Hello all...thanks for replies..... I am a woman in the U.S. and my name is Laurel. In California on November 8, a huge fire destroyed over 150,000 acres including my home as well as 19,000 other homes. Over 85 people died. The destruction was so vast it is hard to imagine and there are still thousands of people homeless and struggling in the after math of this. Many are not even able to return to the places their homes used to be due to toxic ash and debris still in place after over 6 months. (let alone to re-build a house to protect and give shelter to themselves and their families.) (Thankfully, my partner and I have found a home, about 100 miles away from where ours burned.)I am so glad to hear of the instruments that have been mentioned in this thread...I will follow up and see the possiblites. I am not sure of the terminology , but the instrument I desire is tuned an octave below the mandolin, with 8 strings, strung in pairs (what do you call that? courses?) I have been able to replace my guitar, nyckelharpa and mandolin, but so far not the other mandolin family instrument. As luck would have it, I was able to locate a mandolin
very similar to my original instrument, a vintage instrument made by the Weymann company in Pennsylvania 100 years ago...a mandolute. That company did make a precious few octave mandolins in that same style....I do not expect to ever find one of those, but in my dreams i might!!!   by the way, I am not sure what is meant by Thomas Buchannan....i think more words are needed to understand this....