Call me a silly little fool but I want to transpose this piece to bassoon. I am, sadly howe'er unsure as to what the key of the key of a mandolin is. Could someone please enlighten me?

I'm not a string person, but it would seem to me that a mandolin, like all string instruments, is in concert key. The "A" string plays an A, the "E" string plays an E, etc.etc. So I wouldn't think there is any transposition needed.

Anyone?

Ooh, mandolin to bassoon? Didn't see that coming!
Aren't all string instruments in concert pitch?
It shouldn't matter a whole lot anyway if you play something written for an instrument in a different key, it's when you add an accompaniment that you have to start transposing.
Good luck (I wouldn't like to transcribe a mandolin piece for bassoon :s)

If it's the "regular" mandolin, it is a "C" instrument, I believe, but the other mandolins are not. I'm not absolutely positive, but this was what I got out of an article on Wikipedia.

It doesn't matter the key of the original, as long as you transpose it into a key that is playable
lol
alex