Good evening, everyone. First of all, I’d like to thank everyone who helped me with my previous post. So today I went to look into buying a bouzouki. The shopkeeper, who also teaches bouzouki, showed me the two three-course bouzoukis he had. One was €550 and the other €900. They were both made by the same luthier. He suggested that, as a beginner, I buy the one costing around €500. Which one would you recommend? Should I buy an expensive one once and for all, or start with the cheaper one? I’m making this post to get a second opinion!
Personally, I’m always in favour of doing it properly once and for all. I don’t see what advantage there is in a beginner buying a mediocre instrument and then, once they’ve learnt more, moving on to a better one. Besides, if you sell the cheap one you bought in the first place second-hand, for even less, what money will you have left? Crumbs.
But that doesn’t necessarily mean you should buy the expensive one. If you like the £500 one, buy the £500 one.
Thanks for the reply; I just feel a little lost, as I don’t have anything to compare them with. I mean, how am I supposed to know whether the 900 is worth that much money, and likewise the 500? The difference in sound, at least to my ears, wasn’t all that noticeable.
For these reasons, you don’t go off on your own to make a choice.
You go with someone who knows about instruments.
Get the cheaper one, because if you don’t learn, you’ll have the excuse that it was the cheap instrument’s fault that you didn’t learn 
Haha! Unfortunately, I don’t know anyone who knows their way around the bouzouki…
Didn’t the instrument maker explain to you what accounts for the difference between the two instruments? For example, the cheaper one might not have any figuring, while the other could be covered in shell inlay. One might have more expensive timber than the other, and various other differences.
I didn’t go to an instrument maker; I went to a dealer who got them from an instrument maker… he simply told me that, as a beginner, I should go for the cheaper one.
I remember that in earlier related discussions, some very specific advice was given by experienced players to beginners: the neck should be like this, the bridge like that… Even so, without experience it sounds very vague, but it’s a starting point when you have nothing else to go on.
We’re talking here about any defects you should check for. The sound itself is a matter of taste. There’s the subjective “I like it / I don’t like it”, and there may also be objective problems.
Tell us where you are and perhaps someone will be able to help you.
I’m from Komotini!@
Yeah, but where are you going to buy an instrument?
In Thessaloniki, perhaps?
There are two shops here, so probably from one of them. One of them even has a website that came up when I searched online, and I’ve only just found out that they have a shop here too — it’s called Nakas. I don’t know if anyone has bought anything from there or heard anything (about the online shop, of course).
Nakas is a nationwide brand based in Athens.
They don’t make the instruments themselves; they’re dealers.
1 Like
Generally speaking, Nakas isn’t particularly recommended. It built its reputation on pianos, and it’s also a good source for sheet music, accessories and the like. For folk instruments, it’s considered a last resort.
1 Like
…mate, listen to what I did… after browsing the internet and luthiers’ websites for quite a while… there was one I liked… the site was well put together, it showcased the instruments… but there were no prices… I said, I’ll go with this one… without asking anyone, and I didn’t know anyone who could give me advice… I went and found him… I told him… I’m clueless, I want a bouzouki, make me one for €1,000… I left it entirely up to him… he made it for me… meanwhile, I paid him off in instalments… he did me that favour as well… I got it… he also recommended a teacher… and I’m happy because everyone who has played it has had nothing but good things to say… and one last thing the teacher said the other day… that a good instrument with a beautiful sound… pushes you to play, to learn, to draw you in, to dig deeper… it speaks to you, you know, even if you only play two notes… whereas a cheap one… is cheap..!!!. I hope I’ve helped, even just a little…!!!
1 Like