Handmade 8-string Bouzouki

The Bouzouki is the most famous out of the “Bouzouki family” members. It is the smallest out of the three main sizes (the other two being Tzouras and the Baglamas). The original Bouzouki is the 3-string (or 6-string). It has three pairs of strings and it is tuned D-A-D. It became prominent in early 20th-century Greece, mainly due to the Greek immigrants who fled Minor Asia in the 1920s. It is especially used in rebetiko music — the “urban blues” of the working-class neighborhoods and prison communities.

In the 1950s, Manolis Hiotis created the 4-string(or 8-string) Bouzouki. Hiotis was a virtuoso musician who wanted to modernize the bouzouki to fit Western harmony and jazz influences. He added a fourth course of strings, tuning them like a guitar: C–F–A–D (low to high) making very easy for any guitarist to familiarize with the instrument.