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Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
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Author:  William Shafer III [ Thu Apr 04, 2013 12:54 pm ]
Post subject:  Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
So I've been working on my 2nd and 3rd build and recently decided to collect wood for my 5th build. #4 will be a uke I'll be using left over material for and will be a study on how to make classical instruments.

Build #5 will be based off of the book "Building a Cittern & a Bouzouki" by Ray Duffill I picked up on Amazon. http://www.amazon.com/Building-Cittern- ... +a+cittern
The only changes will be with the choice of wood, ebony tuning pegs, nut material, a tie-on tail piece, and nylon strings.
My current materials are as follows:

Peruvian walnut for headstock, neck, heel and tailblock
Black walnut for the sides, back braces, and kerfing for back
Oregon Myrtle (quarter-sawn) for the back, peghead vaneer
Ebony for the nut, tuning pegs, bridge, binding and tail piece

Please give me your opinions on the currect materials and in your opinions what would be a good match as far as the soundboard and fretboard goes! Currently, I'm thinking sitka spruce or western red cedar for the soundboard, and cocobolo or zircote for the fretboard.

Thanks for reading my post and looking forward to hearing what you think. :D
Author:  ernie [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:05 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
I love the sound of the bouzouki and have records of greek recording aritsts and other middle eastern players. I/ve never made one, but if I did I would use euro spruce , cause that/s what the traditional builders in greece use. I think either lutz from shane or or john preston at old world for euro spruce? perhaps a thicker englemann ?.I have seen a number of greek bouzouki players post websites and youtube clips , so you could ask them?. Northern greece is mountainous and my wife tells me that spruce grows there as well as in N. yugoslavia and other meditteranean countries that have similiar instruments and mountainous areas. Since I/m not a shmexpert take these as opinions only . maybe someone here has built one . I/ve repaired OUD/s before and they have euro spruce . For the fretboard ebony is traditional , and I would choose coco, since I/ve never seen or used the ziricote. gud luck
Author:  Goodin [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:52 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
What do you mean by ""classical""? Are you trying to build a traditional Greek bouzouki? The book you are referring to appears to be for building the Irish type bouzouki/cittern which would have a flat back instead of a bowl back like the Greek bouzouki. This will be much easier to build since it has a flat back.

Since it would be your first bouzouki build (and an early build for you in general) I wouldn't be too concerned with what woods to use. Getting the build process down will be the focus. Although, I recommend Sitka spruce over cedar for the first one because it's not as soft, and easier to deal with. It is not common to have different woods for back and sides, maybe match those up?

Joe Foley is one of the most respected Irish bouzouki builders and most of his zouks I have encountered were built with Indian rosewood back/sides, spruce top (take your pic on species), mahogany neck, and Brazilian rosewood fretboard and bridge. I prefer all these tonewoods for my zouks, except I use ebony instead of BRW for the fretboard and bridge.
Author:  Goodin [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 9:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
Also, I would reconsider using nylon strings.
Author:  William Shafer III [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 12:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
Thanks for the replies so far! :D
Yes, I'm making a flat backed Irish style bouzouki. I didn't consider euro spruce, will look into it.

Goodin: Your right I'm a new builder. Guess I'm getting a little ambishous with the materials :P, but I love the look of walnut and really like the sustain. What I mean by classical is that I'll be using violin tuners not mechanical (just can't afford them right now and want to build a most wooden instrument), and on a earlier post I was told that steel strings are next to impossible to get into tune with violin tuners. It was recommended that I use nylon as they give more when tuning. I'm in the new builders challenge right now and am doing a bouzouki from a kit. Thanks for you advice. :) I doubt this will be my last zouk and will consider doing this one as maybe build 6 or 7 instead so I can get this design down first. LOL, walnut is a bit of a pain to work with anyway.
Author:  Goodin [ Fri Apr 05, 2013 5:40 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Wood choice for a "classical" Bouzouki
Well if you like the tone of walnut then you should for sure use it for the back along with the sides. The sides don't contribute much to the tone.

I'm afraid you might not be happy with the results of a nylon string zouk, with tuning pegs. Steel strings contribute to the sparkly, jangly tone and sustain. You just won't get that with nylon strings and there will likely be a loss in volume. Also, the book you are going by will likely be designed for steel strings. It may not sound bad with nylon strings, who knows??, but it won't sound much like a bouzouki.

It's difficult to tune with tuning pegs no matter what strings (nylon or steel) you use. That is why many violinists have secondary fine tuners at the tailpiece. The fact that bouzoukis have double strings make fine tuning critical to get the paired strings to match up in pitch (this is why I like to use 18:1 ratio geared tuners). Tuning pegs present a whole new set of challenges if you plan to make them yourself. You will have to up your lathe and carving skills. If you plan to buy them they will cost about as much as a mid-grade set of geared tuners. I suggest getting economy geared tuners. You can get a set for about $10-15.

Just my opinions! Good luck;)
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