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 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