pavane -

Getting a precise range for many stringed instruments may be difficult, as there seem to be no real standards of construction that will apply to all instruments that have the same name.

The chart that was linked does show a guitar, I believe, but I didn't attempt to figure how many frets they included in the calculation.

Tuning and range for common mandolins usually are the same as for violins. The tuning and range for "mandolin family" instruments pitched lower - so far as I've seen - tend to follow the progression of instruments in the violin/viol family.

Older mandolins, some of which are still played, typically had about 18 frets, although I've seen a few old ones that I believe had more like 15; but newer ones often go as high as at least 23 - or more. On some of those with lots of frets the highest frets are only under the top couple of string courses - on a "finger extension" of the soundboard.

Tenor/Irish banjos sometimes are tuned like a mandolin but an octave lower, although the "standard" tuning drops everything another fifth so the low open string is at a C (C,G,D,A) rather than at G (G,D,A,E) - I think.

From what I can tell from listening to the family nuisance practice, 5-string banjos have no standard tuning.(?) There may be a "range" that could be sorted out, but there are long-necks and short-necks too. I've been given lectures by said family expert on what's different depending on which banjo style a player uses, but I'm afraid they didn't stick too well.

"Modern" lap dulcimers may typically have 2 octaves plus a fourth on each string, if Lin's McSpadden is an indication, 19 frets (including a 6-1/2 fret in each of the two octaves), but older dulcimers and those by other makers may vary by a few frets, usually fewer. String tunings, and intervals between strings, are extremely variable. The 6-1/2 fret is not used by many "traditional" players, and lots of "modernists" add a 1-1/2 fret. Three "strings" are pretty standard, but one or two of the "strings" may be double-coursed, and I've run into one or two players who tuned the two strings in a course differently - a.la. some 12-string guitar tunings.

Hammer dulcimers come in several sizes, possibly differing by an octave or more for pitch of the lowest string and sort of in a number of "generic grades" depending on how many octaves are included.

While most of us can picture a mental image of what's meant by a "lute," and might even have a different image for a "cittern," there seem to be several usages for instruments that are generically similar but with variations in tunings and range. (These may be more "standardized" than I've understood them to be, among those who play them in this century.)

My conclusion is that the reason none of the "good" instruments show a standard pitch range in any of my physics/acoustics/composition/harmony/history/notation/encyclopedia references is that there are no really "standard" ranges for any of them.

It seems likely that you'll need to find a friendly expert or two for each of the instruments you're concerned with, and arrive at a "compromise" as to how much range to score for, for the individual instruments. We probably have enough experts at the 'cat to get you several compromises on about any instrument you pick, if you can get them interested enough.

Maybe you'll get some of what you need from those who'll volunteer why my babbling above is mostly B.....S......(?)

John