Luthierie

I have dreamed of making instruments ever since I was a child. I think many people – especially musicians – would find this an attractive idea, at least in theory. When I went to Athens at the age of 18 and continued my studies with Ross Daly, he gave me a lot of encouragement and helped me to follow this path.

For a long time, I visited Pavlos Erevnidis’s shop in the Exarcheia district of Athens every day. I consider him and Dimitris Rapakousios my teachers in the instrument-maker’s art. Pavlos taught me much about the use of instrument-making tools, and helped me to trust my hand and not hesitate to take risks…

Musical instruments must combine many virtues. They must have a strong, pleasant sound, be durable and pleasing to the eye. The main thing, however, is that they should please and inspire the player. The instrument-maker has a special relationship with the musician who orders an instrument; he should listen to and understand the particular wishes of each customer, and find a way to make them come true.

I prefer to make instruments whose sound I am familiar with because I play them myself, so I make lyras, laouta, boulgari and traditional and modern saz.

Lyra (Cretan Lyre)

With Ross’s help and recommendations, he and I have been able to make lyras with sympathetic strings, which he invented, to a very high level. Thus today we have a small type with 12 sympathetic strings (the type on which Ross recorded the CDs “Pnoi”, “Elefthero Simio”, etc.), a medium type with 17 sympathetic strings (“An-Ki”, “Synavgeia”, “Pera apo ton Orizonta”), and a large type which Ross and Kelly Thoma currently use. Zacharias Spyridakis, Dimitris Apostolakis, G. Kondogiannis and I, as well as some others, continue to use the medium type.

Apart from lyras with sympathetic strings, I also make three-stringed lyras both large and small. I will soon start preparing Stagakis-type lyras too. Manolis Stagakis was the greatest lyra-maker of the last century, the man who gave the lyre the form in which it is now played at Cretan fiestas and in company.

The lyras are made using mulberry or maple wood for the body and cedar of Lebanon for the soundboard. Although other types of wood can be used for the body, cedarwood seems to be irreplaceable for the soundboard. The problem is that the felling and sale of cedarwood is now prohibited, making it very difficult to get hold of. Fortunately it is found in abundance in the roofs of old houses on Crete and other islands, as it was imported in large quantities during the Ottoman period. Thus any cedar used for soundboards today is at least 120 years old.

Laouto (Lute).

The laouto is the hardest instrument to make. This is due to its particular features and the way that the strings are attached directly to the bridge, as with classical guitar, making it difficult to support the soundboard so that the instrument is both durable and has a good sound. The laouto depends on the customer; if the laouto is played hard it can have a slightly more restrained sound, while with a very soft player it can be freer and richer in harmonies. I prefer the latter, to tell the truth.

Laouta are made using mainly rosewood for the body and pine for the soundboard. Alternatively I use maple or mulberry. The string length is 74 cm, tuned E A D G. For the mainland Greek version the string length is 68 – 70 cm, tuned A D G C.

Boulgari.

The boulgari was played in Crete before the laouto. It is known to us from recordings of the last master-player, Stelios Foustalierakis. In recent years Ross Daly, Periklis Papapetropoulos, Lambis Xylouris, the group “Palaina Seferia” and others have brought this instrument to the fore once more.

The boulgari is made of a hollowed piece of old mulberry wood from the roof-beams of old houses. The soundboard is pine or cedar.

Saz

I have also made some saz, following the Turkish methods. The drawback of the old Greek instrument-makers is that, when trying to make a saz, they did whatever they thought best (considering themselves better and cleverer than the Turks…), falling into grave errors. This is why Greek saz-makers are now justifiably regarded with suspicion, an impression I am hoping to overturn.

I have made several kopuz like that used by my favourite musician Erkan Ogur, as well as cogur, baglama, cura and divan. I hollow out my own kopuz backs from old mulberry wood, as with the boulgari, while for modern Turkish saz I buy the bodies from Turkey.

Decoration.

In exceptional cases and at the musician’s request, I can decorate the instruments I make with natural materials such as mother-of-pearl and tortoiseshell. Owing to the difficulty of sourcing these materials and the many hours’ work required, the decoration is expensive, in some cases even doubling the cost of the instrument because it takes twice as long to make.