Blue moon 'zouk

[Cliff D]

Greetings CBOM'ers! I am contemplating a first zouk, & my attention has been drawn to the Blue Moon GR3302, which has a piezo pickup & generally appears cheap & cheerful.

I will of course be popping into Hobgoblin Music in London to sample the wares, but as the Cafe has been so helpful in the past with advice over other purchases it would be churlish of me not canvass for opinions.

By way of back ground I already play mandolin & tenor banjo amongst other instruments: I'm aiming to master at least one new instrument each year before death or Alzheimer's strikes!

[Cliff D]

And hopefully here is a picture!

[JCLondonUK]

I had always steered well clear of Blue Moon instruments, thinking that they were too cheap and cheerful to be worth anything. But last time I was in the London Hobgoblin, I got curious about an instrument I couldn't identify, which turned out to be a Blue Moon Cuatro. After noodling with it very briefly in the shop I took it home without hesitation, and it's great. So, I can't help you with the zouk, but am no longer so snooty about Blue Moon instruments. Let us know how you get on after trying one out -- I just might get a zouk myself.

[Tavy]

I'm ashamed to admit that I still own a Blue Moon mandolin - good enough to learn to play on on, but other than that not very nice - tinny sound and highish action So I'd definitely suggest you try before you buy, and compare to the Ashbury and others too while you're at it.

HTH, John.

[Rando7]

I think these are the same as the Hora bouzoukis under a different brand name. You might want to search the message board for "Hora" to get some more opinions. This picture is from the Hora website. I think the overall consensus is that they are OK for the price.

[Cliff D]

Yup, that does look very similar. But........... having checked the Troubadour UK site the claim is made that the Hora instruments that pass through their hands are better quality than the Blue Moons & Ozarks sold at a similar price point. The pictures on their site show a simple but clean no frills build, so I shall do some further exploration down this avenue. Thanks!

[John Flynn]

I have had experience with Troubador. I strongly advise you to save up a bit more money and get a Trinity College. PM me if you want specifics.

[Kyle Baker]

I own a hora short scale bouzouki, and a trinity college. I'll just say, the hora seems so poor in comparison to the TC I barely play it.
It's OK... but even after some tweaking, it still is weak. I lowered the bridge which was the only way to get a nicer action, but that affected the break angle, and now there isn't as much tension on the bridge so it's easy to bump it out of place with your hand. I also had to lower the zero fret on mine to get the action lower at the nut. The thing I still need to do which would probably help my biggest peeve is it doesnt stay in tune while playing, so it needs new tuners. A good set would help a lot, but tuners for slotted head instruments are harder to find.
If you think you will get hooked on the zouk, maybe try a little better than a "Blue moon"... IMO
Trinity college, or Johnson, or a couple other that look identical but go under different names seem like great bang for your buck.

[Cliff D]

Given the comments received I am now looking at the Trinity College option a little more. What I don't notice on their products is any piezo pick ups. OK I know these things are of variable quality, but even if it is only good for being able to quickly tune with an electronic tuner I'd probably go for it if there was not too much price differential.

Could be time to wander down to Brighton & see Trevor!

[Paul Hostetter]

I set up a Blue Moon bouzouki for a guy recently. I sounded OK, but the neck was unreinforced and became rather bowed from simple string tension right out of the box. Nothing you could do about it except spend a lot of money making it right. Keep looking.

[catmandu2]

Used TC zouks are available pretty often . I believe I noticed one here on the classifieds not too long ago, and there was one at Elderly yesterday http://www.elderly.com/vintage/items/90U-5363.htm

If you need an internal piezo, Fender (and likely Johnson, Gold Tone, etc.) offer an instrument of similar quality with integral piezos and electronics. I acquired one of the Fender OMs for stage work--the electronics function very well.

I had Hora zouk too...much better to spend ~$150 more for TC, which is a much more substantial instrument that will respond to adjustments and upgrades.

[Steve L]

You're much better off with a TC zouk and an aftermarket pickup.

[catmandu2]

Depends on what one needs. While I can't say that I recommend the Fender instrument for anything other than plugged-in amplified applications, we're talking a $200 factory-second instrument; hard to beat this type of performance at that price (actually plays better than the TC, imo, as it has a thinner neck...and no headstock cross ). For convenience sake, factory electronics on acoustic instruments such as those on Yamahas, Takamines, etc. are highly reliable and totally fuss-free. I like that...gives me lots of freedom to worry about other things

[Steve L]

The Fenders are out of production. There's a TC zouk in the classifieds now for $350. That's pretty good.

[Martin Jonas]

Note that Cliff is in the UK, and the price differential between the Hora and the TC looks very different at this end compared to the US. The TC is about three times the price of the Hora here.

There have been a fair number of discussions on Hora zouks here in the past, mostly under the name "Troubadour". The difference between the Blue Moon and the Troubadour is cosmetic -- they are the same instruments, but Dave Kilpatrick of Troubadour has asked them to leave off the garish decorations and the stain from the mable back and neck, and this makes for a much classier-looking instrument. Dave also says that he screens the quality of the incoming instruments and rejects those with obvious flaws -- it's not entirely clear how much difference this makes, and whether Hobgoblin (who sell the Blue Moon brand) do something similar.

