Mandolin

A mandolin is a stringed musical instrument. The number and type of strings found on mandolins has varied over time and place. Today, the predominant configuration is that of the Neapolitan mandolin, with four courses of metal strings. Each pair of strings is tuned in unison, and are a fifth apart from adjacent pairs, giving an identical tuning to a violin (G-D-A-E low-to-high). Unlike a violin, the fingerboard of a mandolin is fretted and it is typically played with a flat pick (a plectrum).

Mandolin forms

Mandolins come in several forms. The Neapolitan style, known as a round-back or bowl-back, has a vaulted back made of a number of strips of wood in a bowl formation, similar to a lute and usually a canted, two-plane, uncarved top. The Portuguese, a flat-back style is derived from the cittern. Another form has a banjo-style body. Other variants include the Howe-Orme guitar-shaped mandolin (manufactured by the Elias Howe Company between 1897 and roughly 1920), which featured a cylindrical bulge along the top from fingerboard end to tailpiece, and the Vega mando-lute (more commonly called a cylinder-back mandolin manufactured by the Vega Company between 1913 and roughly 1927), which had a similar longitudinal bulge but on the back rather than the front of the instrument.

Related Topics:
Lute - Cittern - Banjo - Howe-Orme - Elias Howe Company - Cylinder-back mandolin - Vega Company

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In the early twentieth century, another new mandolin-style, with carved top and back construction inspired by violin family instruments, began to supplant the European-style bowl-back instruments, especially in the United States. This new style is credited to mandolins designed and built by Orville Gibson who founded the Gibson company in 1902. Gibson mandolins evolved into two families: the F-style, which has a scroll near the neck and two points on the right side; and the A-style, which is pear shaped and has no points. These styles generally have either two f-shaped soundholes like a violin or an oval sound hole directly under the strings. Naturally, there is much variation among makers, and different styles exist as well, but these are the most common. The F-hole, F-style mandolins are considered the most typical and traditional for playing American Bluegrass music, while A-style with oval hole is generally more appropriate for Irish, folk, or classical music. This classification is mostly for optical/esthetical reasons as most people will admit that there is no difference in sound between a model with or without a scroll (other things like soundholes being equal).

Related Topics:
Orville Gibson - Soundhole - F-hole - Bluegrass music

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Numerous modern mandolin makers build instruments that are largely replicas of the Gibson F-5 Artist models built in the early 1920s by Gibson acoustician Lloyd Loar. Original Loar-signed instruments are sought-after and extremely valuable.

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