Electric mandolin 4-string version. A related instrument, the Bahian guitar, was developed in Brazil beginning in the 1940s. Bahian guitars typically have a solid body and 4 or 5 single-course strings tuned in fifths, but are considered to be electric versions of the cavaquinho rather than the mandolin. Both four string single course and eight string double course solid body mandolins have been produced by several makers, as well as five string single course models. From 1956 to 1976, Fender produced a four string version which they simply called the "Fender Electric Mandolin". Its body shape was based on a smaller version
Mandolin mimic a portion of the intervals on a standard guitar tuning to achieve familiar fretting patterns. The mandolin is the soprano member of the mandolin family, as the violin is the soprano member of the violin family. Like the violin, its scale length is typically about . Modern American mandolins modelled after Gibsons have a longer scale, about . The strings in each of its double-strung courses are tuned in unison, and the courses use the same tuning as the violin: G–D–A–E. The piccolo or sopranino mandolin is a rare member of the family, tuned one octave above the mandola