“Say, whatever happened to that raffle bouzouki?”
Here it is in its new home. Yes, this is the instrument I won. Goes well with old adobe all the rest. Sounds even better!
You wouldn’t believe how loud the sucker is
I’ve been playing this thing almost every day. Tonight I had it in my hands for two hours straight. Last week I played it one night for three full hours without stopping. There’s just something about the way the notes rattle out of that resonator that make me want to keep on going. it’s like a perpetual motion musical Gatling gun, especially with a flatpick. I never touched a bouzouki before, either. This one was tuned to an open G when i got it, and I still haven’t changed it. Not using a slide, just my fingers. Man, does this thing snarl.
Way back in high school, I learned to play folk guitar. That was just a year or so after Buddy Holly, Richie Valens, and the Big Bopper died in a plane crash in a blizzard near Clear Lake, Iowa. During my freshman (and only) year at S.M.U., by the time I was taking Jud to Turtle Creek Park after dark to uh, play my guitar and impress her with my musicianship, it was “John Henry” and Leadbelly and Lord knows what. Judy liked them all until she joined a sorority and quit that scruffy beatnik shit. I went on to the University of Texas, the Beatles landed in New York, and the rest is history.
I could go on, but the thing I want to impress upon anyone who reads this is that a fine musical instrument like the G.D. Armstrong Resophonic Bouzouki can change your life. Who knows how much better off I am, physically and spiritually, for sitting down daily with the goddamn beast? Man. If I’d had this thing that fall of ’63, that girl would’ve gone naked in the moonlight and made me a man.
That sound… the amplification from the resonator is just amazing. The sustain just blows my mind. You can give it a good hard chop with the pick, go off and make a cup of coffee, come back, and the darn thing is still ringing and shaking. Just makes you wanna get up and dance, it does. And I do.
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About 30 years ago I was at a Mikis Theodorakis concert (he of Zorba the Greek). It was in a large opera-sized hall and was unamplified. He had a band with him, true. But, geez, did that little gizmo of his fill up that place with sound. Greek music really does make you want to dance on table-tops and hug the girl next to you. That little instrument must come with a guarantee that says, “he who plays me must live a good life.” I depend on you to do that, dear Farr, or should I say Farrgolouponos.
John
Congratulations on the prize. What a wonderful item to have drop in your lap.
I’m curious about the instrument, and admit to knowing zilch about it. Is the G tuning what is generally used? I kind of wish I could see a closeup of the resonator area. In the wide shot it looks like the design is very well done.
Well, this should be about the “rush” one used to get from a new bicycle when you were 12 years old.
Ed
Close-up shots of the instrument are still posted at the ZoukFest site. I believe the current open G tuning is GDGD — would you believe I’ve just been playing it and haven’t checked yet??? Makes a helluva drone.