Mandola Tuning

Home Payments New Instruments Setting Up History Hospital Gallery FAQ Contact Links

 

   Mandola: (Tenor) scale length around 420mm (but I have seen 410 and 440!)
   Tuning:  Accepted tuning for mandolas in most places is the same as violas, CGDA from low to high,  with unison strings, that is, with pairs of strings in the same octave. However, there are two accepted methods of tuning, the alto/treble or tenor tuning. The 'mandola tenore' is common in Italy, where the tuning is GDAE an octave below the mandolin. But beware, mandola scale lengths do seem to vary more than the classical Neapolitan mandolins.

   Middle C is 5th on the 3rd string with the alto tuning, (CGDA) and 3rd on the 2nd string in tenor tuning (GDAE).

 

Alto (CGDA)

Strings Manufacturer:   1st 2nd 3rd 4th
D'Addario light Phosphor Bronze .015" ? ? .052"
Galli Mandola Phospor Tenor In D .019" .025" .042" .060"
Galli Mandola Phospor Tenor In Sol .014" .024" .034" .050"
GHS PF 280 Mandola BRIGHT BRONZE loop end .012" .022" .032" .044"
     Unfortunately I haven't tried out all these string sets yet. I tend to use GHS bright bronze, but for a typical mandola scale length, I replace the 2nd string with a 020w, as I find 022 breaks too often, so is too heavy.
 

Tenor (GDAE)

Dogal they do low tension strings for Tenor tuned mandolas, for scale lengths of 44, 46 and 48 cms.