Banjolin tuned as 8 string uke?

Ben_H

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Hi,

Has anyone ever had a banjolin tuned like an 8 string uke? Other than not having to learn new chord shapes are there any positive reasons for doing so? Conversely are there negatives and would you/could you use uke strings?

Cheers

Ben
 
How wide is the nut compared to that of an eight-string uke? There have been many threads on tuning a regular mandolin to uke tuning, and it usually doesn't work well, because the mandolin neck is too narrow to comfortably play ukulele chords.

- FiL
 
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Ah----my favorite subject---creating a mandobanjulele!! I call them mukes for short. A very well known mandolin player in our area considers it as heresy. Two of them have 11 1/2" heads with 13 1/2" reflectors on the back. Both have butterflies or bow ties on the grills rather than just round holes. One is strung with tenor Aquila strings as GG CC EE AA. The other is strung GCEA. The Gretsch Clariphone I am resetting of the neck to the body will be strung with a combination of tenor and charrango strings so all four voices will be in octaves. My 1929 single cone Dobro resonator is Dd Gg BB EE Aquila tenor strings. I find it necessary to put a piece of foam rubber or the small button bubble-wrap on the area between the bridge and the tail piece to kill the dissonant harmonic overtones U= U= U= U= U= U= U=U= tabs on the older models are pulled up a bit so a hobby shop purchased .050 gauge length of bellcrank wire can be cut so it fits under the tabs with the strings tied around it, and it put under the tabs. The #1 string is to the outside of the tabs on botht sides. The bar prevents the sharp edges of the tail piece from cutting the knots off of the strings. I am buidling an F model kit which will be
Tenor Aquila strings as dD Gg Bb eE. The low e will be the low d pulled up a whole set to be a low e below middle C as is the low d. It is a great sound and a great feel. The verb is mandalize / mandalise.
 
Do you have any pics of your mandoukes? Im working on converting on myself
 
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