The Bouzouki Building Bible

Book excerpt: The Bouzouki Building Bible . The first and only complete guide, in any language, to constructing your Greek bouzouki from scratch. This book covers every aspect of Greek bouzouki building, in great detail. It presents a unique approach to bouzouki building, in which the major parts are constructed, as much as possible, separately, so that any major problems can be easily corrected, or discarded and redone, without damage to the instrument as a whole. More traditional and alternate construction practices are, of course, also discussed. Section 1 is Preparation : basic design parameters, tools, safety, workspace, and detailed construction overview. Section 2 is Building the Body : design and wood selection, making the form, the staves, the sides, and the capping strip. Section 3 is Building the Neck : design and wood selection, building the neck blank, headstock construction, neck reinforcement, truss rod installation, headstock veneer, shaping the headstock, and drilling and slotting the headstock. Section 4 is Building the Soundboard : design and wood selection, gluing the soundboard, the rosette, the pickguard, and bracing. Section 5 is Building the Fretboard : fretboard design and wood selection, fretboard slotting and shaping the fretboard, and fretboard markers. Section 6 is Assembling the Major Parts of the Instrument : shaping the rim and preparing the inside of the body, kerfed linings, reinforcing and lining the body, label, attaching the top to the body, neck tenon and the neck block mortise, purfling and binding, gluing the fretboard and shaping the neck, gluing the neck to the body, and fret work. Section 7 is Finishing and Setup : sanding, pore filling, finishing, level sanding and buffing, bridge, final assembly and setup, and pickups. Appendices cover Names of Parts of the Bouzouki, and Dimensions of Parts. Includes drawings and plans for the form on which to build the body, and instrument. 288 pages, with over 230 color pictures and diagrams. In English. 8-1/2 x 11.