Re-Stringing My Mandoletto

Re-stringing my mandoletto^1,2,3 last night at my favorite cafe required help from two musicians, and about three hours.  When I got done I didn't know much to do but hunt about for some good-sounding chords,⁴ with visions of performing in Italian restaurants⁵ to lovebirds lost in their wine.

Borrowing from the bouzouki, its sweet tone stuns the trained musical ear, evoking at once the mystery of the Mediterranean and the magic of Celtic rhythms.

This latest addition to the mandolin family finds its place somewhere amidst the (standard) tunings:

---------------------G---D---A---E Mandolin

-----------------C---G---D---A---- Mandola

----------------X---X---X---X----- Mandoletto

--------------G---D---A---E------- Octave Mandolin

----------C---G---D---A----------- Mandocello

G---D---A---E--------------------- Mandobass (rev.)

Once this new instrument makes its official debut, actual tuning will be revealed (the "X"s in the chart above are meant to cloak the process in mystery). Further development occurs in great secrecy.

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1. a $100 made-in-China octave mandolin, that could be tuned as a mandola, that I ordered from Lark in the Morning at the turn of the century. It arrived with the smell of Elmer's glue (suggesting to me it had been assembled by political prisoners).
2. upon arrival I immediately hunted around for alternate tunings; the combination of which, with the instrument, made for the addition of this to the mandolin family.
3. it's called the "mandoletto" because the inventor figures he can name it any damn thing he pleases.
4. about the extent of my stringed-instrument playing experience.
5. okay, so it could be French, or Greek, or maybe even Mexican.