What do you Bouzouki players think of this brand?
http://www.musikalia.it/en/english2.htm?http://www.musikalia.it/en/catalogue/instrument_card.asp?ID=193
I would prefere to pay as little as possible…
Are these decent Bouzoukis?
Thanks
Joshua
‘Irish’ bouzoukis have changed a lot from their greek forebears over the past 40 or so years.
For an irish bouzouki in thatprice bracket, try a Troubador. This is an eastern-european made instrument similar to the musikas (maybe even made in the same factory) but of a different design.
They are reasonable for the price, and the chief trade-off is in the cheaper tuning heads. David Kilpatric (the man behind troubador) posts on cittern-L, and from what I’ve seen provides excellent customer service and a solid set-up and dud-screening on the instruments he sells. This matters, because quality control from the factory isn’t good. It’s worth paying a few dollars more to be sure you’re getting one of the better ones.
Musikalia makes Irish zouks too. I started on one. It was godawful. The neck was really boingy (string tension yanked it way forward), and as far as I could tell there was no truss rod. General fit and finish were horrible, intonation sucked, and after a year or so, cracks started developing in the sides. Oh, and the plywood back started delaminating. If I’d kept the thing longer, it probably would have fallen to pieces.
On the plus side, it was lots better than no bouzouki. I dragged it everywhere, played the hell out of it, and learned to balance it on my chin during my now-rarely-spoken-of-and-even-then-in-a-sort-of-low-embarrassed-whisper Renaissance festival career.
The prices listed on the Musikalia website are far too high for the abysmal instruments they make. If you really want one of their zouks, get a used one. Might be a good idea to pick up a roll of duct tape too.
So, Troubador’s tuners aren’t very good quality…but Musikalia the whole zouk is bad quality..
Thanks that helped a lot
Joshua
So, is this the Bouzouki you were talking about?
http://www.troubadour.uk.com/lionheartorderpage.html
It’s the only one I saw there…
there’s also the octave mandola (a.k.a. octave mandolin):
http://www.troubadour.uk.com/tamburlinorderpage.html
it has a ~23" scale where the bouzouki has a ~26" scale.
I think the best cheap Irish bouzouki/octave mandolin is the flat back Trinity College brand. I think they’re made in Ireland. I see them on eBay every once in a while for $200-300. These have the long neck and flat frets, so the finger stretch is not the most comfortable for fast tunes. This one is new, and $399. [u]eBay - Trinity College bouzouki[/u]
I didn’t know Fender was making flat back bouzoukis.
[u]eBay - Fender Bouzouki[/u]
Features:
Body Style - “A” Style Mandolin
Finish - Natural Gloss
Top - Solid Spruce
Back and Sides - Solid Maple
Neck - Maple
Fingerboard - Rosewood
Bridge - Ebony
Hardware - Chrome
Electronics - 1-Spcial Design Piezo Pickup with Volume and Tone Control
Scale - 26.37"
Nut Width - 1.85"
Inlay - Mini Snowflake
Price: $489
No, they’re made in Asia; used to be Korea but now probably China. The Fenders, too. Might come from the same factory.
That’s right, I guess they were originally made in Japan, under the Trinity and Ozark labels, before the plant was moved to Korea. Years ago, I had a friend who brought one back from Ireland…and he (another one of the Keenan clan) claimed they were made there!
[u]Here’s a good article[/u] about bouzoukis and octave mandolins. I think JohnStump and StanleyGreenthal made the best sounding instruments I’ve ever played. John lives in Portland and Stanley in the San Jaun Islands. Pual Kotapish lived in Seattle for years but now lives in SF, I think, unless he’s moved again. Good review though!
Paul K has become a pretty regular poster at Mandolin Cafe. John McGann and Dan Beimborn are moderators there as well. So it might be worth a look at their “CBOM” (Citterns, Bouzoukis and Octave Mandolins) board for more opinions on 'zouks.
I have a “Lark in the Morning Irish Bouzouki” that plays great. It may be a little more expensive than the cheapest bouzouki, but it’s not super expensive, and it feels like a pretty good instrument to me.
-Casey
so, between these two…
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&item=130064067559&fromMakeTrack=true
what would be the best value, for a beginner…but would last a long time(without out growing it)
Trinity has a decent rep. I wouldn’t buy anything that had to do with Lark in the Morning, myself.
One caveat: as they come from the factory, Trinity college bouzoukis are set up with the bottom two courses strung in octaves (so they’d be tuned Gg Dd aa dd). If you want your bottom courses strung in unison, you’ll have to do a little filing on the nut and saddle. The Trinity “octave mandolin” has a shorter scale and is set up for unison tuning.
well, for a beginner what would I want?(setup, tuning and such)
And another thing, what are the advantages of a 5-string Bouzouki? (five doubles of course)
Thanks
Joshua
I’ve only heard one, and it sounded amazing. Of course, the musician playing it was a pro.
-Casey
FWIW-- I have a Trinity octave mandolin and I love the heck out of it. The fit and finish are wonderful and the action is beautifully low. Really nice hard case too. I can’t imagine wanting to spend more $$ than the $300 I spent on this used instrument (well, I traded a $250 whistle and made up the $50 difference).
Most players like unison stringing. It sounds less cluttered and the intonation is better. I heard hardly any octave-strung zouks on professional recordings.
And another thing, what are the advantages of a 5-string Bouzouki? (five doubles of course)
You can have more low notes (tuning D,GDad or some such). Or you can tune D,AEae and put a capo on the fifth fret, so you end up with GDada’ – standard tuning with an extra high course, which lets you play tunes all in first position.