From: jpeekstok@aol.com (J Peekstok)
Newsgroups: rec.music.celtic
Subject: Re: Bouzouki
Date: 30 Apr 1994 09:11:02 -0400

In article <1994Apr28.180211.664@pacs.sunbelt.net>, twoodle@CHM.TEC.SC.US
writes:

-Any bouzouki players in this group.  If so, a couple of questions.  
-Using the guitar as a reference point, how is the instrument tuned?
-How many strings does it have?  Are these tuned in octaves (such as on
-a mandolin) and finally, does anyone know the history of the instrument.

I've been playing bouzouki for the last ten years or so. There are a variety of
tunings used, the most common perhaps being the mandolin tuning an octave
lower. Other common tunings are (bass to treble) GDAD, GDGD, ADAD, ADAE, AEAE.
I don't know what you mean about mandolin strings being tuned in octaves, but
if you are talking about pairs of strings being in octaves like on a twelve
string guitar, some bouzoukis are and some aren't. Typically if this is done,
it is only done on the two bass courses. There are many instruments being made
with five courses of strings in stead of four like on a mandolin (actually
there are mandolins now being made with five courses). 

The name is taken from a Greek instrument which is similar but not the same as
the "Irish Bouzouki". The legend is that an Irish mandolin player was in Greece
and got his hands on a Greek bouzouki and realized that he could, with a little
re-tuning, play it like a mandolin. Except that it was an octave lower and had
a lot more balls than a mandolin. The mandolin makers in Ireland soon realized
that they could make big mandolins and a new instrument was born. Other names
that one often hears are octave mandolin (the most accurate) and cittern,
although cittern is often only used for the ten string instruments,
specifically those made by Stefan Sobell in England. 

Other members of the family are the mandola, which is tuned a fifth lower than
a mandolin (CGAD) and the mandocello, which is an octave below that ( a fifth
lower than an octave mandolin).  A ten string (five course) instrument would
cover the range of the octave mandolin and the mandocello (or mandola,
depending if the extra set of strings is added at the top or the bottom. The
bottom is more usual).

If you are looking to buy one, the best that are readily available in the US
are made by Stefan Sobell. Andy Irvine plays Sobell instruments. American
dealers for his instruments are Dusty Strings in Seattle (206-634-1656) and
Elderly Instruments in East Lansing (517-372-7890). These instruments usually
cost about $2000 and are worth it. You can get an octave mandolin made by
Flatiron for about $1000. These are sold all over (including both of the above
dealers) and are well made, solid sounding instruments that are not close to
being in the same class with the Sobells. There are instruments called Trinity
College, imported from Japan, about the same price as the Flatiron, slightly
lower quality, different sound, and some find them more playable. Nathan Sweet
in California makes a solid, functional and good sounding (somewhat crudely
built) instrument that costs something less. And there are lots of lower priced
instruments that I can neither stand to play or to listen to.