Subject: tenor banjo
Date: Wed, 18 Aug 2004 14:46:46 -0500

I am learning on a mandolin but my fingers are too large and would like to find a larger instrument with mandolin sound.
What is this banjolin. I have a epiphone acustic-electric guitar with very good hardshell case that I no longer use. Will attach picture. It has very little use and only couple years old. Tell me what it is worth? Would a tenor banjo be close to mandolin sound? We are very far from any music stores who carry these instruments.

The Banjolin is a mandolin banjo...essentially a mandolin with a banjo body...more of a novelty instrument...and, keep in mind, it has the same size neck as a standard mandolin on average.

Send me the exact model number on your guitar...we'll find out its market value for you...we offer market value minus 15% resell costs...

Nope, a Tenor banjo would not sound at all like a mandolin...it sounds more like a high-pitched banjo...

My suggestion, if you feel your hands are too large for a mandolin, and you're looking for that mandolin sound, would be to consider an octave mandolin...check out our video samplers to further assist you in differentiating the tonal variations from instrument to instrument...

Mickey

Date: Tue, 15 Jun 2004 20:05:17 -0500
Subject: Hand size and learning the Mandolin

I have seen the reverse of this question in the FAQ's, but not my concern.

I have big hands and big fingers, would that keep me from being able to
learn the mandolin?

I believe this can work on your behalf on the mandolin...there are many chords you may be able to play, with the tip of a finger...because of your larger hands you should have better stretch than average...which can certainly be more advantageous...this may give you more of an edge than be any kind of detriment to your learning the mandolin...

I also have what they call tapered fingers, no matter
how short I cut my fingernails they would be what hits the fingerboard first
not flesh. Would that be an impediment to learning the mandolin?

Now, this can possibly be a detriment...you might be able to bypass this by angling your fingers slightly so that they don't come down on the note at the tip of the finger....then again, you might also want to experiment frettiing the strings with the tip of your fingernails. I was playing dulcimer the other day, and, as is common in dulcimer, I was using the side of my thumb to play some of the chords...because I hadn't developed any callouses to offset the pain, I started to use my thumbnail to fret the strings...which seemed to work fine...

Is there a type of mandolin that would be better suited to my hands and
fingers in the beginner class?

You might consider a mandolin with a wider nut...such as the Breedlove...on average, the more affordable import mandolins all have standard width nuts...none offering any added width on the fingerboard...you'll want to play a couple to tell the difference and to determine if there woud be any added benefit...

Hope this helps, Mickey

Thank you for your help,

Stan Smith


--