Beginner looking to Zouk: which bouzouki brands, which strings?

[HitchsonianCeltic]

Hi Y'all --

I am wanting to buy a Bouzouki to play celtic music on. My lofty ambition is to one day play in the celtic jam session of an irish bar. I have played guitar of course, and some mandolin.

What brand of bouzouki should I go for if my chief concern is playability?

Also, what strings should I buy to string up an Irish Bouzouki?

[Whitethorn]

Hi! I'd suggest a Trinity College bouzouki, bottom line inexpensive but a genuine playable instrument, good for an intro. Re:strings, l get bulk guitar strings from juststrings.com - they work very well for mando family instruments - are cheap, sound good, last for a reasonable amount of time -
just get your gauges right. That's if your instrument will accept ball-end strings, of course.

[Seter]

What's your price range and what country are you in? Perhaps a fellow Texan judging by the y'all?

[Mandodork]

I second the recommendation for a Trinity College. I recently bought one, and it has an excellent sound for it's price. The tone is great for Celtic music.
It has a very long scale, but I think that is what gives it the great tone and bass response. I tried a TC octave mandolin for a more playable shorter scale, but it didn't have much for tone at all.
For strings I just get singles from the local music shop. D'addario loop end plain steel 12's, 16's, and a wound 24 and 40. They sound much better than the strings it came with.

[Bret Roberts]

Had great service and a great deal from Kieran. Shipping was fast and perfect, I found it cheaper than what was available in the states. The old APC brand is now know as A. Carvalho.http://www.moloneymusic.com/Products/Mandolin_Bouzouki_Family/Bouzouki__Cittern#nav10MandolinBouzoukiFamily

[Mando Mafia]

That's if your instrument will accept ball-end strings, of course.

You can always break the balls out of ball-end strings with a pair of nippers to create loop-end strings. That’s what I’ve done for decades with bulk guitar strings I get from Euphonon for my octave mandolin. Works like a charm & I get sets of decent loop-ends for a very reasonable price.

Euphonon Company 888 517 4678. They are not on the web...call & ask them to send you their bulk string catalog.

Pete Marshall

[Chuck Leyda]

If you're ok with a bit shorter scale the Moon octave mandolin in the classifieds looks great for the price.

There's nothing wrong with a Trinity College but I would be on the look out for a Moon, Hathaway, or Petersen. They tend to be just a bit over 1k used.

[Thomaston]

I agree with Chuck that an OM can be a good choice. I play an octave tuned GDAD and can make certain chords (like a 0520 G chord) that would be a bit of an uncomfortable stretch on a full scale bouzouki.