Quote:
Originally Posted by kydave
Look at violins. People of ALL sizes have been playing those tiny neck things for centuries.
|
I do believe the answer lies with the violin. It shares the tuning and geographic origin. It's quite literally a small mandola, just as the violin is a small viola. We all think bluegrass, but it's a European lute from the 1700 and 1800s. The name is italian. And it doesn't have 8 strings, it has 4 doubled courses.
I'm always amazed at how generous the string spacing is at the bridge.
If you think of it in those terms the neck spacing made all the sense in the world then.