Hi, Dino -

At last. Here are some photos of me with your DAD bouzouki. I'm backing up my wife, Marla. The box she's playing is in Eb.

That's why I'm capo'ed up a fret. Marla hosts an Irish sessiún every month or so at a pub in San Francisco, The Plough and

Stars. The nimble, slightly twangy voice that is distinctive to the Greek bouzouki is so well suited to traditional Irish tunes. Even on Em tunes, your bouzouki has plenty of dynamic range and resonance from base through treble to hold

its place, and yet its sound remains completely agile and can freely rise with the melody instruments into flight.

Hats off to Alec Finn for setting an example that is unsurpassed in Irish backup. Hats off to yourself for this marvelous instrument.

Best regards to you, Dino.

- Jamie Bell

Dino, I love the bouzouk-laouto you made for me. I have tuned it to AEA. The string set is 36w/20p, 26w/26w, 20w/20w.

The instrument is beautiful - the bowl, the top, the rosette, the neck, the trim. People see it and say “Wow!”

Its voice is magic - complex and rich with just the right subtle twanginess at the back of the throat. And not too weighty as the guitar and Irish cittern can be.

That’s me in the j-peg without the beard. You can see the head of the bouzouki you made for me in the lower right-of-center of the frame. These two instruments have such different, beautiful voices. I use the bouzouk-laouto to backup Irish and Breton tunes in A, A minor, and B minor. I use the bouzouki (up a fifth from the b-laouto to DAD) for D, D minor, E minor and G.

This couldn’t be better. Thanks, Dino!

Best wishes,

- Jamie Bell