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...):
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.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
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I have a couple mandolins that get played rarely. I'm considering restringing to ukulele tuning.
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?
Yes, just because you can is reason enough. I was just wondering people's motivation.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.