Quarter-comma meantone each kind, a perfect fifth of meantone contains four diatonic and three chromatic semitones, and an octave seven diatonic and five chromatic semitones, it follows that: Thus, in Pythagorean tuning, where sequences of just fifths (frequency ratio 3:2) and octaves are used to produce the other intervals, a whole tone is and a major third is An interval of a seventeenth, consisting of sixteen diatonic and twelve chromatic semitones, such as the interval from D to F, can be equivalently obtained using either This large interval of a seventeenth contains staff positions. In Pythagorean tuning, the size of a seventeenth
Octave mandolin also varies widely, from as few as 17 to as many as 24 frets: 18 or 19 frets is typical. From the mid-20th century on, a number of makers have produced octave mandolins with guitar-shaped (e.g., the "hourglass" or "figure-8") bodies. These instruments are typically constructed essentially like acoustic guitars, with similar woods and internal bracing. the neck, however, is much narrower, and supports the mandolin string layout, rather than the traditional 6-strings of the guitar. As with the mandolin and mandola, the octave mandolin has four courses of two strings each. The two strings in each course are tuned