I have a Troubadour zouk, and I quite like it, certainly for the trivial amount of money I spent on it. It deparately needed major adjustments to the setup to make it enjoyable, primarily a new ebony/bone bridge and a much lowered zero fret, but now it is very playable and very responsive. Not particularly loud, but a nice tone. It's much more lightly built than a TC. This suits my style, as I have a light touch and don't do any vigorous strumming. Others who are used to bashing guitars have found it difficult to get along with my zouk, although that's partially because I have set the action very low indeed and it buzzes if played hard.

Regarding the neck, I should say that the Hora zouk does have a reinforced neck, and an adjustable truss rod with the nut accessible through the soundhole. The mandola version has the same body but a much shorter neck, and doesn't have the truss rod. I have had no problems with a bent neck, but with these being churned out cheap-and-cheerful in a factory, a certain variability in quality is fairly inevitable.

Incidentally, experiences with other "Blue Moon" branded instruments are irrelevant: this is one of Hobgoblin's three house brands ("Ashbury" and "Sherwood" being the other two). Blue Moon is used for their cheapest range, regardless of where in the world they are made. The relevant comparisons are with other Hora instruments, not with Blue Moon mandolins (say) made in China.

Martin

[Robertgregormcgregor]

Can you afford a Musikalia? I think these are nice and also cheapish...

[Dustin]

I have a Celtic Star "Ancient Times" and I really like it. It has a pickup in it. I would say it is just a little better than Trinity College (maybe), but it has a warmer sound to it and the body is a bit smaller (which means it is not as loud as the TC), but it's back is a little bit bowed:
http://www.celtic-star.de/ancient_times_bouz_engl.html

I got mine off of e-bay:
http://shop.ebay.com/merchant/the_ce...Q_fromZQQ_ipgZ

I have nothing against Trinity College except for that gaudy celtic cross on it (why did they get rid of the original celtic knot work?)

[steve V. johnson]

Dustin, thanks for the word on the Celtic Star instruments. I see them on eBay, lots of models in various colors and sizes, but I hadn't seen any word at all from anyone who has one, nor even who has played one.

Thanks!

stv

[Dustin]

Dustin, thanks for the word on the Celtic Star instruments. I see them on eBay, lots of models in various colors and sizes, but I hadn't seen any word at all from anyone who has one, nor even who has played one.

No problem. I am glad I can help. Like I said, they are close in quality (that and TC bouzoukis). I got it for about $500 and even though I am not that experienced in the quality of bouzoukis, I think it is a pretty swell instrument. I still enjoy playing my friend's TC when we hang out.

I can tell you that with the slight curve on the back on my "Ancient Times", I kind of have to rest my forearm a little too much on the body (more than I like), which I don't like, but not everyone has the wrist problems I have. I wear a "Wilson" Tennis arm band and tell everyone that they are my sponsor (it's also good for when I am sweaty too).

[Kyle Baker]

call me crazy, but the overall design of the celtic star instruments looks almost identical to the Romanian made hora instruments. Only difference I see is the headstock isn't slotted, and the sound hole is different, and different hardware...
Just an observation.

[Dustin]

Kyle: Yes, that is correct, it was made in Romania.

[Cliff D]

Well I've been away for a couple of weeks, so I've missed all the new contributions. I also trogged all the way to Trevor's shop, paid quite a hefty fee to park in an NCP car park & tried hunting down the place armed with a map I printed off from his site a year back. I found 39 St James Street which is the address I had previously scrawled, but no shop. I then vaguely recalled there was something I had seen on his site about a new shop, but as it was 16.45 on a Saturday I decided this was probably another battle I had lost because of my own stupidity/carelessness.

Martin J, thank you very much for your contribution. I guess I'll spend some more time chewing it over, but I certainly don't have a problem with doing a bit of work on an instrument. Maybe some further visitation to Hobgoblin or e mails to Troubadour discussing the snagging points will be in order, but I'm not in great hurry.

If any one else wants to make any related observations please feel free.

[JCLondonUK]

I also trogged all the way to Trevor's shop, paid quite a hefty fee to park in an NCP car park & tried hunting down the place armed with a map I printed off from his site a year back. I found 39 St James Street which is the address I had previously scrawled, but no shop. I then vaguely recalled there was something I had seen on his site about a new shop,

That's weird, that's still the address on the TAMCO website.

[Cliff D]

Dohhhhhhhhhhh! I had scrawled down 36 St James St, & the arrow on the plan I down loaded did correspond to that side of the road, although the numbers jump about all over the place. Having looked at the photo on the site I see I did pass it, but blinds & general appearance caused me to think the place was a cafe: I was expecting to see a window with mandolins plastered across it: & they were open till 18.00 hours! Well Saturday traffic in Brighton was foul, next time I think its an off peak rail ticket: will probably cost the same as an hours parking!

[JCLondonUK]

You poor thing! You had me worried for a bit -- I'm going down this week. (By train ).