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Anyone managed to get a decent mandolin sound out of a JTV / HD500x type combination?   For guitarists I'd think you want to mute the low A and E strings in workbench and basically have a 12-string guitar tuning on the four higher strings.   That way you can use your familiar guitar chords instead of the standard Mandolin tuning shown below.

 

4 pairs of strings (two E Strings, 2 A Strings, 2 D Strings, and 2 G Strings),

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The Albert Lee approach to tuning a mandolin works well for me on the Variax... just the top 4 strings of a guitar - D,G,B,E.

It sounds good, but won't get the familiar voicings of a traditional mandolin.  

 

This is my approach with the Variax to fake a mandolin sound. 

  1. Use one of the 12 string acoustic models
  2. Set the D & G as unison, not octaves (the B & E should already be unison)
  3. Optionally... turn down the volume on the low E & A... 
  4. Now, put a capo on the 12 fret...  or simply stick to playing in that range. 

IMO - that sounds way more realistic than attempting to alter the tuning that dramatically. 

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