inkandsilver
Member
Just an idea I wanted to throw out here, for anyone who might be interested. My first fretted instrument was a mandolin, less than a year ago. I love it, but once I discovered the uke my mandolin started collecting dust. I *love* the sound of mando but it isn't an easy instrument to learn, and so with limited practice time and burgeoning uke-obsession, there she sat, making me feel guilty, so guilty. Suddenly it came to me one day recently: I'll tune the mandolin down to ggcceeaa! Sacrilege, I know, to some, but it's great because I can apply some of the progress I've made on the uke and still get that very different sound. It also has helped temporarily curtail my "need" for another tenor uke to have one set up low-g.
There's some great information here if you want to check it out. Essentially, though, you just get rid of your mandolin's E course and use a second A course -- so your first course is A strings tuned to A, your second is A strings tuned down to E, your third is D strings tuned down to C, your fourth is G strings tuned to G. If you don't want to give up any of that high end range you can also tune it DGBE, an octave above a baritone uke.
It's not by any means a perfect solution but it's been fun.
There's some great information here if you want to check it out. Essentially, though, you just get rid of your mandolin's E course and use a second A course -- so your first course is A strings tuned to A, your second is A strings tuned down to E, your third is D strings tuned down to C, your fourth is G strings tuned to G. If you don't want to give up any of that high end range you can also tune it DGBE, an octave above a baritone uke.
It's not by any means a perfect solution but it's been fun.