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57-724: The Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra , also known as The Bonne Amie Musical Circle , is a mandolin ensemble which was established in 1900 in Milwaukee , Wisconsin . They are the oldest ensemble of their kind in the United States . The group was founded in 1900 as the Bonne Amie Musical Circle. It reformed in 1982 under the Milwaukee Mandolin Orchestra name. As late as 1990, under the direction of Ernest Brusubardis,

114-529: A 440 Hz A , standard in most parts of the western world. Some players use an A up to 10 Hz above or below a 440, mainly outside the United States. [REDACTED] Other tunings exist, including cross-tunings , in which the usually doubled string runs are tuned to different pitches. Additionally, guitarists may sometimes tune a mandolin to mimic a portion of the intervals on a standard guitar tuning to achieve familiar fretting patterns. The mandolin

171-469: A bass guitar . These were made by the Gibson company in the early 20th century, was also never very common. A smaller scale four-string mandobass, usually tuned in fifths: G 1 –D 2 –A 2 –E 3 (two octaves below the mandolin), though not as resonant as the larger instrument, was often preferred by players as easier to handle and more portable. Reportedly, however, most mandolin orchestras preferred to use

228-500: A violin (F-5 and A-5), or a single oval sound hole (F-4 and A-4 and lower models) directly under the strings. Much variation exists between makers working from these archetypes, and other variants have become increasingly common. Generally, in the United States, Gibson F-hole F-5 mandolins and mandolins influenced by that design are strongly associated with bluegrass, while the A-style is associated with other types of music, although it too

285-606: A "modified x-bracing" that incorporates both a tone bar and X-bracing. Numerous modern mandolin makers build instruments that largely replicate the Gibson F-5 Artist models built in the early 1920s under the supervision of Gibson acoustician Lloyd Loar . Original Loar-signed instruments are sought after and extremely valuable. Other makers from the Loar period and earlier include Lyon and Healy , Vega and Larson Brothers . The ideal for archtops has been solid pieces of wood carved into

342-513: A Kalamazoo, Michigan, luthier who founded the "Gibson Mandolin-Guitar Manufacturing Co., Limited" in 1902. Gibson mandolins evolved into two basic styles: the Florentine or F-style, which has a decorative scroll near the neck, two points on the lower body and usually a scroll carved into the headstock; and the A-style, which is pear-shaped, has no points and usually has a simpler headstock. These styles generally have either two f-shaped soundholes like

399-509: A fingerboard with frets . The action of the strings on the bridge causes the soundboard to vibrate, producing sound. Like any plucked instrument, mandolin notes decay to silence rather than sound out continuously as with a bowed note on a violin , and mandolin notes decay faster than larger chordophones like the guitar. This encourages the use of tremolo (rapid picking of one or more pairs of strings) to create sustained notes or chords. The mandolin's paired strings facilitate this technique:

456-539: A louder sound. "Generally, stiffer boards will give a brighter edge to the sound than softer, more flexible boards....A good, dry soundboard has a certain 'live' tone while a poor one will have a relatively dead response", which may be tested during construction by thumping the board and listening for, "brighter, more noticeable ring[ing]", as one works the board, "to the appropriate thinness". Soundboards are traditionally made of wood (see tonewood ), though other materials are used. Skin or plastic are found on instruments in

513-485: A mandocello tuning using fifths C 2 C 2 G 2 G 2 D 3 D 3 A 3 A 3 (E 4 ) (E 4 ). The mandobass is the bass version of the mandolin, just as the double bass is the bass to the violin. Like the double bass, it most frequently has 4 single strings, rather than double courses—and like the double bass, it is most commonly tuned to perfect fourths rather than fifths like most mandolin family instruments: E 1 –A 1 –D 2 –G 2, —the same tuning as

570-561: A member of the mandolin family, has a reasonable resemblance and similar range to the octave mandolin. It derives from the Greek bouzouki (a long-necked lute), constructed like a flat-backed mandolin and uses fifth-based tunings, most often G 2 –D 3 –A 3 –D 4 . Other tunings include: A 2 –D 3 –A 3 –D 4 , G 2 –D 3 –A 3 –E 4 (an octave below the mandolin—in which case it essentially functions as an octave mandolin), G 2 –D 3 –G 3 –D 4 or A 2 –D 3 –A 3 –E 4 . Although

627-770: A shallower, arched back both carved out of wood. The flat-backed mandolin uses thin sheets of wood for the body, braced on the inside for strength in a similar manner to a guitar. Each style of instrument has its own sound quality and is associated with particular forms of music. Neapolitan mandolins feature prominently in European classical music and traditional music . Archtop instruments are common in American folk music and bluegrass music . Flat-backed instruments are commonly used in Irish, British, and Brazilian folk music, and Mexican estudiantinas . Other mandolin variations differ primarily in

