i bought a gh&s xxs in a pawn shop in Nelson NZ about 15 years ago. It never really played right after i brought it back to Alaska. The neck shrunk, back cracked (it is pretty dry here)
The scale length seems to be closer to a uke than and mandolin, but it is 8 strings. I have little idea of its age and it seems relatively unplayed. I would guess that it may be 50's-60's vintage. It is pretty wild to explore this corner of the world of relatively rare acoustic instruments and find more people with questions vs answers(:->) any clues to scale length or
more ideas and info would be most welcome

we should all listen to John Balch more often
-Land