BZ-500: Irish-Tuned (GDAD) Bouzouki Mandolin with Pickup and Case

The Irish bouzouki (or cittern) descends from the Greek bouzouki, which arrived in Ireland at the end of the 1960s and was quickly rebuilt to suit the music it landed in. The change that mattered was re-stringing the courses in unison rather than octaves — it traded shimmer for a dry, driving attack, and within a few years the instrument was fully integrated into Irish traditional and folk music as a backing voice.

Irish tuning (GDAD). Ships with all four courses strung in unison (.040w, .028w, .016, .011) and tuned G-D-A-D. Unison courses give the dry, chordal, rhythmically insistent voice that defines Irish backing, with none of the harmonic blur an octave pair adds — it cuts through a session without crowding the melody instruments. Precision setup by Gold Tone's skilled luthiers. Includes hard case. Also available in Greek (CFAD) tuning, and in left-handed and right-handed models.