Mandolin-banjo became more popular. In the heyday of mandolin orchestras and banjo bands (late 19th–early 20th century), all sorts of instruments were produced. The mandolin-banjo is one of the hybrids that resulted. It enabled mandolinists to produce a banjo sound without having to learn that instrument's fingerings. The instrument adds the banjo's volume to the mandolin. The banjolin is different from the banjo-mandolin in the number of strings that it has. Banjolins today are supposed to have four strings instead of 8 strings (in courses or pairs). However, that distinction is not universal; the "banjolin" name was patented in 1885 by
Mandolin of the customary wooden soundboard (mandolin top/face). Historic brands include Dobro and National. As with almost every other contemporary string instrument, another modern variant is the electric mandolin. These mandolins can have four or five individual or double courses of strings. They have been around since the late 1920s or early 1930s depending on the brand. They come in solid body and acoustic electric forms. Instruments have been designed that overcome the mandolin's lack of sustain with its plucked notes. Fender released a model in 1992 with an additional string (a high a, above the e string), a tremolo bridge