The passage into the past

Xristos Spourdalakis revives the sound of the pre-war bouzouki era! 

Demetrios Mourtzinos style pre-war bouzouki

Six months ago I had the honor to welcome in this blog an inspirational interview by the famous luthier Xristos Spourdalakis. 

In that interview, Mr. Spourdalakis, had stated as an epilogue  :

"-As perhaps shown by what I mentioned  above, and as the years are passing, the more I discover and admire the wisdom of the prewar instrument construction. 

This preference has led me to study the reproduction of the old construction methods following even original prewar molds, which a good fate brought them into my hands. 

One such example is the mold of the photography below, made by Demetrios Mourtzinos , which  I hope soon to hear its sound as a finished musical instrument."

The original Mourtzinos mold

Six months later the luthier has finally completed the construction of the prewar Mourtzinos bouzouki, and has recorded the complete step by step  process of construction in a very informative 3 parts video. 

I had the pleasure to contact the luthier last week ,regarding this difficult attempt, getting some more information :

"It took plenty of effort and time to be able to copy two old molds of bouzouki instrument ( the sound board - and the bowl ) and to be able to approach as closely as possible the pre-war sound of the six-string  bouzouki.

Creating the bowl with rosewood staves

It was an extremely charming and fascinating journey back into the wisdom and knowledge of older techniques,  which revealed to us  by the use of models-molds, owned by the famous luthier Demetrios Mourtzinos or his disciple Gregory Apartian.

Forming the caved staves

So now that we have completed the video, we derive great pleasure from sharing the experience we gained during the construction of the particular version of the pre-war six-string bouzouki.

Creation of the sound-board

It would be great satisfaction for us, if the recording of our work can be used , even in a small occasion for inspiration and renewal of the traditional instrument-making,  not only from the technical and historical stand point , but mostly in the area of 'architectural' design of the bouzouki, inspired by  instruments made during that era. 

Forming the sound-board braces

This is due to the fact that  the pre-war period still remained aesthetically untouched by subsequent influences or alteration conceded the character of six-string bouzouki in order to adapt to the constantly changing circumstances and desires.

Tuning the body and the sound-board

For a novice, this is a great accomplishment and we are ask for a gracious, constructive critique , considering our amateurism.  

The impregnation technique

 But we do not lose hope for improvement, because we rely on your comments. 

Applying French Shellac- gomolaka technique

These will help us become more useful.

You can watch the video content separated into three parts

Soon there will be corresponding videos with subtitles in English"

UPDATES:

The Luthier  Xristos Spourdalakis. created a new 3-parts video with English Subtitles: