I have been reading quite a bit of info in the last couple of years about octave mandolins and bouzoukis. In this thread, I will call an octave mandolin an "octave" (scale length roughly 20-23.5 in.), and a bouzouki a "zook" (scale length roughly 23.5-26.5 in.) (Note-if you reply, please use inches instead of metric-thanks). I currently use an instrument with a scale length of 23.5 in. (octave or zook?) that I bought on a whim without knowing at the time if I wanted to play predominantly melody or accompaniment. As it turns out, it works for both, although playing melody requires a bit of a stretch. To remedy this I normally tune it one step down and capo at the second fret. I also tune it G D A E. Overall this method works out pretty well, although occasionally the capo feels like it gets in the way.
What I am wondering is since I am trying to "shorten" the neck with the capo, should I switch to a shorter scale octave? Are the tonal differences significant? I live in an area where these instruments are few and far between to be found so it is difficult to compare mine to another. BTW, my instrument is a 1991 Flatiron. I have played a few octaves, but did not have mine with me to compare. The most recent being a Trinity College. It played and sounded ok in the store, but how do you go from an American-made instrument to one built overseas? No offense intended to those who own overseas built instruments-I own many, and most I am very happy with.
I would love to hear from players who have been through the trial and error process of finding the right instrument, in this case the octave/zook. Rather than getting info from dealers only, I want to "ask the person who owns one, or did at one time". This seems like a good place to do that. Much obliged.
It seems to me that the scale length is a matter of personal preference, as is the name of the instrument. I play a "bouzouki" which has the longer neck but if I had smaller hands, I guess I'd be looking at an octave mandolin. My Instrument was made by Joe Foley in Ireland, and it suits me fine, in fact no -it does a lot more than that, its a mighty instrument, and a great workhorse, but the question is "Is it really a bouzouki?" (sorry blowfly, thats probably a question for another thread).
I've played mandolin, mandola, guitar and bouzouki, and each of them has a place in ITM, but they all have limitations. Using the capo, as you do, increases the possibilities for each of them but you will allways have a question in your head. What I'm trying to say is that a Mandola with a capo will almost become a mandolin, a bouzouki will almost become a mandola etc. and so ad infinitum. If you persist with this logic (or lack of it), you will reach only one possible conclusion; ie. you need several instruments to cover all the possibilities. My advice is to stick with your Octave mandolin, I recon that a Flatiron OM is a quality instrument and you probably will not find better. I would suggest you visit Han's irish bouzouki site ( if it's not in the links section I'll put it up for you )
In the search for an answer on the "ideal" scale length for your instrument, you will find a huge difference in information and definitions from any number of luthiers. Octave mandolin, mandola, bouzouki....all seem to fall into that grey area...what one calls a mandola, another calls an octave mandolin. I think the best classification comes in the open tuning of the instrument , rather than the hard measurement of the scale length.
Ceolas have a good section on tuning and scales on their site and you might contact Flatiron with the serial number and any other info. I'm sure they will help you out. When I had an issue with my mandolin and string sizes, I contacted the luthier, followed his advice and solved about a dozen problems in the one step.
With regard to the capo getting in the way...I would suggest trying a Shubb capo (www.shubb.com).
I was once browsing in a music shop in kilburn, W. London, run by a couple of Greek chaps. On my trying out an Irish bouzouki, one of them showed his disdain, saying, "I don't know why they had to change it. What was wrong with the Greek bouzouki?" So, should any flat-backed instrument really be regarded as a bouzouki? Early flat-backed mandolins, around the turn of the century were sometimes known as 'descant citterns' (referring to the 'cittern' popular in the renaissance and baroque periods, not the modern 'cittern', which is essentially an Irish 'bouzouki' with an extra course and usually a slightly shorter scale length added - even I'm confused).
That said, I am currently building an instrument with 'bouzouki' stringing and scale length, and a guitar-shaped body, which I have taken the liberty of referring to as a 'guitar-bouzouki', or 'bizar'. Ithas been done before, although I have neither seen nor played one before.
To the best of my knowledge, Stefan Sobell has built a guitar-bouzouki hybrid for Andy Irvine..who has written about it on either the Sobell website or on the Ceolas website..I can't remember.
Building your own instrument from the ground up must be an immense task and something that you can keep and play forever as your own creation....I'm rather green with envy.
