greek luthiers

The bouzouki (, also US: ; Greek: μπουζούκι [buˈzuki]; plural. bouzoukis or bouzoukia, μπουζούκια) is a musical instrument popular in West Asia (Syria, Iraq, Lebanon, Cyprus), Balkans (Greece, North Macedonia, Bulgaria) and Turkey.
It is a member of the long-necked lute family, with a round body and a long neck with a fretted fingerboard. It has steel strings and is played with a plectrum, producing a sharp metallic sound, reminiscent of a mandolin but pitched lower. It is the precursor to the Irish bouzouki, an instrument derived from the Greek bouzouki that is popular in Celtic, English, and North American folk music.
There are two main types of Greek bouzouki: the trichordo (three-course) has three pairs of strings (known as courses) and the tetrachordo (four-course) with four pairs of strings. The instrument was brought to Greece in the early 1900s by Greek refugees from Anatolia, and quickly became the central instrument to the rebetiko genre and its music branches. It is now an important element of modern laïko pop Greek music.

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