Mandolin Player: Buyer's guide: Irish bouzoukis and Irish bouzouki equipment

Irish bouzoukis and Irish bouzouki equipment



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Site last updated .
This particular page was created 06/12/2004 and last updated 13/11/2005
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Instruments

Here's a selection of Irish style bouzoukis/Irish citterns available on the market today.

I've divided the instruments into four price categories:



Important factors to consider

Scale length
Irish bouzoukis and citterns come in a wild variety of designs, but the instruments in the lower three price ranges are nearly always of the 8-string long-neck variety. The scale length may be a bit too long for many people's taste and you might want to  consider an octave mandola instead, especially if you're mainly going to play solos.
The top
The most important thing here (for all kinds of stringed instuments) is to make sure it's got a solid wood top. Instruments with a laminate top are only recommended if you're desperately short on money! This is rarely a problem when it comes to the Irish bouzouki though. Nearly all of them have a top of solid spruce or solid cedar. Both these are excellent choices. You may come over other kinds of wood from time to time and if you do, ask the seller about it. There may be good reasons for an unusual choice.



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