Thanks for the responses. Actually I have been using a Shubb capo, and maybe I exaggerated when I said how it interferes with my playing. E and F chords are the most problematic. Melody, not really a problem. And I have spoken to the Weber people a couple of times. Very friendly!
Yes, there seems to be no standard anything for these instruments. What they're called, what the scale length is, how they're strung, tuned, body size etc. The owner of the shop I purchased my Flatiron from refuses to call these 8 string instruments "Bouzoukis" no matter how long the neck may be, believing that only the Greek round-back instrument is a Bouzouki.
A couple of other things I've been wanting to ask (is the shop owner looking?) Irish Bouzouki players. I mentioned above how the stretch for playing melody can be a problem. To ease this, I've dropped the action as low as I can, finding a compromise between easy action and buzzing. However, the two lower courses seem to buzz even if I raise the action. And yes, I am pressing down hard enough. Is this a characteristic of Bouzoukis/Octaves? If so, I'll live with it. Any suggestions? BTW, my two lower courses are in unison, not octaves.
Also, any recommendations for string gauges? I would like to order single strings as opposed to a set so I can choose the gauges but am having trouble finding a source. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
I'm doing a full time course in musical instrument making. It is a great feeling to play an instrument made by your own hands - I just completed my first mandolin about 3 weeks ago. I hold that it was about 1% talent and 99% determination that got it finished - hand me a saw and my first impulse is to play it, not cut with it.
Bill Black has a Bouzouki scaled banjo with doubled courses that plays like butter. Something about that extra neck length & the gauge strings he uses makes it ring. I think he told me he made it out of spare parts - a kind of franken-instrument.
Maybe I'm just a dingbat, but the difference between a bouzouki & an octave mando is unperceivable to my ear, I think it's more of a matter of the player’s comfort
David, congrats on the mando & your efforts, I've always dreamed of building instruments but never got around to it. If you can - try breaking out of the traditional spruce/cedar top & for the kick of it. I've always been curious to see how other woods fit the bill.
I had a similar problem with strings as my mandolin take ball-end, not loop. Having contacted the luthier for the correct guages, I got them from juststrings.com...their service is wonderful and you can construct set as you need to. I also got recommended sizes for string sets from David freshwater's site, but I can't remenberr the address...he can be linked through the builder's section of mandolincafe (www.mandolincafe.com)
Re: breaking out of the traditional spruce/cedar top
Mad Baloney:
By chance I'm one or two days from finishing building my first mandolin. It's got pine top and the rest of body and neck is made of birch. I intend to make more instruments - my next project is an Octave Mandola - and I plan to try different woods. I'm interested in using alder, not only for back and sides but also for top.
lars
Blowfly,
It sounds like you could use a couple of weeks of Zoukfest. It's a 2 week celtic trad.- mostly - music camp (established a few years ago by Roger Landes / rwlandes@taosnet.com) but mostly for hungry to learn Bouzouki players in Taos, New Mexico. I went last summer and learned a ton. You'll see and play every kind of zouk, octave mando., mandola, mandolin, cittern or whatever else you want to call these things. Quite a fews builders show up as well.
Check out Robin Bullock's web site. He wrote an essay -w/ tongue firmly in cheek - detailing the differences between all these hybrid instrumets.
I couldn't find a factory made zouk that I liked so, I had one built. A builder in Denver named Ed Dick (www.evd303.com) had built one other, I tried it and fortunately it had all the elements I was looking for- bright sound, stable intonation when playing up the neck and very adaptable for either melody & chords.
I tune it GDAE and play alot of melody. I also have big hands so I don't have to much trouble with the stretches (high B on the 1st string). Most tunes play well on it. However, over time I've found that I prefer playing backup a lot more with it in a GDAD tuning. Great tuning for chords but not so much for melody(the stretches are even worse). I'll play alot of melody on my tenor banjo. You may want to consider a 5-course/10 string zouk their very popular.
Mine is a 4-course / 8 string job w/ 25.5 in scale length. I string it light (E -.011 unison, A - 015 unison, D - .024 &.011 octave, G - .032 & .015 octave). I pop a string now and then but, it's worth it for the beautiful sound it produces.
I wouldn't worry about tuning down or capo'ing up all that much. I'd concentrate on the kind of sound I wanted and what I wanted to do with it. There's an incredible amount of selection and variety of styles (3,4,5,6 course, large body/small body, raised bridge, guitar body, Greek gourd body...). It seems endless and the sounds that can be produced are amazing. At Zoukfest I saw, people playing ITM, Bulgarian, Greek, Tunisian, Bluegrass, even a guy playing TexMex blues with a slide.
