I play mostly mandolin, mandola, octave mando and mandocello. Over the past 10 years these have pretty much taken the place of guitar for me. Once again, my thoughts on getting into these instruments:
What beginners don't like to learn about playing mandolin (or mandola, octave mando and mandocello):
1. There are about 1000 guitars sold for every mandolin sold. There are about 100 mandolins sold for every 'dola, OM or 'cello. You're heading into deep narrow niche territory. Its where I live.
2. Most mandolin family instruments are carved top and carved back - a lot more hours go into building them.
3. Adding 1 and 2 above means that to get the same quality in a mandolin that you can get in a $500 guitar, you need to spend $1000. Even more for a good quality mandola, OM or 'cello.
4. A cheap mandolin family instrument sounds a lot worse than a cheap guitar.
Most entry/student level mandolin builders like Kentucky or The Loar don't offer a 'dola, OM or cello. Eastman does, but finding their mandola is very difficult. Same for their newly released octave. Their guitar bodied mandocello is great - I have one. New it will cost you about $2k. Your best bet economically is to find a decent used Trinity College or Hora instrument. Another option I've seen is conversion of a guitar (preferably old archtop) to an OM or 'cello. You'll have to Google it, you'll find the links.
Be aware that a guitar-scale instrument tuned in 5ths is a joy to hear played well, but a real handful. Use Google to find some great links to other helpful sites on this subject.
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