Ioannis Stathopoulos decoration

And the beginning of the A/I Stathopoulos bouzouki!

Yesterday, Giannis Tsoulogiannis informed me that he performed small final revisions on the new mold, and he is ready to start creating the Maple-Rosewood bowl of A/I Stathopoulos bouzouki.

During this time, I also revised the butterfly design to its final form, and chose the materials which the luthier will use.

Due to the warm tortoise color of the pick-guard, I will ask the luthier to use natural white mother of pearl for the butterfly's body, and a pale, blue-shade color of natural abalone shell, for the decoration of the butterfly's wings.

Pick-guard Butterfly decoration S.Dimis (c)2013

Last week I was tormenting with the idea to use wooden marquetry (inlay decoration) inside the Rosewood staves of the bowl, following a difficult and beautiful technique found on masterpiece instruments created by the talented luthier Ioannis Stathopoulos.

But if I was planing to decorate the bowl with so much wooden marquetry, then I  had to revisit and revise the design of the soundboard, the trims / fillets and the pick-guard, as everything would look aesthetically heavy.

Finally, I took the decision to eliminate the wooden marquetry decoration of the staves for this instrument, and turn my  focus mostly on creating a fine decoration of the binding, sound-hole, and the butterfly of the pick-guard.
I will keep in mind this beautiful decoration technique of the bowl for a future instrument. 

Marquetry inlay decoration on Rosewood staves.
S.Dimis (c)2013