It's an incredibly flexible instrument(s). You just need to figure out what you want to do with it. By the way check out Zan Mcleod's "Learn to Play Irish Bouzouki" video from Homespun. Maybe that will fill in some gaps for you. I hope this helps.
Cgray
Cgrayevans,
I appreciate the response. Thanks for the Zoukfest and Robin Bullock tips. I am not familiar with Zoukfest but it sounds to be just what the doctor ordered. Robin Bullock, I am familiar with, but have not checked out his website yet. I once saw him perform with Helicon. He played cittern and guitar. Great musician.
You're correct, I need to focus on what I want to do with the instrument. Actually, I like to alternate between chording and melody. I agree that G D A E is better for melody and G D A D is great for chording, but quite a stretch for melody. For the time being I have settled on G D A E. It's a good compromise. My instrument is strung G 44 unison, D 32 unison, A 22 unison, E 12 unison. I've been considering going lighter, especially on the A courses. The current gauge can be a workout. Do you get much string rattle?
I was excited to see you also play tenor banjo! I play that also, as well as mandolin. My tenor is an old open-back 17 fret banjo from the '20's or '30's. It was in the basement of the house I grew up in. When we were kids, my brothers and I took the neck off and made a drum out of it. I later became interested in 5-string banjo and pursued it, ignoring the tenor, but keeping it because musical instruments are just cool to have around, no matter what kind they are. When I started playing Irish music a few years ago, I re-assembled it, added a resonator, re-strung it G D A E and now I use the heck out of it. I found out recently that it was (most likely) owned and played by my great uncle. Sure glad I kept it!
On that note, I will add that I am very interested in Irish tenor banjo as well as bouzouki and mandolin, and have been considering upgrading. What brand of banjo do you own? What string gauges? 17 or 19 fret? Resonator? I've checked out many banjo websites and have played a few here and there when I can find them. (hard to find). I played a Deering that sounded great. I'd like to try the Gold Tone open-back Irish tenor. It looks interesting. I'm used to the 17 fret short scale. Any suggestions?
As to the origin of the flat-back bouzouki: according to John Pearse (the string maker), he had
a Greek bouzouki, the back of which was broken by some mischance. His local luthier was
unable to make a coopered back for it, and made a flat back instead, which John hated. He
hung the instrument on his wall for a few years until the mandolin player from Sweeney's Men
(name escapes me) saw it, tried it, liked it, and traded his mandolin for it. He started using it,
and the Lunnys picked up on it, and it caught on.
I've probably missed out some details, but that's the rough story that I remember Pearse
telling about the origin of the Irish bouzouki, for what it's worth.
-jon kiparsky
I really like those Homespun videos, given the one I've seen. I watched the one from John Doyle recently. They seem pretty good in terms of cramming lots of info in -- not as scanty as some of the others.
(Hi Chris! Seems funny that I see you here more often even though we live in the same state!)
I'm surprised that no one has so far mentioned the cittern list on www.yahoogroups.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cittern/). There are 305 members on this group from around the world, and we regularly discuss all of the questions blowfly has in his initial post. The topics are anything related to what we refer to as CBOMs (Cittern, Bouzouki, Octave Mandolin). Please join us!
I am fortunate to own and play two instruments by Stefan Sobell - an octave mandolin tuned GDAD and a (short-scale 10-string) cittern tuned DGDAD.
I just came back from learning Irish Bouzouki from Zan McLeod at the Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, WV. If you ever get the chance, ask Zan about the truck driver chord in GDAE tuning. Or, if you ever get the chance to learn anything from Zan, take it!
Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I have been reading quite a bit of info in the last couple of years about octave mandolins and bouzoukis. In this thread, I will call an octave mandolin an "octave" (scale length roughly 20-23.5 in.), and a bouzouki a "zook" (scale length roughly 23.5-26.5 in.) (Note-if you reply, please use inches instead of metric-thanks). I currently use an instrument with a scale length of 23.5 in. (octave or zook?) that I bought on a whim without knowing at the time if I wanted to play predominantly melody or accompaniment. As it turns out, it works for both, although playing melody requires a bit of a stretch. To remedy this I normally tune it one step down and capo at the second fret. I also tune it G D A E. Overall this method works out pretty well, although occasionally the capo feels like it gets in the way.
