Good morning, everyone. I’m new to the group — nice to meet you all. I created my profile so I could find more information about looking after my instrument, and perhaps later I’ll start some other discussions about chords, mainly on the baglamas.
So, I have a baglamas that I commissioned from a maker in Volos, in consultation with one of my bouzouki teachers. I also told the maker which types of wood to use for the baglamas — for example, we used ebony for the fingerboard. Guys, this instrument is incredible: handmade, with an amazing sound. If I went out onto the balcony to play, it could be heard all over the block. I also took it to a maker in Athens for a check-up, and he found it to be excellent.
However, I changed the strings in September, and it has developed some problems. I changed the strings as follows: I loosened them all at once and then cut them, cleaned the instrument, and put the strings on again, starting with the top D. As soon as I tuned them, the strings were extremely tight. I thought I’d give it some time to settle. The strings did settle, but at the same time their sound wasn’t as deep as it should have been. The sound wasn’t “free”; it was as though something was pulling on them. Yesterday I put in a small piece of paper instead of a veneer/shim because I can’t find one anywhere, as I noticed that the strings were touching the first fret wire… Please help me — should I tap the fret wire back in with a small hammer? I’d like you to give me a few tips on looking after my baglamas.
Before you tell me to take it to the instrument maker, he has passed away, which is why I’m asking you for advice!
Welcome to the forum!
What a shame about the luthier… At least try to find someone nearby who can look after the little instrument. Under no circumstances should you try anything with a hammer or the like; besides, setting it up isn’t quite so simple if it needs a proper setup.
We change the strings one at a time, so that the instrument neither suddenly loses its balance nor the bridge slips out of position (check whether you’ve put it on backwards as well). And of course, if you’ve tuned it to the correct pitch, it’s odd that they should be as tight as you say.
By “the wrong way round”, I mean front to back. The grooves are different where they come in at an angle from the pegbox and where they run straight towards the fingerboard.
Thanks for the list! No, I’ve put it on normally… If I remove the strings one by one as you suggest, how am I supposed to clean the instrument? Also, how do you properly adjust the tuning pegs???
Normally, the fretboard doesn’t need cleaning if we wipe the strings with a cloth after every playing session. Or at least if we put the cloth underneath the strings.
Dear Stavros, without claiming to be an expert, I would also like to share my thoughts and opinions with you.
First of all, I agree with you: I also completely remove the strings from the instrument (you will hear many opinions on this), clean it with special cleaners, such as coconut oil for an ebony fingerboard, an alcohol-free cleaner so that the varnish does not come off, and so on and so forth…
To get to the point: Once you have placed your bridge in the correct orientation… Have you put it in the correct position??? The correct position is exactly the same distance from the top nut (the one by the tuning pegs) to the middle of the 12th fret (of the lower D), and then your bridge is fitted at the same distance from there. For example, if the distance from the top nut to the 12th fret is 18 centimetres… then the distance from the 12th fret to the bridge must also be exactly 18 centimetres.
As for the string tension, as you mentioned earlier, are you sure you have tuned your instrument to the correct pitch???
That is: 1st and 2nd D (kantini) D⁵ and D⁵
3rd and 4th A. A⁴ and A⁴
5th and 6th D. D⁵ and D⁴, the bourkana
Also, have you fitted the same strings as those your late luthier used when setting up the instrument? The same brand and the same gauge???
Sorry if I have bored you! These are simply the first thoughts that come to my mind.
All the best!
The one thing that is certain is that a good, competent luthier will be able to advise you and solve the problem for you.
***(as an easy solution for veneer, once you have cut it, you can use one of those wooden sticks that doctors use to examine their patients’ throats. You can ask for one and find them in all pharmacies, at about 10 cents each)
Oh no, don’t you dare! That’s something only the experts know how to do, and I don’t know exactly how myself. Even if I watched someone do it once, twice, five times, I still wouldn’t know how.
You do indeed change the strings one at a time. But there are also cases where the instrument will be left completely unstrung, such as when it’s taken in for repair. It’s not the end of the world: if the correct strings are then fitted properly, etc., the instrument will soon recover. At most, it’ll need tuning constantly for a few days; it’s no big deal.
So that isn’t what’s causing your problem. Something went wrong when it was restrung.
(Why cut them? Isn’t that just needless effort? You loosen them completely so they unwind from the tuning peg, and then remove them the same way you did before. Whole, though. You can even keep them as spares for a rainy day.)
Thanks for what you wrote. Look, the instrument maker didn’t tell me anything about specific strings. My teacher told me to use 9-gauge ones because they’re more suitable for the baglamas. As for the key and so on, what can I tell you, mate? I’ve just got a tuner on my phone and get by with that.
Oh no, don’t put it like that! Of course you can get on with your playing using your phone’s tuner, but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t know what the tuner is telling you!
The tunings are A and D. I don’t know the figures in Hz, but A is definitely some multiple of 220, the same for the two middle strings. D is the same for the first two and for the high string that pairs with the bourGana, and is at exactly twice the frequency (Hz) of the bourGana’s D.
For the paired strings (the first and middle courses), we tune only one with the tuner, and simply bring the other into unison with the tuned one, by ear.
And if you learn to tune by taking just one A from the tuner, or by ear from another instrument, and tuning the others by ear, you’ll find it extremely useful (even if you never find yourself without the convenience of a tuner).