THE MANDO-LELE OR GUITARLINO WITH NYLON STRINGS I have also a charango-ukulele or charango-mandolin (GUITARLINO, TAROPATCH ) of 37.5 cm scale length (same as he concert ukulele) , and with nylon strings, with the same tuning (D5:D4, G4:G4, B4:B4, E5:E5). in other words with the BODY SIZE OF CONCERT UKULELE BUT tuning of double string soprano ukulele . The soprano ukulele has scale length about that of a mandolin.
The 37,5 cm scale length corresponds to the E4 string of the standard guitar to the D5 note.
Notice that the normal tuning of a charango is (G4 G4 - C5 C5 - E5 E4 - A4 A4 -E5 E5)
Therefore the range of the suggested tuning (D5:D4, G4:G4, B4:B4, E5:E5) has as lowest the D4, which is lower than the lowest of the normal charango tuning the E4.
For the strings I used strings from the charango set of strings. I used the charango high 1st pair E5:E5, for the high 1st pair of the charango-mandolin. I used the pair C5:C5 of the charango strings for the pair B4:B4 of the charango-mandolin. I used the pair A4:A4 of the charango or the pair G4:G4 for the pair G4:G4 of the new charango-mandolin. And I used the re-entrance pair E5:E4 for the re-entrance pair D5:D4 of the charango mandolin. In order to have the range of the classical tenor ukulele or of the mandolin one may resort to the next octaved tuning: (D5:D4, G3:G4, B4:B4, E5:E5). In which case only the G3 string of the 3rd pair G3:G4 is different from the original tuning (D5:D4, G4:G4, B4:B4, E5:E5). We may use a G3 string of a ukulele.
The fretboard of this charango-mandolin is of larger width than the width of the fretboard of a mandolin, which makes it easier to play chords. The sound of the nylon strings somehow in the chords is better too and hides better the slight out of tuning that may occur.
In order to have even lower the range one may resort to the next octaved tunings (D3:D4, G3:G4, B4:B4, E5:E5). or even lower to the (D3:D4, G3:G4, B3:B4, E4:E5). For the E4 of the E4:E5 one may utilize an guitar D3 string. For the B3 of the B3:B4 one may utilize a guitar A2-string. For the G3 of the G3:G4 one may utilize a guitar E2-string. For the D3 of the D3:D4 one may utilize a guitar E2-string.
The body can be also of a concert-size ukulele with 8-strings or TAROPATCH, of 38 cm scale length , but instead of tuning this taropatch as a ukulele we tune as above at the range of mandolin and charango, in other words as a tuning of the sopranino ukulele but with double strings. The taropatch has scale length as the concert ukulele of 37-38 cn
The 38 cm scale length corresponds to the E4 string of the standard guitar to the D5 note.
The 33 cm scale length corresponds to the E4 string of the standard guitar to the E5 note.