What I am wondering is since I am trying to "shorten" the neck with the capo, should I switch to a shorter scale octave? Are the tonal differences significant? I live in an area where these instruments are few and far between to be found so it is difficult to compare mine to another. BTW, my instrument is a 1991 Flatiron. I have played a few octaves, but did not have mine with me to compare. The most recent being a Trinity College. It played and sounded ok in the store, but how do you go from an American-made instrument to one built overseas? No offense intended to those who own overseas built instruments-I own many, and most I am very happy with.
I would love to hear from players who have been through the trial and error process of finding the right instrument, in this case the octave/zook. Rather than getting info from dealers only, I want to "ask the person who owns one, or did at one time". This seems like a good place to do that. Much obliged.
# Posted on March 17th 2002 by blowfly
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
It seems to me that the scale length is a matter of personal preference, as is the name of the instrument. I play a "bouzouki" which has the longer neck but if I had smaller hands, I guess I'd be looking at an octave mandolin. My Instrument was made by Joe Foley in Ireland, and it suits me fine, in fact no -it does a lot more than that, its a mighty instrument, and a great workhorse, but the question is "Is it really a bouzouki?" (sorry blowfly, thats probably a question for another thread).
I've played mandolin, mandola, guitar and bouzouki, and each of them has a place in ITM, but they all have limitations. Using the capo, as you do, increases the possibilities for each of them but you will allways have a question in your head. What I'm trying to say is that a Mandola with a capo will almost become a mandolin, a bouzouki will almost become a mandola etc. and so ad infinitum. If you persist with this logic (or lack of it), you will reach only one possible conclusion; ie. you need several instruments to cover all the possibilities. My advice is to stick with your Octave mandolin, I recon that a Flatiron OM is a quality instrument and you probably will not find better. I would suggest you visit Han's irish bouzouki site ( if it's not in the links section I'll put it up for you )
# Posted on March 18th 2002 by Backer
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
In the search for an answer on the "ideal" scale length for your instrument, you will find a huge difference in information and definitions from any number of luthiers. Octave mandolin, mandola, bouzouki....all seem to fall into that grey area...what one calls a mandola, another calls an octave mandolin. I think the best classification comes in the open tuning of the instrument , rather than the hard measurement of the scale length.
Ceolas have a good section on tuning and scales on their site and you might contact Flatiron with the serial number and any other info. I'm sure they will help you out. When I had an issue with my mandolin and string sizes, I contacted the luthier, followed his advice and solved about a dozen problems in the one step.
With regard to the capo getting in the way...I would suggest trying a Shubb capo (www.shubb.com).
Hope this helps.
Andy
# Posted on March 18th 2002 by Mcbear365
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I was once browsing in a music shop in kilburn, W. London, run by a couple of Greek chaps. On my trying out an Irish bouzouki, one of them showed his disdain, saying, "I don't know why they had to change it. What was wrong with the Greek bouzouki?" So, should any flat-backed instrument really be regarded as a bouzouki? Early flat-backed mandolins, around the turn of the century were sometimes known as 'descant citterns' (referring to the 'cittern' popular in the renaissance and baroque periods, not the modern 'cittern', which is essentially an Irish 'bouzouki' with an extra course and usually a slightly shorter scale length added - even I'm confused).
That said, I am currently building an instrument with 'bouzouki' stringing and scale length, and a guitar-shaped body, which I have taken the liberty of referring to as a 'guitar-bouzouki', or 'bizar'. Ithas been done before, although I have neither seen nor played one before.
# Posted on March 19th 2002 by granama
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Hi David,
To the best of my knowledge, Stefan Sobell has built a guitar-bouzouki hybrid for Andy Irvine..who has written about it on either the Sobell website or on the Ceolas website..I can't remember.
Building your own instrument from the ground up must be an immense task and something that you can keep and play forever as your own creation....I'm rather green with envy.
Andy
# Posted on March 19th 2002 by Mcbear365
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Thanks for the responses. Actually I have been using a Shubb capo, and maybe I exaggerated when I said how it interferes with my playing. E and F chords are the most problematic. Melody, not really a problem. And I have spoken to the Weber people a couple of times. Very friendly!
