Slightly OT... What pitch should a "banjolin" be tuned to?

DartmoorHedgehog

This seemed like the most relevant place to post this, so please forgive the slightly off-topicness...

I've got an old (1920s or 30s I'd guess) banjo mandolin.  I've always thought it was supposed to be tuned the same as a mandolin, with each pair of strings in unison to GDAE at the same pitch as a violin.  This gives a ridiculously high (IMO being used to guitars) string tension with mandolin strings.  Tuned an octave lower it's too loose.  So somewhere inbetween would seem ideal, but just wondered if I'm wrong tuning it to mandolin pitch or whether the enormous string tension is normal (I'm not much of a mandolin player - I had it tuned like a ukulele for years but recently decided to try to learn to play it "properly")

Phil_aka_Pip

Totally non-expert opinion here but you could try CGDA (viola). Maintains the 5th interval between strings & hence fingerings (fnarr fnarr) but lowers string tension

DartmoorHedgehog

Yes, that's the sort of thing I was thinking, pick something somewhere in the middle.  But I'm curious if anybody knows if these things were actually intended to be tuned to violin pitch (as I understand a mandolin is - or have I got that wrong as well?) - it seems scarily tight for an old wooden thing with presumably no truss rod.  Violins seem to survive with a similar neck, but then they've only got half the number of strings.

Phil_aka_Pip

guess what I found

http://banjolin.co.uk/mandolinbanjo/tuning.htm

DartmoorHedgehog

Ok, thanks - hadn't seen that page.  Looks like it is indeed supposed to be tuned "Green Dragons Are Enormous" the same as a violin.  Think I may still lower mine a bit though just for peace of mind!  Interestingly it also seems that a banjolin and mandolin banjo are not the same thing - I'd always thought they were.  Mine's eight strings like a mandolin, so is a mandolin banjo.

DartmoorHedgehog

Mine's a wooden-shelled one with brass "porthole" holding the skin, rather than the type that looks like a mini tenor banjo, but I think it's the same instrument (scale length is mandolin-like).

This isn't mine, but it's like this: