Mandolin Banjo

The Mandolin Banjo is a crossover. In the heyday of Mandolin Orchestras and Banjo Bands, all sorts of instruments were produced. Banjos are quite loud compared with Mandolins, and Banjolins fall in between.

Stringing a Banjolin with double strings made it much louder - but it also became a different instrument - Mandolin Banjo.

With banjos and banjo bands becoming popular and banjos becoming commercially available, mandolin players whose popularity was waning would have approached banjo manufacturers to see if a 'banjo-like-a-mandolin' could be produced. The result was more popular than either imagined.

(from The Mandolin and Banjo Pages courtesy of Banjolin)