Mandolin other examples of songs with mandolin. Modern day musicians include Antony Surendra, V. Hemapala Perera, Ananda Perera, Dinesh Subasinghe, Susantha Kariyakarawana, Sarath Fernando, Nalaka Sajee, Haasriza Imran and Buddhika Perera The mandolin has a history on Tobago and Trinidad as the bandolin, dating back before World War I. It was a small instrument, approximately 20 x 40 centimeters, strung with 8 strings in four courses of two each. Before the war, it was commonly a round-backed instrument, made of strips of wood. The flat-backed version appeared after the war. Occasionally a turtle shell would be used for the back of
Mandolin soundboard and pass over a floating bridge. The bridge is kept in contact with the soundboard by the downward pressure from the strings. The neck is either flat or has a slight radius, and is covered with a fingerboard with frets. The action of the strings on the bridge causes the soundboard to vibrate, producing sound. Like any plucked instrument, mandolin notes decay to silence rather than sound out continuously as with a bowed note on a violin, and mandolin notes decay faster than larger stringed instruments like the guitar. This encourages the use of tremolo (rapid picking of one