A musical instrument resembling a lute, having paired metal strings plucked with a plectrum. It is played with a characteristic tremolo on long sustained notes
A mandolin (mandolino) is a musical instrument in the lute family (plucked, or strummed). It descends from the mandore, a soprano member of the lute family.
A mandoline (, ) is a cooking utensil used for slicing and for cutting juliennes; with proper attachments, it can make crinkle-cuts. It consists of two parallel working surfaces, one of which can be adjusted in height.
a stringed instrument related to the lute, usually played with a plectrum
Mandolin surgery
I got this mandolin in around 1990 from Cedric's wife and played it a great deal. I'm not that great, but it was always fun to pick out some trad tunes on something so small. It says 'Phantom' on the headstock. Sometime when E was really young she stepped on it and the neck separated from the body. After talking to Aonghus about what to do, I decided to remove the neck entirely, sand lightly and woodglue it back together. I couldn't find a proper 'strap clamp' at Ace hardware so I'm using my canoe strap. The metal clamp is only very lightly tightened to keep the highpart of the fretboard pressed against the body.
New Mandolin
While I spent my time at Guitar Center playing everything I could get my hands on, I found this guy, a used celtic mandolin for $30. It's certainly rough around the edges, but I thought it would be fun to learn and to just have it around.