. I call it a contra baritone for it's deep rich sound. I asked the luthier why its a baritone and not a tenor guitar. He said a tenor guitar has steel strings while the bari. was nylon. I would think the tuning would have something to do with it too.

Rllink said:

Not saying this in a judgmental tone, just curious. Why change the mandolins to ukulele tuning? Why not just play a ukulele, which I'm assuming you have one? What would be the benefit of turning a mandolin into a ukulele?

Click to expand...

Why not? The mandolin has a unique tone to it, vs my Kamaka 8 string. The steel strings are very different from the uke strings.

bunnyf said:

If you already had a mandolin and found that you weren’t really playing it but were enjoying ukulele more, it would be tempting to fiddle around with it. The allure might be the doubled courses and the steel strings.

Click to expand...

Yes, just because you can is reason enough. I was just wondering people's motivation.