Greek Bouzouki — Lutherie Encyclopedia

Greek BouzoukiType: instrumentA long-necked, bowl-backed Greek instrument with a bright, metallic tone, central to rebetiko and modern Greek popular music.## History The bouzouki is the most iconic instrument of modern Greek music, with roots in the ancient Byzantine tamburas and the Turkish saz family. The instrument became associated with rebetiko music—the urban blues of Greece—in the early 20th century, played in the underground music venues of Piraeus, Thessaloniki, and Smyrna (now Izmir). Originally a three-course instrument (trichordo), the bouzouki was expanded to four courses (tetrachordo) by Manolis Chiotis in the 1950s, a change that broadened its harmonic possibilities and facilitated its entry into mainstream Greek popular music (laiko). The bouzouki remains the defining instrument of Greek musical identity, heard in everything from traditional folk to contemporary pop. ## Construction The Greek bouzouki features a distinctive bowl-shaped back constructed from narrow staves of hardwood, typically walnut, maple, or rosewood, bent and glued together. The soundboard is spruce with a rosette-decorated soundhole. The neck is long, with a scale length of approximately 26 to 27 inches, and features metal frets. The trichordo (three-course) version has six strings in three pairs, while the tetrachordo (four-course) version has eight strings in four pairs. The bowl back gives the instrument a deep, resonant body cavity. Machine tuners are standard, and the strings are steel, played with a plectrum. The overall construction shares some principles with the oud and the lute but with a much longer, fretted neck. ## Tonal Chara…