Mandolin-banjo
![Two styles of mandolin-banjo, showing a large and small head, with a full size, four-string banjo (bottom).](/Images/godic/202412/23/Mandolinbanjos1617.jpg")
![L-R - Banjo-mandolin, standard mandolin, 3-course mandolin, Tenor mandola.](/Images/godic/202412/23/Mandos1617.jpg")
![A banjolin with single strings like a violin and a mandolin fretboard.](/Images/godic/202412/23/Banjolin1617.jpg")
![A Vega mandolin-banjo ca. 1920 with four pairs of strings.](/Images/godic/202412/23/Mandolin-banjo1618.jpg")
- Not to be confused with Banjoline (a guitar-based instrument from the 1930s to 1960s)
The mandolin-banjo is a hybrid instrument, combining a banjo body with the neck and tuning of a mandolin or violin (depending on whether fretted or not and how many strings it has). It is a soprano banjo. It has been independently invented in more than one country, being called banjolin and banjourine in English speaking countries, banjoline and bandoline in France, and the Cümbüş in Turkey.