Talk:Octave mandolin

I am a member of a mandolin orchestra and an octave mandolinist. I have seen many octave mandolins and Irish bouzoukis, and there are distinct differences. The octave mandolin typically has a much shorter scale, with pairs of strings that are the same (usually GDAE, but of course the musician can change that), leading to a soft, full sound, just right for the mandolin orchestra. The bouzouki, on the other hand, has a long scale, and the two lower sets of strings are usually an octave apart. The long scale leads to the pairs of strings touching each other when they vibrate, creating a unique zingy sound which the octave mandolin can't reproduce. The bodies of the two instruments often look much alike, but musically they are not interchangeable. —Anne Delong (talk) 19:00, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Could it be that the modern "Irish bouzouki and the modern "octave mandolin" are becoming more and more alike over time, such that they now are, but were not before, essentially the same imnstrument? (I'm no expert, but see "Talk" pages of both articles.) Acwilson9 (talk)

Terminology

Removed text:

A mandola is something different and an octave mandola is on the octave of a mandola, tuned a fifth below a mandolin.

This may sound logical, but it's unsupported and I think false.

The whole section needs a refactor. Andrewa (talk) 10:25, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

While it's true that technically an "octave mandola" should be an octave below a mandola, there is already a term for that instrument: the mandocello, so to call it an octave mandola is just confusing; besides, that sentence is confusing, because you can't tell which of the two instruments is supposed to be a fifth below a mandolin. —Anne Delong (talk) 16:18, 29 January 2013 (UTC)

Here's s source for the differences between this family of instruments:

How to Tell Mandolins, Citterns, Mandolas, Bouzoukis, etc. Apart Copyright 1994 Dan Beimborn

—Anne Delong (talk) 20:22, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

Here's an article from respected Frets magazine which indicates that the Gibson company invented the octave mandolin, which they called an octave mandola at first, and that they made a point of differentiating it from the ordinary mandola tuned CGDA. The Mandolin's Heyday Frets, March 1979

I found a link to a 1930 Gibson company catalogue showing the tuning of the mandola as CGDA.

[1]

—Anne Delong (talk) 21:20, 28 January 2013 (UTC)

History and construction

I've just removed almost half the article and feel more than a little bad about it. However, I felt they were far too inaccurate and I just don't have the time to rewrite them right now. If somebody else wants to do the job, here are some facts:

History

The octave mandolin (or whatever you like to call it is not a "modern invention like the Irish bouxouki". The (GDAE-tuned) mandola was the common instrument for the third part of European mandolin quartets at least as early as 1900, probably a bit earlier. At about the same time in USA Elias Howe included the "octave mandolin" in his range of Howe-Orme archtop mandos and guitars.

Construction

The instrument should be compared to the other instruments in the mandolin family, not to the Irish cittern and Irish bouzouki.

Frank Nordberg (talk) 01:01, 4 January 2011 (UTC)

Merge with Irish bouzouki?

This page says that they are the same instrument, though the Irish bouzouki page doesn't; and it's pretty much true, as the essential difference is scale length of the two instruments. Should the pages be merged with a different section for Irish bouzouki? Thoughts? Dan Cottrell (talk) 22:43, 19 April 2012 (UTC)