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684-410: A shorter-scaled Irish bouzouki as a cittern, irrespective of whether it has four or five courses. Other relatives of the cittern, which might also be loosely linked to the mandolins (and are sometimes tuned and played as such), include the 6-course/12-string Portuguese guitar and the 5-course/9-string waldzither . The mandocello is classically tuned to an octave plus a fifth below the mandolin, in

741-456: A sound that is less full than a well-made, carved-top mandolin. Flatback mandolins use a thin sheet of wood with bracing for the back, as a guitar uses, rather than the bowl of the bowlback or the arched back of the carved mandolins. Like the bowlback, the flatback has a round sound hole. This has been sometimes modified to an elongated hole, called a D-hole. The body has a rounded almond shape with flat or sometimes canted soundboard. The type

798-486: A style developed by Seiffert, with a larger and rounder body. Japanese brands include Kunishima and Suzuki. Other Japanese manufacturers include Oona, Kawada, Noguchi, Toichiro Ishikawa, Rokutaro Nakade, Otiai Tadao, Yoshihiko Takusari, Nokuti Makoto, Watanabe, Kanou Kadama and Ochiai. Another family of bowlback mandolins came from Milan and Lombardy . These mandolins are closer to the mandolino or mandore than other modern mandolins. They are shorter and wider than

855-535: Is a movable length of hardwood. A pickguard is glued below the sound hole under the strings. European roundbacks commonly use a 13-inch (330 mm) scale instead of the 13 + 7 ⁄ 8 inches (350 mm) common on archtop Mandolins. Intertwined with the Neapolitan style is the Roman style mandolin, which has influenced it. The Roman mandolin had a fingerboard that was more curved and narrow. The fingerboard

912-453: Is most often used for and associated with bluegrass. The F-5's more complicated woodwork also translates into a more expensive instrument. Internal bracing to support the top in the F-style mandolins is usually achieved with parallel tone bars, similar to the bass bar on a violin. Some makers instead employ "X-bracing", which is two tone-bars mortised together to form an X. Some luthiers now using

969-466: Is normally tuned like a viola (perfect fifth below the mandolin) and tenor banjo: C 3 –G 3 –D 4 –A 4 . The octave mandolin (US and Canada), termed the octave mandola in Britain and Ireland and mandola in continental Europe, is tuned an octave below the mandolin: G 2 –D 3 –A 3 –E 4 . Its relationship to the mandolin is that of the tenor violin to the violin, or the tenor saxophone to

1026-401: Is similar to a mandocello, ordinarily tuned C 3 /C 2 –G 3 /G 2 –D 3 /D 3 –A 3 /A 3 with half of each pair of the lower two courses being tuned an octave high on a lighter gauge string. The body is a staved bowl, the saddle-less bridge glued to the flat face like most ouds and lutes, with mechanical tuners, steel strings, and tied gut frets. Modern laoutos, as played on Crete, have

1083-431: Is the only process that preserves the natural structure of the fibres and pores of the wood, which determine the resonance and frequency characteristics of the material. Not only is this process lengthy, but it is also expensive. It would be far quicker and cheaper to subject the wood to artificial drying, although the quality of the material would be compromised. The acoustic properties of an instrument are also influenced by

1140-399: Is the soprano member of the mandolin family, as the violin is the soprano member of the violin family . Like the violin, its scale length is typically about 13 inches (330 mm). Modern American mandolins modelled after Gibsons have a longer scale , about 13 + 7 ⁄ 8 inches (350 mm). The strings in each of its double-strung courses are tuned in unison, and the courses use

1197-455: Is the usual Greek bouzouki scale, are not unknown. In modern usage, however, the terms "octave mandolin" and "Irish bouzouki" are often used interchangeably to refer to the same instrument. The modern cittern may also be loosely included in an "extended" mandolin family, based on resemblance to the flat-backed mandolins, which it predates. Its own lineage dates it back to the Renaissance . It

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1254-418: Is typically a five course (ten-string) instrument having a scale length between 20 and 22 inches (510 and 560 mm). The instrument is most often tuned to either D 2 –G 2 –D 3 –A 3 –D 4 or G 2 –D 3 –A 3 –D 4 –A 4 , and is essentially an octave mandola with a fifth course at either the top or the bottom of its range. Some luthiers, such as Stefan Sobell, also refer to the octave mandola or

