Octave Mandolas
A brilliant sounding Birds eye maple octave mandola from the excellent British luthier Thomas Buchanan. Finely appointed 'Flat Top' instrument with solid birds eye maple back and sides and a solid european sitka spruce soundboard. Also features a rosewood headstock faceplate and maple body binding. Please see below for more details
Handmade in the UK by luthier Tom Buchanan, this Octave Mandola features a Solid Cedar Top and beautiful Solid Koa Back and Sides. Buchanan octave mandolas are double strung as standard.
Tuning on an octave mandola is similar to a mandolin but an octave lower: GG-DD-AA-EE.
- Gold hardware finish
- Gloss Finish
- Hand crafted
- Hand made in the UK
A brilliant sounding Hawaiian Koa octave mandola from the excellent British luthier Thomas Buchanan. Finely appointed 'Flat Top' instrument with solid Hawaiian Koa back and sides and a solid european sitka spruce soundboard. Also features a rosewood headstock faceplate and maple body binding.
This model features a beautifully patterned rosette, golden Gotoh closed side tuners and amber tuning pegs.
Please see below for more details
- All Solid
- Gloss Finish
- Hand crafted
- Hand made in the UK
- Lightweight
- Oval Sound hole
A brilliant sounding octave mandola from the excellent British luthier Thomas Buchanan. Finely appointed 'Flat Top' instrument with solid Rosewood back and sides and a solid european sitka spruce soundboard. Also features a rosewood headstock faceplate and maple body binding. Please see below for more details
- All Solid
- Gloss Finish
- Hand made in the UK
- Lightweight
- Supplied with Gig Bag
A full sounding octave mandola from an excellent British luthier. The Thomas Buchanan 'Flat Top' walnut octave mandola has a solid spruce soundboard with a neat inlaid soundhole rosette, solid walnut back and sides, ebony fingerboard with pearl dot markers and a mahogany neck. The rosewood pin bridge has a bone saddle for maximum transmission of sound. Buchanan octave mandolas are double strung as standard.
AS NEW condition and supplied with a strap and TGI padded gig bag.
The octave mandola or sometimes referred to as the octave mandolin is a fretted string instrument with four pairs of strings tuned in fifths, usually GDAE (low to high), an octave below a mandolin. The most common body shape for this instrument type is the A style (or teardrop) shape. Popular brands include Eastman, Ozark, Gold Tone, Buchanan and Trinity College.
It’s a longer scaled instrument than the mandola, but shorter than the bouzouki and its construction is similar to other instruments in the mandolin family. Usually the courses are all unison pairs but the lower two (G and D) may sometimes be strung as octave pairs with the higher-pitched octave string on top so that it is hit before the thicker lower-pitched string (similar to a 12 string guitar).
Alternate tunings of GDAD and ADAD are often employed by Celtic musicians which this instrument is a popular choice for. Octave Mandolas are most commonly picked with a plectrum rather than fingerpicked like the guitar or banjo.
Important with any instrument is playability especially with the Octave Mandola with it having 8 strings in close pairs and a relatively long scale with a narrow neck and fingerboard. Fully setup in our workshop for the best playability and tone, each Octave mandola will be ready to play the day you receive it.
Some instruments can have pickups built in ready to plug and play whether for recording or live use and some are expertly handmade by some of the UK’s finest luthiers such as Buchanan.