I'm going to visit Dublin next week and want to buy a bouzouki instead of my old Hora Bouzouki
Are there any music shops with a good selection of these instruments somewhere in the centre of Dublin or near Parnell square?
I'm gonna be brutaly honest with you
no! in music shops what you can get is chineese bouzoukis and octave mandolins, pretty much the same stuff you can get on ebay - cheaper. that's a step from hora, but not a big one.
if you're in Dublin and you want to buy a good bouzouki, ring Joe Foley - or go to O'Donoghues on Sunday afternoon. you'll wait but you'll get a good instrument.
Foley's is a thing, but I think it's quite advanced for me now, because I'm not an experienced player. Something with the price of about 400-500 euros would be a big step for me =)
If that's your budget, then check out all the Ozark/Trinity College/Johnston/Asbury/etc instruments, as they all come out of the same factory.
Buy the one that sounds the best/is the best value out of all these.
Then throw away the bridge and the tailpiece, and replace the bridge with a Red Henry-pattern bridge ( look him up on the hinternet ), and replace the tailpiece with a heavy brass one ( you can but these from the Far East on ebay, I know they call them mandolin tailpieces, but what's a bouzouki but a big mandolin ?).
You will already have a better instrument then what you walked out of the shop with.
Good luck.
PS you can't beat trying before buying.
I would forget Walton's. They had one McBride's (their own brand I think) bouzouki when I was there a couple of months ago and that was it. However, do get some Herdim plecs from Walton's as they are superb and the best I've found so far (the 3-triangle ones) and are like hen's teeth.
....which wasn't asked for....
I can play an octave mandolIN perfectly well.
But I prefer the sound and the feel of my bouzouki.
An octave mandola ( Pedant Alert ! ) would be an octave below a mandola, for which there is already a name, a mandocello, ie tuned CGDA, the same notes and octave as the 'cello.
PS There is no such thing as a tenor mandola, the word tenor is superfluous. It is simply a mandola, related to the mandolin as a viola is related to the violin. Nobody talks about a tenor viola, do they ?
The tenor guitar was of course invented for those people who could not learn the new skills of playing the guitar when the tenor banjo fell out of favour as the preferred rhythm instrument in jazz bands in the late '20s'. Why the tenor banjo was so called is, perhaps, the only subject worth discussion here.
Bouzouki shops in Dublin
Bouzouki shops in Dublin
Hello everyone,
I'm going to visit Dublin next week and want to buy a bouzouki instead of my old Hora Bouzouki
Are there any music shops with a good selection of these instruments somewhere in the centre of Dublin or near Parnell square?
Thank you
# Posted on June 1st 2011 by shadowrunner
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
I'm gonna be brutaly honest with you
no! in music shops what you can get is chineese bouzoukis and octave mandolins, pretty much the same stuff you can get on ebay - cheaper. that's a step from hora, but not a big one.
if you're in Dublin and you want to buy a good bouzouki, ring Joe Foley - or go to O'Donoghues on Sunday afternoon. you'll wait but you'll get a good instrument.
# Posted on June 1st 2011 by padre
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
Foley's is a thing, but I think it's quite advanced for me now, because I'm not an experienced player. Something with the price of about 400-500 euros would be a big step for me =)
# Posted on June 1st 2011 by shadowrunner
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
If that's your budget, then check out all the Ozark/Trinity College/Johnston/Asbury/etc instruments, as they all come out of the same factory.
Buy the one that sounds the best/is the best value out of all these.
Then throw away the bridge and the tailpiece, and replace the bridge with a Red Henry-pattern bridge ( look him up on the hinternet ), and replace the tailpiece with a heavy brass one ( you can but these from the Far East on ebay, I know they call them mandolin tailpieces, but what's a bouzouki but a big mandolin ?).
You will already have a better instrument then what you walked out of the shop with.
Good luck.
PS you can't beat trying before buying.
# Posted on June 1st 2011 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
I would forget Walton's. They had one McBride's (their own brand I think) bouzouki when I was there a couple of months ago and that was it. However, do get some Herdim plecs from Walton's as they are superb and the best I've found so far (the 3-triangle ones) and are like hen's teeth.
# Posted on June 1st 2011 by Sugarfoot Jack
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
Thank you guys! Any specific addresses maybe?
# Posted on June 2nd 2011 by shadowrunner
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
And yeah, McBrides TM-375 still present on waltons site. Either way I suppose even this would be better than my Hora
# Posted on June 2nd 2011 by shadowrunner
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
http://www.gumtree.ie/dublin/76/72043176.html
if i had the money i'ld buy it myself.
# Posted on June 2nd 2011 by molloy
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
Oh, 1800 euros...It definitely should worth this =)
# Posted on June 2nd 2011 by shadowrunner
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
But that's a mandola......
.....when our guy wants a bouzouki.
There is a difference you know.
# Posted on June 2nd 2011 by Guernsey Pete
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
looks like an octave mandola to me though Pete, which would make it a short scale bouzouki.
# Posted on June 6th 2011 by molloy
Re: Bouzouki shops in Dublin
....which wasn't asked for....
I can play an octave mandolIN perfectly well.
But I prefer the sound and the feel of my bouzouki.
An octave mandola ( Pedant Alert ! ) would be an octave below a mandola, for which there is already a name, a mandocello, ie tuned CGDA, the same notes and octave as the 'cello.
PS There is no such thing as a tenor mandola, the word tenor is superfluous. It is simply a mandola, related to the mandolin as a viola is related to the violin. Nobody talks about a tenor viola, do they ?
The tenor guitar was of course invented for those people who could not learn the new skills of playing the guitar when the tenor banjo fell out of favour as the preferred rhythm instrument in jazz bands in the late '20s'. Why the tenor banjo was so called is, perhaps, the only subject worth discussion here.
I feel better for getting that off my chest.
# Posted on June 7th 2011 by Guernsey Pete