KR Strings Octolindo Octave Mandolins

F Model or S Model: how the two Octolindos differ

The two bodies share their outline and measurements: 9 3/4 inches across the upper bout, 13 3/4 inches across the lower bout, 17.5 inches long, with a 21.5-inch scale and a 1.38-inch nut. What changes is the top and the way the strings drive it. The F Model is built like a carved mandolin, with a carved Moon spruce top, F-holes, a Cumberland Acoustics bridge and a nickel-plated brass KR Strings tailpiece. The S Model is built like a small flat-top guitar, with an X-braced Engelmann spruce top, a round soundhole and a pin bridge that takes ball-end strings.

David Benedict has played both, and he compared them blind in October 2026. He heard the F Model as clearer and more focused, with a note that cuts through the way a mandolin does, and the flat top as closer to a guitar. In his 2022 review of the S Model Deluxe he described its tone as mellow and darker, with more sustain from the flat top and soundhole, and he used it for Irish tunes, classical pieces and fingerpicking. If you mostly play melody and want the octave to sound like your mandolin, start with the F Model. If you want a warm, sustaining flat top for Irish tunes and fingerstyle at a lower price, start with the S Model.

The trim levels

KR Strings names each Octolindo by body and trim. Above the Scholar, the F Model comes as the Artist, Deluxe and Maestro, and all three share the carved Moon spruce top and the Cumberland Acoustics bridge. The Artist wears a natural gloss nitrocellulose finish, the Deluxe has come to us in sunburst with either maple or Indian rosewood back and sides, and the Maestro steps up to a carved curly maple back with curly maple sides and neck under a sunburst, the same carved spruce and carved maple pairing as a traditional F-style mandolin. The S Model comes as a Scholar, Artist and Deluxe, and the S Model Artist we stock features an Engelmann spruce top with maple back and sides, while David's S Model Deluxe pairs Engelmann spruce with rosewood in a dark orange sunburst.

Playing an octave with mandolin hands

Many octave mandolins run a 22- to 24-inch scale, and bouzoukis reach 26 inches. The Octolindo's 21.5-inch scale is short enough that David plays his with his usual three-finger mandolin fingerings, though he notes that depends on your hand size. The chord shapes carry straight over because the tuning is the same GDAE, an octave down. If you want a capo, he recommends a five-string banjo capo, since a guitar capo is too wide for the 1.38-inch nut. For more on tuning, scale length and how an octave compares with a mandola, read our Octave Mandolin Guide.

KR Strings also builds the Mandolindo mandolin, and you can see both lines together in our KR Strings Mandolin Family collection, or browse every octave, mandola and mandolin we have in stock in the Mandolin Family collection. Every Octolindo ships under our Dread-Not Guarantee, which gives you a full year to trade it in for up to 90% of the pre-tax purchase price in credit, less round-trip shipping, plus a 30-day in-home trial.