Yes, there seems to be no standard anything for these instruments. What they're called, what the scale length is, how they're strung, tuned, body size etc. The owner of the shop I purchased my Flatiron from refuses to call these 8 string instruments "Bouzoukis" no matter how long the neck may be, believing that only the Greek round-back instrument is a Bouzouki.
A couple of other things I've been wanting to ask (is the shop owner looking?) Irish Bouzouki players. I mentioned above how the stretch for playing melody can be a problem. To ease this, I've dropped the action as low as I can, finding a compromise between easy action and buzzing. However, the two lower courses seem to buzz even if I raise the action. And yes, I am pressing down hard enough. Is this a characteristic of Bouzoukis/Octaves? If so, I'll live with it. Any suggestions? BTW, my two lower courses are in unison, not octaves.
Also, any recommendations for string gauges? I would like to order single strings as opposed to a set so I can choose the gauges but am having trouble finding a source. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
# Posted on March 19th 2002 by blowfly
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I'm doing a full time course in musical instrument making. It is a great feeling to play an instrument made by your own hands - I just completed my first mandolin about 3 weeks ago. I hold that it was about 1% talent and 99% determination that got it finished - hand me a saw and my first impulse is to play it, not cut with it.
# Posted on March 20th 2002 by granama
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Bill Black has a Bouzouki scaled banjo with doubled courses that plays like butter. Something about that extra neck length & the gauge strings he uses makes it ring. I think he told me he made it out of spare parts - a kind of franken-instrument.
Maybe I'm just a dingbat, but the difference between a bouzouki & an octave mando is unperceivable to my ear, I think it's more of a matter of the player’s comfort
David, congrats on the mando & your efforts, I've always dreamed of building instruments but never got around to it. If you can - try breaking out of the traditional spruce/cedar top & for the kick of it. I've always been curious to see how other woods fit the bill.
~b
# Posted on March 20th 2002 by Mad Baloney
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Hi Blowfly,
I had a similar problem with strings as my mandolin take ball-end, not loop. Having contacted the luthier for the correct guages, I got them from juststrings.com...their service is wonderful and you can construct set as you need to. I also got recommended sizes for string sets from David freshwater's site, but I can't remenberr the address...he can be linked through the builder's section of mandolincafe (www.mandolincafe.com)
Hope this helps
Andy
# Posted on March 20th 2002 by Mcbear365
Re: breaking out of the traditional spruce/cedar top
Mad Baloney:
By chance I'm one or two days from finishing building my first mandolin. It's got pine top and the rest of body and neck is made of birch. I intend to make more instruments - my next project is an Octave Mandola - and I plan to try different woods. I'm interested in using alder, not only for back and sides but also for top.
lars
# Posted on March 21st 2002 by lars
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Blowfly,
It sounds like you could use a couple of weeks of Zoukfest. It's a 2 week celtic trad.- mostly - music camp (established a few years ago by Roger Landes / rwlandes@taosnet.com) but mostly for hungry to learn Bouzouki players in Taos, New Mexico. I went last summer and learned a ton. You'll see and play every kind of zouk, octave mando., mandola, mandolin, cittern or whatever else you want to call these things. Quite a fews builders show up as well.
Check out Robin Bullock's web site. He wrote an essay -w/ tongue firmly in cheek - detailing the differences between all these hybrid instrumets.
I couldn't find a factory made zouk that I liked so, I had one built. A builder in Denver named Ed Dick (www.evd303.com) had built one other, I tried it and fortunately it had all the elements I was looking for- bright sound, stable intonation when playing up the neck and very adaptable for either melody & chords.
I tune it GDAE and play alot of melody. I also have big hands so I don't have to much trouble with the stretches (high B on the 1st string). Most tunes play well on it. However, over time I've found that I prefer playing backup a lot more with it in a GDAD tuning. Great tuning for chords but not so much for melody(the stretches are even worse). I'll play alot of melody on my tenor banjo. You may want to consider a 5-course/10 string zouk their very popular.
Mine is a 4-course / 8 string job w/ 25.5 in scale length. I string it light (E -.011 unison, A - 015 unison, D - .024 &.011 octave, G - .032 & .015 octave). I pop a string now and then but, it's worth it for the beautiful sound it produces.
