I used to tune GDAE but found melody playing too much of a stretch for my stubby fingers, and got my zook for accompanying anyway, and after seeing Andy Irvine live I retuned to GDAD. I play Irish traditonal mainly but find myself playing some English stuff on it too, and the D give a nice drone underneath the bass notes.

Unison strings are better for these bass runs, and work very effectively in GDAD tuning.

Sometimes though, I'd just love to pick out the odd melody. Does putting the capo the 7th fret turn a GDAD zook into a GDAE mandolin?