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  #1  
Old 05-09-2018, 05:42 AM
Daniel Grenier Daniel Grenier is offline
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Default Who here plays the Irish Bouzouki?

Just curious...

Seems like very few people are into this (to me) under rated instrument. I have a Trinity College zouk and enjoy improvising on it (even if I prefer guitars).

Anyone else here enjoying that unique sound?
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  #2  
Old 05-09-2018, 08:22 AM
Frogstar Frogstar is offline
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Yep, I have a Fylde I enjoy playing around with. Been thinking of getting the Tim O'Brien book/DVD to have a better grasp on what I "should" be doing with it.
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Old 05-15-2018, 03:42 PM
PHJim PHJim is offline
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I have a Trinity College octave mandolin, the same instrument as the TC bouzouki, but with a shorter scale length. I have played it with both octave and unison tuning on courses 3 and 4. I keep it in GDAD tuning and sometimes use a capo.
A couple of decades ago, I almost bought a cheap Greek bouzouki, but my wife talked me out of it and bought me the octave mandolin for my next birthday. It is one of the early models with a fleur de lis on the headstock.
I mostly play Irish trad tunes on it.
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Old 05-15-2018, 03:47 PM
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I had a Flatiron Bouzouki may moons ago and still kick myself for selling it. I love most 'ethnic' instruments and this was a treat.
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Old 05-15-2018, 03:59 PM
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Erithon Erithon is offline
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Me! I have a lovely bouzouki in Cedar and Maple made by Jan Muyllhaert in County Meath. I found it in a little guitar store in Cork. I just had a new bone nut put on it and it plays better than ever!
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Old 05-15-2018, 06:39 PM
philjs philjs is offline
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I play a bouzar custom made by Russel Crosby here in NS. Modeled on a late 40s Martin O-18T tenor guitar it has a 23" scale, spruce top and maple B&S, with 4 pairs of unison strings. I tune it GDGC (same intervals as DADG) 'cause I'm an old dog and new tricks are hard.

You can hear it on La Fée des Dents on our website and/or see/hear it (with me playing slap harmonics, a first for a bouzouki-type instrument I think!) in our one and only video so far:



Phil
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Old 05-15-2018, 07:20 PM
Mooh Mooh is offline
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Josh House (www.houseguitars.com) built a nice guitar shaped one for me. Cedar on some kind of walnut. I don't use it near enough.
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Old 05-15-2018, 08:39 PM
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Erithon Erithon is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philjs View Post
You can hear it on La Fée des Dents on our website and/or see/hear it (with me playing slap harmonics, a first for a bouzouki-type instrument I think!) in our one and only video so far:

I love this. Thanks for sharing, Phil!
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Old 05-18-2018, 07:41 AM
Daniel Grenier Daniel Grenier is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by philjs View Post
I play a bouzar custom made by Russel Crosby here in NS. Modeled on a late 40s Martin O-18T tenor guitar it has a 23" scale, spruce top and maple B&S, with 4 pairs of unison strings. I tune it GDGC (same intervals as DADG) 'cause I'm an old dog and new tricks are hard.

You can hear it on La Fée des Dents on our website and/or see/hear it (with me playing slap harmonics, a first for a bouzouki-type instrument I think!) in our one and only video so far:



Phil
Phil. I, too, just love this tune. Perfect balance between the instruments and that gorgeous voice. Yeah, your “slap” may well be a first...and it works! I also very much enjoy the sound of your “bouzar”. Intriguing! Thanks for posting. I look forward to your new CD. Cheers!
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  #10  
Old 05-20-2018, 10:28 AM
philjs philjs is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier View Post
Phil. I, too, just love this tune. Perfect balance between the instruments and that gorgeous voice. Yeah, your “slap” may well be a first...and it works! I also very much enjoy the sound of your “bouzar”. Intriguing! Thanks for posting. I look forward to your new CD. Cheers!
Thank you, Daniel & Erithon, much appreciated. Anthony does have a very good voice (which contributes greatly to why I don't sing!). I do have to admit that, while the audio was recorded live "off the floor," it wasn't recorded during the video shoot -- we were lip-, tongue-, bow- and fret-syncing! After we shot the video we remembered that we should have asked Allie Bennett, the bass player we brought in for the recording, to be in the video.

The song is from Stan Rogers and is entirely made-up! We were invited to play the "Singing Stan" main stage show at Stanfest one year and wanted to do a Stan song that no-one else was singing/playing. Although Stan concocted the "legend" out of whole cloth, it's supposed to be about a mythical giant that arises from Bras d'Or "lake" (actually an inland sea in the centre of Cape Breton Island) on foggy nights. The hammered harmonics were my attempt to sound like a bell buoy out on the lake...

Phil
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  #11  
Old 05-28-2018, 08:58 PM
pjmacd pjmacd is offline
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Phil - I agree, that's a great rendition of a Stan Rogers tune. I too play Irish Bouzouki and have done so for several years. I love the "chime" of the instrument and its quick decay, important when you're playing some fast tunes in a session. Technically, I play the shorter-scale octave mandolin, but the nomenclature of this family of instruments has always been a subject of lively debate.

I have two instruments: one by Stefan Sobell and one by Stan Pope (Big Leaf Mandolins). I played the Sobell in two different Irish bands, Twice Daily and The Miserable Few. The Twice Daily tunes are available on iTunes and CDBaby if anyone is interested. The Miserable Few tunes were hosted on a website that no longer exists, but I would be happy to send you a CD copy for the price of postage.

So here's a tune from YouTube posted by CDBaby:

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  #12  
Old 05-31-2018, 10:05 AM
catt catt is offline
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I still have a couple - actually one a 5-course "cittern" - but no longer play much (fretted strings). The more I went in for trad, I just got into harping (and fiddle) which put everything else in the back seat.
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  #13  
Old 06-02-2018, 09:34 PM
catt catt is offline
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There's a nice abnett 5-course for sale currently on mandolin cafe classifieds. NFI

Um, buy it maybe?...so I can't.
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  #14  
Old 06-03-2018, 10:09 AM
Silly Moustache Silly Moustache is offline
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Daniel Grenier View Post
Just curious...

Seems like very few people are into this (to me) under rated instrument. I have a Trinity College zouk and enjoy improvising on it (even if I prefer guitars).

Anyone else here enjoying that unique sound?
Hi, I'm not sure if this thing classifies as an "Irish bouzouki, certainly not like the one that the Irish guy bought back from Greece ad made it his own.
But, I've long been intrigued by the things that Tim O'brien and Eli West and Sarah Jarosz use, so a while ago I got a Hofner archtop guitar and had it converted to an Octave mandolin :

See this ;

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  #15  
Old 06-05-2018, 06:42 PM
Rev Tim T Rev Tim T is offline
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I too have a Trinity College TM-375 I find it to be well made and has a great sound. I have mine tuned GDAE I don't play it a lot as I switch off between it and a mandolin when I'm not messing with my guitars. There's a couple of hymns at church I'll use it on when they come up. "Amazing Grace" being one that I really enjoy.
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