TuneHaven How to tune a mandolin
A mandolin has eight strings but only four pitches. G D A E in fifths, in unison pairs. How to tune a doubled course without chasing your own tail.
A mandolin is tuned G D A E, in fifths, exactly like a violin. It has eight strings, but only four tuning targets, because the strings are arranged in four pairs and both strings in a pair are tuned to the same note.
| Course | Note | Frequency |
|---|---|---|
| 4th (thickest) | G3 | 196.00 Hz |
| 3rd | D4 | 293.66 Hz |
| 2nd | A4 | 440.00 Hz |
| 1st (thinnest) | E5 | 659.26 Hz |
Those pairs are called courses. A unison course cannot be tuned apart: two strings at the same pitch either match or they beat against each other. That is why TuneHaven shows four targets rather than eight. A tuner offering you eight separate targets for a mandolin has misunderstood the instrument.
Tuning a doubled course
Do one string at a time, and mute the other.
The reason is that two strings at nearly the same pitch produce a beating warble, and a pitch detector reading that mixture gets an unstable answer somewhere between the two. Damping the string you are not working on removes the ambiguity entirely. A finger laid lightly on it is enough.
Once both strings of a course read correctly on their own, play them together. If you hear a slow pulsing, they are close but not identical, and the pulse gets slower as you get closer. When it disappears, the course is done.
Order
Work from the G course up to the E, one course at a time, both strings in a course before you move on. Then check the G again. There are eight strings pulling on that neck and the total tension is high for the size of the instrument, so early courses drift as you tighten later ones.
The E course is the fragile one
E5 at 659.26 Hz is the highest standard tuning target on any of the instruments TuneHaven covers, and those strings are thin and under real tension. Overshoot on an E string and it goes.
Approach it from below, slowly, and if you find yourself turning a long way with no pitch change, stop and check you are turning the right tuner. On a mandolin the machine heads sit close together and grabbing the wrong one is easy.
Other doubled instruments
The same one-string-at-a-time approach applies to the Irish bouzouki, which is also four unison courses, and to the oud, which has five courses plus a single bass string. It applies differently to the 12-string guitar and the Greek bouzouki, where the lower courses are tuned in octaves rather than unisons, so the two strings in a course really are different notes. The full tuning reference lists which is which.