The fiddle I have had for 41 years, the mandolin for three. The latter has a nice bright tone and works well for little tinkly fills around others' playing. The octave mandola has a really solid bottom to it (the jokes have already been made) and a lot of volume, courtesy of the large body. For those who aren't into that family of instruments, while the body is that of a mandola, normally tuned a fifth lower than a mandolin (CGDA as opposed to GDAE), this one is an octave mandolin/mandola. It is tuned GDAE, but an octave below a mandolin. The lower pairs of strings are further mucked about with, so that each pair is tuned an octave apart. That gives a bouzouki-like jangle to the sound, and, of course, everything resonates all over the place.
Nice!