# Octophone
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> Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Octophone.md
> Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octophone
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{{Short description|Stringed musical instrument}}
{{about|the stringed musical instrument|the instrument used to dispense perfumes|perfume organ}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=February 2023}}
{{Infobox Instrument
|name=Octofone
|names=Octophone
|image=
|caption=An Octophone made by Regal.
|background=string
|classification=[String instrument](/source/String_instrument) ([plucked](/source/Pizzicato)), ([strum](/source/strum)med)
|hornbostel_sachs=321.322
|hornbostel_sachs_desc=Composite [chordophone](/source/chordophone)
|related=*[Bowed](/source/Bowed_string_instrument) and [plucked](/source/Plucked_string_instrument) string instruments
*[Mandolin](/source/Mandolin)
*[Mandola](/source/Mandola)
*[Irish bouzouki](/source/Irish_bouzouki)
}}
The '''octophone''' (or '''octofone''') is a stringed musical instrument related to the [mandola family](/source/Mandola) resembling an [octave mandolin](/source/octave_mandolin).[{{Cite web|url=http://www.al3abzuma.com/|title=العاب زوما|website=Al3abzuma.com|access-date=20 April 2021}}] It was marketed by [Regal Musical Instrument Company](/source/Regal_Musical_Instrument_Company), who introduced it 21 January 1928, as an "eight-purpose instrument".[{{Cite web|url=https://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1928-86-4/24/|title=Music Trade Review: MTR-1928-86-4|website=Mtr.arcade-museum.com|access-date=20 April 2021}}]
The name "Octophone" came from the idea that the instrument could take on the "tone combinations" of eight instruments, the [tenor guitar](/source/tenor_guitar), [tenor banjo](/source/tenor_banjo), [ukulele](/source/ukulele), [taro patch](/source/Slack-key_guitar), [tiple](/source/tiple), [mandolin](/source/mandolin), [mandola](/source/mandola) and [mandocello](/source/mandocello). Changing from one instrument to another was a matter of changing the tuning. The instrument came with an instruction book that told owners "how to use, how to tune and how to play" the instrument[
==Construction==
The instrument measures 33.5 inches long, 10 5/8 inches wide at lower end, 3 1/8 deep at the end block. It has a scale of 21 3/8 inches.][
Owners of octophones have said that the instrument is made with birch neck, neck block, sides and back and a top made of spruce.][{{Cite web|url=http://www.musurgia.com/products.asp?ProductID=656&CartID=8375361052009|title=Musurgia Musical Instruments, ''Regal Octofone, c. 1928''|website=Musurgia.com'|access-date=20 April 2021}}] The neck is attached to the body with a 3/4 inch wooden dowel stuck into a hole in the neck block, rather than a strong joint such as the dovetail used on some guitars and mandolins. The instruments were lightly built and fragile, or have grown fragile with age.
==Tuning==
The tuning is done with the [machine head](/source/machine_head)s located on the headstock, much like other stringed instruments, and the strings are arranged in [courses](/source/Course_(music)). ''All pitches shown here are estimates''; the book the company provided (to show customers how to tune their instrument) is rare. Tunings are based on the instruments advertised. These tunings using the [stringed instrument tunings](/source/stringed_instrument_tunings) notation include:
* '''C3 C3•G3 G3•D4 D4•A4 A4''' tuned in fifths as tenor guitar, mandola, tenor banjo
* '''D2 D2•G2 G2•B2 B2•E3 E3''' tuned a fourth, a third, a fourth as a tiple
* '''C2 C2•E2 E2•A2 A2•D3 D3''' tuned a fourth, a third, a fourth as a tiple
* '''G2 G2•D3 D3•A3 A3•E4 E4''' tuned in fifths as octave mandolin
* '''C2 C2•G2 G2•D3 D3•A3 A3''' tuned in fifths as mandocello
* '''D2 D2•G2 G2•B2 B2•E3 E3''' tuned a fourth, a third, a fourth (as a guitar's 4 highest pitched strings, down 1 octave)
Although it can be tuned to the same notes as a mandolin G D A E, it will be in tune an octave lower, like an [octave mandolin](/source/octave_mandolin).[{{Cite web|url=https://www.minermusic.com/cc/jbrock.htm|title=National, Dobro and Regal Mandolins, Ukes, Tenor Guitars and Octofone|website=Minermusic.com|access-date=20 April 2021}}]
==Use in recorded music==
*Nathan "Prince" Nazaroff album, recorded in 1945 ''Jewish Freilach Songs'', he sings "with octofone and accordion."[{{Cite web|url=https://folkways.si.edu/magazine-winter-2016-yiddish-song-smuggling/article/smithsonian|title=Yiddish Song Smuggling {{!}} Smithsonian Folkways Magazine|website=Smithsonian Folkways Recordings|language=en-US|access-date=2018-11-13}}]
*[Chris Cagle](/source/Chris_Cagle) album, ''Cris Cagle'', Jonathan Yudkin is listed with the mandolin, mandocello, fiddle, cello, and ''octophone''.[{{Cite web|url=https://www.oldies.com/product-view/27113M.html|title=Chris Cagle|website=Oldies.com|access-date=20 April 2021}}]
*Joey Bochenek album "Musical Wizard", the artist Joey plays nine instruments including the octophone.[{{Cite book|title=Music for the Master|date=20 April 2021|oclc=60322596 }}]
* [Gurf Morlix](/source/Gurf_Morlix) plays an octophone on the title song of the [Mary Gauthier](/source/Mary_Gauthier) album "[Mercy Now](/source/Mercy_Now)", although the liner notes spell the instrument as octofone.
==Perfume organ==
An unrelated instrument, also called "octophone" was an instrument invented by a French chemist, in which the keys of a keyboard activated one of 46 perfume fragrances.[{{cite book|title=Forum|url=https://archive.org/details/forumnewsletter02leacgoog|year=1913|publisher=Forum Pub. Co.|pages=[https://archive.org/details/forumnewsletter02leacgoog/page/n231 217]–}}]
==References==
{{reflist}}
==External links==
*[http://database.ukulelecorner.org.uk/site/ukulelemakers/p-q-r/regal Information on Regal, who made the octophone pictured in the article.]
*[http://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1928-86-19-SECTION-2/MTR-1928-86-19-SECTION-2-21.pdf, Music Trade Review advertisement for Octophone.]
*[http://mtr.arcade-museum.com/MTR-1928-86-19-SECTION-2/MTR-1928-86-19-SECTION-2-21.pdf Picture of store display]
*[http://www.mandolincafe.com/forum/showthread.php?55679-Regal-Octofone&highlight=octophone Discussion of Octophone construction with pictures of the inside and the neck joint and bridge.]
*[http://antebelluminstruments.blogspot.com/2009/08/c1928-regal-octofone.html Page with photos of octophone and video of one being played.]
Category:Mandolin family instruments
Category:Necked box lutes
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Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Octophone](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octophone) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Octophone?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.