My wife found a great deal on a Trinity College TM-275 Irish Mandola. I’m calling it an Irish Mandola because it has a flat top and an A-style hole, just like my Irish Bouzouki. This Mandola has a 17-inch scale (the distance from bridge to nut), and I’m going to tune it to G2-D3-A3-D4, just like my Bouzouki.
The strings gauges I’m going to try first are 19-30-46-64. With the StringJoy Nickel Wound strings, that gives me string tensions of 22.7, 20.8, 25.9, 24.0 pounds, for a total neck tension of 184.8 pounds.
I’m seeing now I should have gone with 34 on the third course, for a tension of 26.7. Darn it.
I’ll update this blog post with my findings, I hope. I may have to make a new nut and bridge.