Once the side pieces are dry, scrape the entire body with a cabinet scraper and sand down to medium grit (150) sandpaper.  The scraping and sanding should produce a nice smooth curve to the back.  Unlike a lute, which maintains the flat surfaces of the individual staves, with a nice sharp angle between the staves, a bouzouki should be rounded and smooth.

The capping strip (kolantza in Greek) is made up of three pieces; the back and two side pieces.  The back is cut to shape, bent on the hot bending iron and then glued in place. 

Then the sides are cut to shape, bent on the hot bending iron and glued into place. 

The seam where the back and each side piece meets is usually left wide, and a decorative piece of shell or wood is glued in place.

Tags: Greek bouzouki construction

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 23rd, 2008 at 8:19 pm and is filed under St. Katherine's Bouzouki. You can trackback this entry from your own site.