The mystery old bouzouki -Part II

And its possible original look !

As I wrote in my last post, an old, unique, and unlabeled bouzouki sold on Ebay many years ago, has sparkled  a controversial discussion regarding its origin, date of construction, and its maker.

The bouzouki instrument carries the "House of Stathopoulo" style eagle decorative theme (without the stars), a flat soundboard with wooden fillets running through its surface (commonly used on taboura instruments), a decorative stamp on its soundboard below the bridge, and a very unique spear-shape,  head-stock.

The master luthier Andreas Papadamou (https://www.trixordo.com/en/), the last luthier who restored this bouzouki, kindly shared with me valuable information which can cast some more light regarding the musical instrument's origin and maker.

PS: Special thanks to Aydin Chaloupka for remembering these restoration photos, as we are also awaiting more information from the current owner

The one main restoration, which the instrument undergone as a "side job" by the hands of an inexperienced "luthier" (using very cheap materials), was the disassembly of the bouzouki, the  "restoration" of the back bowl, and the re-set of the neck.

The amateur luhtier in his attempt to possible fix some gaps between the staves (or some cracks on staves) and to reinforce the bowl, he applied a 2 cm polyester layer (polyester/ gauze/glue)!

He also "reinforced" the connection between bowl and neck, by placing nails ( with a diameter of about 2.5 mm ) from the bowl through the head-block (τακος) up to the soundboard!

And as if this was not enough ( I guess the bouzouki was not completely dead by all this abuse), he added a layer of 1 cm putty (which was a metal /epoxy putty) on the head-block area, to bind the broken staves together.  

High resolution photo before restoration
Provided by master luthier A. Papadamou

Somewhere between the re-gluing and "restoring " the staves and  the"reinforcement of  the bowl with a thick layer of polyester, our amateur luthier, when tried to re-assembly the instrument, (and before admiring his absolutely stunning restoration work) he noticed that the sound-board was a bit wider than the new and "restored" bowl. He must though....aha, not a really big problem...and he scraped away part of the soundboard's binding !  

At the end,  he sprayed a black coat of  paint on the head-block, neck, and the head-stock and called it a DAY!  

It is not clear if our carpenter/butcher luthier also added the decorative stamp on the soundboard, or if this was originally made by the first luthier.

Have now seen all the abuse which the amateur luhtier performed on the bouzouki, I doubt that he had the elevated technique to create such a "light" stamp on the soundboard without burning it and creating a complete hole on it.

At first, lets restore digitally the bouzouki at its original shape and look. 

This will help us identify the multiple restorations which the instrument went through, but also allow us to admire, in a glimpse of the past, its original beauty! 

Bouzouki in its original state (?).
Digital manipulation on original listing photo.
Original photo provided by musician Babis Papadimitriou

Unfortunately, this beautiful instrument (as someone can identify by the "digitally restored " photos above and below) will keep its secrets (for now) away from us regarding its origin.

The beautiful rosewood bowl with the short capping strip and the very thin side capping strips, the flat soundboard with the wooden fillets running through its surface, the wooden elaborated bridge without a bone, the small thickness of the fret-board, the House of Stathopoulo style pick-guard theme, and the decorative stamp, certainty reveal older master techniques, which will continue tormenting us with questions regarding the unknown luthier behind its construction. 

Bouzouki in its original state.(?)
Digital manipulation on original listing photo.
Original photo provided by musician Babis Papadimitriou

The master luthier Andreas Papadamou also informed me that the neck was in such a bad shape which made it impossible to restore and keep. Everything in the final restoration by Andreas was done accordingly  to the order and desire of the bouzouki's last owner. 

The luthier having hands-on experience with the restoration of this bouzouki believes that the original instrument was not a construction by Anastasio Stathopoulo

Close up inspection of a high resolution photograph provided by Andreas Papadamou

1. The friend and master luthier Chris Pantazelos pointed out that the soundboard is made by 5 pieces, and not by 2 as we usually see in the construction of the modern bouzoukia 

2. Taking a closer look on the bridge (which looks glued on soundboard) I noticed that they are 13 slots creating 12 even sub-divisions, with the middle one passing through  the center of the bridge .

3. The decorative stamp when saturated reveals shades of coloring/ shadowing  between the leafs and the background. Andreas Papadamou confirmed the traces of soft blue shade color in the background

4. They are 8 points/edges on the rosette design and 8 points on the decorative stamp. A center circle/point also carries-on, between the rosette and the decorative stamp

5. Can the soundboard be the first original restoration by the House of Stathopoulo on an older tambouro-bouzouko carrying a flat partially (or totally ?) destroyed soundboard ? This will justify the placement of the eagle pick-guard ( by the  House of Stathopoulos)  to add an extra protection after restoration. This will conclude that the original soundboard was carrying the fillets and decorative stamp, and will explain the presence of different "mixed media" on top of soundboard.

Could the original bouzouki be like this?

Or like this?

6. Andreas Papadamou informed me that the dimensions of the bowl were larger than the one by Anastasio Stathopoulo

Theodoros Karabas in NY and Dimitrios/Giorgios Grachis in Chicago were the two luthiers in USA constructing bouzoukia with also a flat-top. Alexandros Politis in NY was the other luthier having direct access to House of Stathopoulos materials and supplies.  

None of the above luthiers gets close enough (also due to the different angle of the photographs in comparison ) to the mystery's bouzouki bowl shape and dimensions.

 

Comparing the soundboards shape and dimensions 

....To be continued !