The Bouzouki eBook

**Graham McDonald** · Jan-11-2012, 7:09pm

Some of you may know The Bouzouki Book, my book on building Irish bouzoukis and citterns, that was originally published in 2004. It has been available through Stewart McDonald and Luthiers Mercantile, but StewMac have recently decided to discontinue stocking it. I had been thinking about an electronic version for some time, so this was stimulus to finish off the work I had started on converting The Bouzouki Book to an ebook.

I am pleased to announce that the epub version for the ipad is now available as a download from my website for $9.99. Hopefully it will also be available from Apple's ibook store and from Amazon in a Kindle version within a week or two, but I am not sure of the timing as that is being done through my US based distributor of The Mandolin Project. The download is a zip file with the epub file, a jpeg of the cover and a full-size pdf of the plans, which can be printed out on an A3 printer. The one disadvantage of an ebook is that plans aren't going to print out very easily, so a separate file is necessary.

This is, as far as I know, the first book on instrument building available as an ebook, so it is a bit exciting. The Mandolin Project should also be available in the same formats later in the year.

Luthiers Mercantile and the Newberg Music Centre in Oregon still have some printed copies, and I am setting up print-on-demand publication for those who might still want an actual book once those have sold out. There will be details on the website as soon as that is finalized.

cheers

graham

**Padre** · Jan-12-2012, 1:41pm

great stuff Graham.
can't wait for the Kindle version.

**Pete Braccio** · Jan-12-2012, 8:42pm

Just bought a copy. Now I have something to keep me interested during a meeting this weekend, ;^)

**Kip Carter** · Jan-13-2012, 8:45pm

Do you have a version for just a puter? not a tablet/ereader? I'd love to get the book but i'm not buying one of the pop readers till the market settles a bit. I'm waiting for that 200 Android Ice cream sandwich based 10" tablet...
Kip...

**Graham McDonald** · Jan-13-2012, 9:39pm

The epub can be read on Adobe Digital Editions, which is a free download for Windows or a Mac, and epubs work as well as the various flavors of tablet. I am trying to work out the best way to have it available as a pdf book as well, but it is around 3-4 times the size at reasonable print quality, so I have to see what size I can get it down to for screen only reading. I should have that worked out within a couple of days.

cheers

graham

**Kip Carter** · Jan-13-2012, 10:13pm

Look forward to it Graham.
Kip...

**barrangatan** · Jan-13-2012, 10:15pm

In addition to a number of free epub readers such as the Adobe one that Graham suggested, there is also a Firefox addon available for reading epub documents if you are already using Firefox as your browser and don't want to install any additional software:

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/fir...on/epubreader/

BTW thanks for keeping the Bouzouki book online and available to the community Graham. When we last spoke (in Los Angeles), you mentioned you were working on a new book also. How's that coming along? Hope I am not putting you on the spot here

**Kip Carter** · Jan-13-2012, 11:27pm

Nope.. I'm a Chome kinda guy...
Kip...

**Graham McDonald** · Jan-14-2012, 1:23am

Originally Posted by barrangatan

When we last spoke (in Los Angeles), you mentioned you were working on a new book also. How's that coming along? Hope I am not putting you on the spot here

Coming along slowly. It is going to be history of mandolins, looking more at how they have been built rather than how they have been played, but turning The Bouzouki Book and soon The Mandolin Project into ebooks has distracted me for a few months. I am probably somewhere between and third and halfway through it, but I won't really know how big it will be until I'm finished

cheers

graham

**barrangatan** · Jan-14-2012, 1:39am

Originally Posted by Kip Carter

Nope.. I'm a Chome kinda guy...
Kip...

Kip - then definitely give Adobe Digital Editions a try: http://www.adobe.com/products/digitaleditions/

**TheOldCoot** · Jan-30-2012, 11:29am

EBooks are essentially PDFs aren't they, so perhaps adobe reader can works as well?

**barrangatan** · Jan-30-2012, 12:36pm

In this particular case I believe as Graham had noted that the eBook is in epub format, an increasingly popular digital format that both amazon and apple had adopted for their digital publications. So a normal Adobe reader would not open it. There are other free options to read them though if you follow the wikipedia link above.

**Graham McDonald** · Jan-30-2012, 3:28pm

I have pdf and Kindle versions ready now as well, though I suspect the Kindle isn't the ideal way to read such a book (small screen and only B&W pics), though it could happily work as a workshop reference. The pdf version is more for use on a desktop machine, as the pages are full size A4/US letter size and are a bit shrunken on a tablet screen. PM me if either is more useful than a epub, which is really for an ipad or B&N Nook, though of course can be read through Adobe Digital Editions or Calibre (for a Mac user) on desktop/laptops.

cheers

graham