1311-566: Is used in Algeria and Morocco. The instrument can be tuned as a guitar, oud , or mandocello, depending on the music it will be used to play and player preference. When tuning it as a guitar the strings will be tuned (E 2 ) (E 2 ) A 2 A 2 D 3 D 3 G 3 G 3 B 3 B 3 (E 4 ) (E 4 ); strings in parentheses are dropped for a five- or four-course instrument. Using a common Arabic oud tuning D 2 D 2 G 2 G 2 A 2 A 2 D 3 D 3 (G 3 ) (G 3 ) (C 4 ) (C 4 ). For

1368-574: The National String Instrument Corporation ) to make a resonator mandolin , and amplifying electric mandolins through amplifiers. A variety of different tunings are used. Usually, courses of 2 adjacent strings are tuned in unison. By far the most common tuning is the same as violin tuning, in scientific pitch notation G 3 –D 4 –A 4 –E 5 , or in Helmholtz pitch notation : g–d′–a′–e″. The numbers of Hz shown above assume

1425-450: The banjo family, and harpsichord makers have experimented with metal soundboards. Wooden soundboards, with the exclusion of those found on keyboard instruments, typically have one or more sound holes of various shapes. Round, oval, or F-holes appear on many plucked instruments, such as guitars and mandolins . F-holes are usual in violin family instruments. Lutes commonly have elaborate rosettes . The soundboard, depending on

1482-522: The soprano saxophone . Octave mandolin scale length is typically about 20 inches (510 mm), although instruments with scales as short as 17 inches (430 mm) or as long as 21 inches (530 mm) are not unknown. The instrument has a variant off the coast of South America in Trinidad, where it is known as the bandol , a flat-backed instrument with four courses, the lower two strung with metal and nylon strings. The Irish bouzouki , though not strictly

1539-512: The "potato bug" , " potato beetle ", or tater-bug mandolin. The Neapolitan style has an almond-shaped body resembling a bowl, constructed from curved strips of wood. It usually has a bent sound table , canted in two planes with the design to take the tension of the eight metal strings arranged in four courses. A hardwood fingerboard sits on top of or is flush with the sound table. Very old instruments may use wooden tuning pegs , while newer instruments tend to use geared metal tuners . The bridge

1596-658: The Cremonese instrument, which were tuned the same as the Neapolitan. Like the Lombard mandolin, the Genoese mandolin was not tuned in fifths. Its 6 gut strings (or 6 courses of strings) were tuned as a guitar but one octave higher: e-a-d’-g’-b natural-e”. Like the Neapolitan and unlike the Lombard mandolin, the Genoese does not have the bridge glued to the soundboard, but holds the bridge on with downward tension, from strings that run between

1653-417: The Cremonese mandolin, which had four single-strings and a fixed bridge, to which the strings were attached. Bortolazzi said in this book that the new wire-strung mandolins were uncomfortable to play, when compared with the gut-string instruments. Also, he felt they had a "less pleasing...hard, zither-like tone" as compared to the gut string's "softer, full-singing tone." He favored the four single strings of

1710-484: The Irish bouzouki's bass course pairs are most often tuned in unison, on some instruments one of each pair is replaced with a lighter string and tuned in octaves, similar to the 12-string guitar . While occupying the same range as the octave mandolin/octave mandola, the Irish bouzouki is theoretically distinguished from the former instrument by its longer scale length, typically from 24 to 26 inches (610 to 660 mm), although scales as long as 27 inches (690 mm), which

1767-484: The Leland brand. A handful of contemporary luthiers build piccolo mandolins. The mandola , termed the tenor mandola in Britain and Ireland and liola or alto mandolin in continental Europe, is tuned a fifth below the mandolin, in the same relationship as that of the viola to the violin . Some also call this instrument the "alto mandola". Its scale length is typically about 16 + 1 ⁄ 2 inches (420 mm). It

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1824-415: The Lombard mandolin in 1893 as wider and shorter than the Neapolitan mandolin, with a shallower back and a shorter and wider neck, with six single strings to the regular mandolin's set of 4. The Lombard was tuned C–D–A–E–B–G. The strings were fastened to the bridge like a guitar's. There were 20 frets, covering three octaves, with an additional 5 notes. When Adelstein wrote, there were no nylon strings, and

1881-419: The Neapolitan mandolin and the Lombard mandolin. The Neapolitan style has spread worldwide. Mandolins have a body that acts as a resonator , attached to a neck . The resonating body may be shaped as a bowl ( necked bowl lutes ) or a box ( necked box lutes ). Traditional Italian mandolins, such as the Neapolitan mandolin, meet the necked bowl description. The necked box instruments include archtop mandolins and

