Mandola Tunings Tuning a Mandola and Possible Variations

Subject: Good Morning, i have a mandola question.
Date: Thu, 11 Dec 2003 19:13:54 +0000

My girlfriend just bought me a mandola for the holidays and i learned right off that tuning it the saem as a mandolin is a bad idea. . . i dont exactly play mandolin (they are too small) so im all at sea with this insturment. What is the right tuning for a mandola which will let me play the tunes in the mandolin book that i have?

Thanks,
Andrew Paul MacEwen

A mandola is tuned one-fifth lower than a mandolin at C - G - D - A...

Now, this is still in intervals of fifths as the mandolin is tuned...so, all of the tunes in your mandolin book can now be played with the same patterns...only, keep in mind, you'll now be in a key one-fifth lower. For instance, when reading the tablature for a mandolin piece in the key of G...you'll now be in the key of C on mandola...if you're following the patterns exact.

Hope this helps...Mickey

Subject: Mid-Missouri M-14 MAndola
Date: Mon, 30 Sep 2002 01:44:43 -0700

I play Irish Trad music and have an inexpensive mando plus a Trinty College Octave that io bought from you. Can the M-14 be tuned GDAE like a regular mando for a liitle more depth and volume, or must it be tuned like a mandola to work properly??
Please advise and also tell me your price with a hard case.
Thanks,
Brian Coakley

Greetings Brian,

Glad to assist if I can:

I would not recommend tuning the M-14 to standard mandolin tuning...the Mid-Mo does not have an adjustable truss rod...it does have a reinforced neck...this means that with any added stress, such as tuning the Mandola to a higher pitch than what it was designed for, you may warp the neck...since there isn't a truss rod, repairing the neck becomes more difficult...I believe this would be true of any make of Mandola (with or without a truss rod)...