I wouldn't worry about tuning down or capo'ing up all that much. I'd concentrate on the kind of sound I wanted and what I wanted to do with it. There's an incredible amount of selection and variety of styles (3,4,5,6 course, large body/small body, raised bridge, guitar body, Greek gourd body...). It seems endless and the sounds that can be produced are amazing. At Zoukfest I saw, people playing ITM, Bulgarian, Greek, Tunisian, Bluegrass, even a guy playing TexMex blues with a slide.
It's an incredibly flexible instrument(s). You just need to figure out what you want to do with it. By the way check out Zan Mcleod's "Learn to Play Irish Bouzouki" video from Homespun. Maybe that will fill in some gaps for you. I hope this helps.
Cgray
# Posted on March 25th 2002 by Cgrayevans
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
Cgrayevans,
I appreciate the response. Thanks for the Zoukfest and Robin Bullock tips. I am not familiar with Zoukfest but it sounds to be just what the doctor ordered. Robin Bullock, I am familiar with, but have not checked out his website yet. I once saw him perform with Helicon. He played cittern and guitar. Great musician.
You're correct, I need to focus on what I want to do with the instrument. Actually, I like to alternate between chording and melody. I agree that G D A E is better for melody and G D A D is great for chording, but quite a stretch for melody. For the time being I have settled on G D A E. It's a good compromise. My instrument is strung G 44 unison, D 32 unison, A 22 unison, E 12 unison. I've been considering going lighter, especially on the A courses. The current gauge can be a workout. Do you get much string rattle?
I was excited to see you also play tenor banjo! I play that also, as well as mandolin. My tenor is an old open-back 17 fret banjo from the '20's or '30's. It was in the basement of the house I grew up in. When we were kids, my brothers and I took the neck off and made a drum out of it. I later became interested in 5-string banjo and pursued it, ignoring the tenor, but keeping it because musical instruments are just cool to have around, no matter what kind they are. When I started playing Irish music a few years ago, I re-assembled it, added a resonator, re-strung it G D A E and now I use the heck out of it. I found out recently that it was (most likely) owned and played by my great uncle. Sure glad I kept it!
On that note, I will add that I am very interested in Irish tenor banjo as well as bouzouki and mandolin, and have been considering upgrading. What brand of banjo do you own? What string gauges? 17 or 19 fret? Resonator? I've checked out many banjo websites and have played a few here and there when I can find them. (hard to find). I played a Deering that sounded great. I'd like to try the Gold Tone open-back Irish tenor. It looks interesting. I'm used to the 17 fret short scale. Any suggestions?
Much Thanks.
# Posted on March 25th 2002 by blowfly
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
As to the origin of the flat-back bouzouki: according to John Pearse (the string maker), he had
a Greek bouzouki, the back of which was broken by some mischance. His local luthier was
unable to make a coopered back for it, and made a flat back instead, which John hated. He
hung the instrument on his wall for a few years until the mandolin player from Sweeney's Men
(name escapes me) saw it, tried it, liked it, and traded his mandolin for it. He started using it,
and the Lunnys picked up on it, and it caught on.
I've probably missed out some details, but that's the rough story that I remember Pearse
telling about the origin of the Irish bouzouki, for what it's worth.
-jon kiparsky
# Posted on March 25th 2002 by Jon Kiparsky
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I really like those Homespun videos, given the one I've seen. I watched the one from John Doyle recently. They seem pretty good in terms of cramming lots of info in -- not as scanty as some of the others.
(Hi Chris! Seems funny that I see you here more often even though we live in the same state!)
Zina
# Posted on March 26th 2002 by Zina Lee
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I'm surprised that no one has so far mentioned the cittern list on www.yahoogroups.com (http://groups.yahoo.com/group/cittern/). There are 305 members on this group from around the world, and we regularly discuss all of the questions blowfly has in his initial post. The topics are anything related to what we refer to as CBOMs (Cittern, Bouzouki, Octave Mandolin). Please join us!
I am fortunate to own and play two instruments by Stefan Sobell - an octave mandolin tuned GDAD and a (short-scale 10-string) cittern tuned DGDAD.
Peter
# Posted on April 1st 2002 by pjmacd
Re: Octave Mandolin or Bouzouki?
I just came back from learning Irish Bouzouki from Zan McLeod at the Augusta Heritage Workshops in Elkins, WV. If you ever get the chance, ask Zan about the truck driver chord in GDAE tuning. Or, if you ever get the chance to learn anything from Zan, take it!
# Posted on August 28th 2004 by aquinas9us