1938-567: The United States, when the bowlback was being made in numbers, Lyon and Healy was a major manufacturer, especially under the "Washburn" brand. Other American manufacturers include Martin , Vega, and Larson Brothers. In Canada, Brian Dean has manufactured instruments in Neapolitan, Roman, German and American styles but is also known for his original 'Grand Concert' design created for American virtuoso Joseph Brent . German manufacturers include Albert & Mueller, Dietrich, Klaus Knorr, Reinhold Seiffert and Alfred Woll. The German bowlbacks use

1995-413: The air that is in front of it is compressed and it moves away from the guitar. As the soundboard moves back, the pressure on the air in front of the guitar is reduced. This is called a "rarefaction," and air rushes in to fill the rarefied region. Through this process, an alternating series of compression and rarefaction pulses travel away from the soundboard, creating sound waves. The soundboard operates by

2052-485: The bottom and neck of the instrument. The neck was wider than the Neapolitan mandolin's neck. The peg-head is similar to the guitar's. At the very end of the 19th century, a new style, with a carved top and back construction inspired by violin family instruments began to supplant the European-style bowl-back instruments in the United States. This new style is credited to mandolins designed and built by Orville Gibson ,

2109-450: The entire lower course tuned to C 3 , a reentrant octave above the expected low C. Its scale length is typically about 28 inches (710 mm). The Algerian mandole was developed by an Italian luthier in the early 1930s, scaled up from a mandola until it reached a scale length of approximately 25 to 27 inches. It is a flatback instrument, with a wide neck and 4 courses (8 strings), 5 courses (10 strings) or 6 courses (12 strings), and

2166-420: The fingers or with a quill. However, modern instruments are louder, using metal strings, which exert more pressure than the gut strings. The modern soundboard is designed to withstand the pressure of metal strings that would break earlier instruments. The soundboard comes in many shapes—but generally round or teardrop-shaped, sometimes with scrolls or other projections. There are usually one or more sound holes in

2223-411: The flatback mandolins. Strings run between mechanical tuning machines at the top of the neck to a tailpiece that anchors the other end of the strings. The strings are suspended over the neck and soundboard and pass over a floating bridge . The bridge is kept in contact with the soundboard by the downward pressure from the strings. The neck is either flat or has a slight radius, and is covered with

2280-517: The group from 1938 until his death in 2008. Mandolin There are many styles of mandolin, but the three most common types are the Neapolitan or round-backed mandolin, the archtop mandolin and the flat-backed mandolin. The round-backed version has a deep bottom, constructed of strips of wood, glued together into a bowl. The archtop, also known as the carved-top mandolin has an arched top and

2337-529: The group had only 11 members. Starting in the 1990s the group expanded, playing public concerts in other major cities and releasing recorded music. In a review of the concert in 2000 celebrating the group's centennial, Elaine Schmidt of the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel described them as "not the tightest ensemble in town, nor the most polished." The Orchestra was a guest on A Prairie Home Companion twice in 2006. One member, Jacob Scokir, played with

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2394-477: The gut and single strings "do not vibrate so clearly and sweetly as the double steel string of the Neapolitan." Brescian mandolins (also known as Cremonese) that have survived in museums have four gut strings instead of six and a fixed bridge. The mandolin was tuned in fifths, like the Neapolitan mandolin. In his 1805 mandolin method , Anweisung die Mandoline von selbst zu erlernen nebst einigen Uebungsstucken von Bortolazzi , Bartolomeo Bortolazzi popularised

2451-440: The ideal thickness, produce the sound consumers expect. Not carving them correctly dulls the sound. The sound of a carved-wood instrument changes the longer it is played, and older instruments are sought out for their rich sound. Laminated-wood presstops are less resonant than carved wood, the wood and glue vibrating differently than wood grain. Presstops made of solid wood have the wood's natural grain compressed, typically creating

2508-478: The instrument, is called a soundboard , top , top plate , resonator , table , sound-table , or belly . It is usually made of a softwood , often spruce . More generally, any hard surface can act as a soundboard. An example is when someone strikes a tuning fork and holds it against a table top to amplify its sound. Wood for woodworking must be specially prepared. Ideally, it should be naturally dried. The natural drying process takes at least one year, but it

2565-456: The mandola. Bowlback mandolins (also known as roundbacks), are used worldwide. They are most commonly manufactured in Europe, where the long history of mandolin development has created local styles. However, Japanese luthiers also make them. Owing to the shape and to the common construction from wood strips of alternating colors, in the United States these are sometimes colloquially referred to as

