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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | I have an opportunity to buy a second hand mandolin. Its an Ovation - pretty nice, some shiny spots on teh bowl from the strap, but the top is perfect, and only a very minor amount of fret wear.
The problem is - I dont play the mandolin!
So I was thinking (dangerous again) I wonder if I could tune it to G,C,F,E and have it be similar to the guitar fingering for the E,A,D,G strings (transposed key of course).... or if I could tune it to G,C,E,A and make it finger like the D,G,B,E strings on the gitfiddle (in a different key of course).
This would be lower tunings than standard, so the question is really more of string gauge. I'm thinking I might need to go just a few .001's heavier on the strings that I'm tuning low so I get good resonance on them. OR... do I need to at all. OR... am I just totally daft here thinking I can play blues mandolin in guitar fingering.
I know y'all are gonna say... hey just learn to play mando. Sigh. Easy to say. I'd have to woodshed myself for a while, dunno if thats the ticket (to damn lazy in my old age).
Ok... shoot this full of holes, I can take it. | |
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Joined:
August 2003
Posts: 2246
Location: Yucaipa, California | Charlie,
Check out my previous posting regarding this very topic...
I have a Fender Mandolin and have tuned it to actual DGBE and haven't pulled the face off yet....
For me, music is supposed to be FUN and when I can play a mandolin without having to stop and try to remember the chords.... that's fun!
tim | |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | As someone mentioned before, Tommy Tedesco, one of the premium studio players, tuned his mandolin to guitar tuning so he could play without having to rethink. Most mandolins are pretty sturdy, so you probably wont have a problem. As for the warranty, who ever heard of an instrument manufacturer with a warranty, think of Willy Nelson showing up at Martin and saying "My Martin seems to have developed a hole in the top, what are you going to do about it?" | |
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Joined:
January 2004
Posts: 648
Location: Florida | Tuning a Manolin to guitar intervals would be downtuning - how would that damage it? | |
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Joined:
May 2002
Posts: 3005
Location: Las Cruces, NM | CharlieB
That was my first impression until I thought about it, the High E is normal, the rest of the strings are 2 or more frets above mandolin tuning. Probably the Ovation mandolin is one of the more capable to withstand that tuning.
Bailey | |
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Will this manolin tuning work?