Nothing hidden under the sun!

"Ouden kripton upo ton ilio"



Giannis informed me that the bowl of my bouzouki has finished.Tomorrow he will be taking it out of the mold and he will send me photos.
Even tho it is very early and a long way remains until completion, I am very pleased with Gianni's professionalism, passion and work.
They are some very simple and obvious steps for someone to realise the luthier's knowledge, talent, passion, desire and will to satisfy the customer from the beginning of the instrument's construction.These same steps, are the ones making you also realise your instrument is a complete custom made creation from start till the end, and not a collage of parts coming from outsources as most of luthiers do these days.

Until today Giannis asked for my feedback on the followings:

1.Woods to be used for my bouzouki
2.Thickness and length of the fretboard (maniko)
3.Dimensions of the bowl
4.What kind of varnish an with what technique I want it to be applied

5.What shape and what wood I want the capping strip (kollatza) to be made of
6.Design and materials of sound board' decoration
7.Design and materials of fretboard decoration (tsampoukades)
8.Selection of soundboard

9.What lining of the bowl I want to have, or if I wish to have no paper at all.

This last question even tho sounds so simple tells lot for the luthier's work, experience, and knowledge.In case customer asks for no paper lining, the luthier must have the ability to perform a very precise, accurate and clean work with the construction of the bowl.Due to the absence of the paper, luthier needs to spent excessive time in measuring, fitting, gluing, scraping and sanding the staves and the inside of the bowl's body.
At the end, a luthier proposing a bowl without decoration paper, is the one who is not afraid of the famous Greek phrase:

"Ouden kripton upo ton ilio"
Nothing remains hidden under the sun!




Comments

Popular Posts