2622-594: The number of strings and include four-string models (tuned in fifths) such as the Brescian and Cremonese; six-string types (tuned in fourths ) such as the Milanese, Lombard, and Sicilian; six-course instruments of 12 strings (two strings per course) such as the Genoese; and the tricordia , with four triple-string courses (12 strings total). Much of mandolin development revolved around the soundboard (the top). Early instruments were quiet, strung with gut strings, and plucked with

2679-429: The ordinary double bass , rather than a specialised mandolin family instrument. Calace and other Italian makers predating Gibson also made mandolin-basses. The relatively rare eight-string mandobass, or "tremolo-bass", also exists, with double courses like the rest of the mandolin family, and is tuned either G 1 –D 2 –A 2 –E 3 , two octaves lower than the mandolin, or C 1 –G 1 –D 2 –A 2 , two octaves below

2736-439: The plectrum (pick) strikes each of a pair of strings alternately, providing a more full and continuous sound than a single string would. Various design variations and amplification techniques have been used to make mandolins comparable in volume with louder instruments and orchestras, including the creation of mandolin-banjo hybrids with the drum-like body of the louder banjo , adding metal resonators (most notably by Dobro and

2793-433: The principle of forced vibration . The string gently vibrates the board, and despite their differences in size and composition, makes the board vibrate at exactly the same frequency. This produces the same sound as the string alone, differing only in timbre . The string would produce the same amount of energy without the board present, but the greater surface area of the soundboard moves a greater volume of air, which produces

2850-423: The right shape. However, another archtop exists, the top made of laminated wood or thin sheets of solid wood, pressed into the arched shape. These have become increasingly common in the world of internationally constructed musical instruments in the 21st century. Pressed-top instruments are made to appear the same as carved-top instruments but do not sound the same as carved-wood tops. Carved-wood tops when carved to

2907-455: The same relationship as that of the cello to the violin, its strings being tuned to C 2 –G 2 –D 3 –A 3 . Its scale length is typically about 26 inches (660 mm). A typical violoncello scale is 27 inches (690 mm). The mandolone was a Baroque member of the mandolin family in the bass range that was surpassed by the mandocello. It was part of the Neapolitan mandolin family. The Greek laouto or laghouto (long-necked lute)

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2964-471: The same tuning as the violin: G 3 –D 4 –A 4 –E 5 . The piccolo or sopranino mandolin is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the mandola and one fourth above the mandolin (C 4 –G 4 –D 5 –A 5 ); the same relation as that of the piccolo (to the western concert flute ) or violino piccolo (to the violin and viola ). One model was manufactured by the Lyon & Healy company under

3021-400: The soundboard and the interior of the instrument greatly increase the loudness of the vibrating strings. "The sound board is probably the most important element of a guitar in terms of its influence on the quality of the instrument's tone [ timbre ]." When the [guitar] top (or soundboard) vibrates, it generates sound waves, much like a loudspeaker. As the soundboard moves forward,

3078-474: The soundboard, either round, oval, or shaped like a calligraphic f (f-hole). A round or oval sound hole may be covered or bordered with decorative rosettes or purfling . Mandolins evolved from lute family instruments in Europe. Predecessors include the gittern and mandore or mandola in Italy during the 17th and 18th centuries. There were a variety of regional variants, but the two most widespread ones were

3135-489: The standard Neapolitan mandolin, with a shallow back. The instruments have 6 strings, 3 wire treble-strings and 3 gut or wire-wrapped-silk bass-strings. The strings ran between the tuning pegs and a bridge that was glued to the soundboard, as a guitar's. The Lombard mandolins were tuned g–b–e′–a′–d″–g″ (shown in Helmholtz pitch notation ). A developer of the Milanese style was Antonio Monzino (Milan) and his family who made them for six generations. Samuel Adelstein described

3192-543: Was developed in Europe in the 1850s. The French and Germans called it a Portuguese mandolin, although they also developed it locally. The Germans used it in Wandervogel . Sound board (music) A soundboard (occasionally called a sounding board ) is the surface of a string instrument that the strings vibrate against, usually via some sort of bridge . Pianos , guitars , banjos , and many other stringed instruments incorporate soundboards. The resonant properties of

3249-603: Was lengthened over the sound hole for the E strings, the high pitched strings. The shape of the back of the neck was different, less rounded with an edge, the bridge was curved making the G strings higher. The Roman mandolin had mechanical tuning gears before the Neapolitan. Prominent Italian manufacturers include Vinaccia (Naples), Embergher (Rome) and Calace (Naples). Other modern manufacturers include Lorenzo Lippi (Milan), Hendrik van den Broek (Netherlands), Brian Dean (Canada), Salvatore Masiello and Michele Caiazza (La Bottega del Mandolino) and Ferrara, Gabriele Pandini. In

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