Matsikas Bouzouki For Irish Trad

[Reinhardt]

Hi all, I've been a Trad bouzouki player for a long time now, mainly flat backs but I started off on a Greek Roundback many years ago. The Roundback currently hangs on my wall and is totally unplayable at this stage.

I've been thinking of going back to a Round Back for some time now just for a bit of a change as I really love Alec Finn's style. Just wondering if anyone out there plays a Matsikas Bouzouki??? Thinking of getting one of them or a Dekavallas. The attraction of the Matsikas is that it has a truss rod while the Dekavallas doesnt appear to.

John

[derbex]

I play the cheap model Matsakis Mandola as an OM, no truss rod, but then it's 43cm scale length. I use it mainly for classical but it does come out for folk now and again. For the money it's great, the higher end models are quite a bit more expensive but I'm not sure what more you get. FWIW quite a few people have said they like the sound.

[Reinhardt]

Ta Derbex, I'm going to take the plunge soon I'd say and I probably will go for one of their cheaper models. As you probably know the greek bouzoukis arent as "durable" as the Irish Style. Probably cos theyre not really designed for GDAD tuning. I've had 3 in the past , a long long time ago and all eventually kinda caved in. I believe Alec Finn has a wall full of bouzoukis that have reached their end of use date!! Theyre kind of like disposable instruments I suppose. I wouldnt envisage using it a whole lot so I could lower the string tension when not in use which should help.

The round backs are beginning to make a bit of a comeback here in Ireland particularly among the younger players, so I decided it was time to jump on the bandwagon. The died in the wool traditional melody players seem to prefer the Alec Finn style to the more chord based Donal Lunny style. I love both!! I think they find it less intrusive which I understand. I really loved my greek bouzoukis. Great for small relaxed sessions . If you can advise on how I can sneak one into the house without my wife noticing I'd be most obliged!!

John

[OneChordTrick]

.... If you can advise on how I can sneak one into the house without my wife noticing I'd be most obliged!!

John

If you get one that's the same wood as one of your current ones she'll never notice . Worked with me last time I bought a bike!

[Mike Anderson]

John, have you looked at Papadamou? I don't know anything about Matsikas, but these instruments look very good, huge variety of styles, timbers, and price range: https://www.trixordo.com/en/eshop/mu...-bouzouki.html.

[derbex]

Yup I detune the mandola, partly out of habit and partly because I now have a lot heavier strings on the G and D than it came with. I had a go on one of the tension calculators and those two courses were very light tension with the original strings (around 7lb I think). I realised afterwards that that was because those are the heaviest strings Maestro make, rather than that they were the 'right' strings.

Fortunately my wife has enough tut of her own to worry about and mine is all in the posh shed where she doesn't see it

[kmmando]

Alec Finn has played Dekavalas trichordos for a long time now. They are very stable instruments, beautifully made, and have a stiff wood infill in the length of the neck rather than a truss rod. I have one as well and it is as straight as the day I bought it in Thesaloniki. Great sound too. Alec doesn't actually have walls with old bouzoukis, but does have some interesting antique stringed instruments that he has picked up over the years, and a series of his professional instruments, tenor guitars, guitars, slides and the like. Nis music is very special, and hard to emulate, but well worth attempting as it works so well with melody instruments, I feel.

http://dekavalas.gr/en/six-strings-bouzouki

[Reinhardt]

Thanks for that Kevin. I was a it worried re the lack of truss rod on the Dekavallas. I'll be going for an 8 stringer I think. Unison strings rather than octaves. What gauges do you use yourself?? I'm guessing I'd have to use much lighter strings than on my flatbacks. dont want to end up with floppy strings if I go for too light a gauge though.

Alecs a great player and has been a great favourite of mine since the original De Danann album came out. Absolutely love the duo recording of himself and Frankie as well. It's the real deal. Sounds like they just went into a recording studio for a few hours and just blasted it out. It just sounds so real if ya know what I mean.

Heres a lovely video of Alex with Noel Hill and Tony Linnane on a typically "soft" Irish day , i.e. bucketing down with rain!!

John

[kmmando]

I have a pair of 4 course Greek tetrachordos, one with unisons and one with the D and G courses in octaves, like them both! 10 16 28 34 and 10 and 16 on the octave courses. Works fine in an GDAE tuning for me anyway. I've been pretty fortunate to have worked with Alec on my 4 solo cds but also as the bands roadie in the 1980s, a monumentally brilliant time! And that duo cd was recorded in NY city in an afternoon, straight off. One of the greatest albums ever! Cheers Kevin

[Mike Anderson]

Love those "HUP" videos, and the two with Alec Finn/Tony Linnane/Noel Hill are my favourites by far. Interesting that Alec is playing an instrument that is very different from the more ornamented ones I've seen him with in so many other videos and pics:



BTW I'm reminded here that it was Kevin that educated me about Alec's use of the trichordo for his entire career; I remember posting "oh, but look at the eight tuners in this video," having no idea Kevin and Alec had been friends and musical collaborators since before I knew the word "bouzouki"!

[Reinhardt]

I have a pair of 4 course Greek tetrachordos, one with unisons and one with the D and G courses in octaves, like them both! 10 16 28 34 and 10 and 16 on the octave courses. Works fine in an GDAE tuning for me anyway. I've been pretty fortunate to have worked with Alec on my 4 solo cds but also as the bands roadie in the 1980s, a monumentally brilliant time! And that duo cd was recorded in NY city in an afternoon, straight off. One of the greatest albums ever! Cheers Kevin

Hi Kevin, thanks for the info re the gauges. I used slightly heavier when I used to play a greek bouzouki which I'm sure caused the top to cave in. I saw De Danann many times in the 80s. What a band!! What I loved most about them was that their concerts were almost like sessions on a stage. Always so full of life and fireworks flying.My personal favourite album was/is the Mist Covered Mountain. I always loved Alec and Charlie playing together, so simple yet so effective ( well seemed simple until I tried to figure out Alec's up strokes!!).. Loved Alec's work on the classic Noel Hill/Tony Linnane album as well. Used to play along to that album all the time as a kid trying to be as good as Alec. Me mates thought I was cracked. They were all rock heads!! I converted a few of them though.

I'd say you have a few stories to tell about those De Danann tours!! I played in sessions a few times with Brendan O'Regan who was with the band for a short time in the 80s. He described his experiences on the road as "a bit mad but mighty"!!!!

John

[kmmando]

Yes, I was on one early 80s tour with Bren, a lovely fellow and a superb musician. The road is tough, but fun when you are young! And it was easier to travel in those days before the world went mad! The sets of tunes on the Mist Covered Mountains remain some of the very finest music DD recorded, and that's where I first came across Alec's resonator tenor guitar. I have two old Nationals of my own of which I still use almost daily, love the sounds!