I've heard good and bad about this make but they seem to be an all right starter brand. Now that I'm competent-ish on mandolin, I've been wanting to get a little into bouzouki, but with my kinda money I'll never be able to afford much, so I figured that might be a good investment for an instrument that'll never be my main one anyway. I have two questions though-
1. The tuning heads. I've heard they're not very good- but what does that mean? I'm used to cheap stuff (I play a cheap chinese mandolin), and I can retune pretty quickly, but I don't want something that's going to go completely off every twenty minutes. So how bad is bad? (I've also read that the head is tough to restring, but that's just extra hassle, right?)
2. The neck. I am very very paranoid about neck warping. The website says they have a truss rod, but I remember reading somewhere that they don't. Which is it, and whichever the answer, how wary should I be? Also, if I store the instrument, say, on the floor under my bed (I have a small house and no real room to hang things), would that protect it well emough, even in the soft gig bag?
Thanks!
SSDSA
Troubadour Bouzouki
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TheSpoonMan
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livethe question
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I don't have the Troubadour bouzouki but I do have the Troubadour mandola and the Hora bouzouki. Neither of these have a truss rod.
The tuning heads on both of these are like a classical guitar tuners, I've never restrung either so I don't know for sure but they don't look like they would be hard to restring. Both of the ones I have hold their tuning ok.
Sorry I couldn't help by giving information about the Troubadour bouzouki but I think the Troubadour mandola is built similar to the Troubadour bouzouki, at least looking at the website.
I can't answer the question about storing under the bed. I generally worry more about the humidity being too dry. The gig bad isn't going to provide a lot of protection.
hope I haven't added confusion.
take care
jim
The tuning heads on both of these are like a classical guitar tuners, I've never restrung either so I don't know for sure but they don't look like they would be hard to restring. Both of the ones I have hold their tuning ok.
Sorry I couldn't help by giving information about the Troubadour bouzouki but I think the Troubadour mandola is built similar to the Troubadour bouzouki, at least looking at the website.
I can't answer the question about storing under the bed. I generally worry more about the humidity being too dry. The gig bad isn't going to provide a lot of protection.
hope I haven't added confusion.
take care
jim
Make sure it's actually cheaper than other options. It seems inexpensive, but
the shipping from the UK can be pricey and the exchange rate right now is
very bad. Give Mr. Kilpatrick an email and find out the total cost, with shipping.
Then multiply by 2. That's the price in US$. If you want to change the tuners
(I had to on my Troubadour guitar) you might want to add another $50 to the
price.
I'm not saying not to get it, just make sure you know exactly how much you're
really going to be spending.
the shipping from the UK can be pricey and the exchange rate right now is
very bad. Give Mr. Kilpatrick an email and find out the total cost, with shipping.
Then multiply by 2. That's the price in US$. If you want to change the tuners
(I had to on my Troubadour guitar) you might want to add another $50 to the
price.
I'm not saying not to get it, just make sure you know exactly how much you're
really going to be spending.
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TheSpoonMan
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Gotcha. I didn't even think about asking- thanks!fearfaoin wrote:Make sure it's actually cheaper than other options. It seems inexpensive, but
the shipping from the UK can be pricey and the exchange rate right now is
very bad. Give Mr. Kilpatrick an email and find out the total cost, with shipping.
Then multiply by 2. That's the price in US$. If you want to change the tuners
(I had to on my Troubadour guitar) you might want to add another $50 to the
price.
I'm not saying not to get it, just make sure you know exactly how much you're
really going to be spending.
Why did you have to change the tuners? Is it easy to do so? What can you recommend in that vein? (and looking at it, wouldn't I have to get a new head as well?)
The rest of the Troubadour guitar is pretty good quality, but the
tuners that came with it were very cheap (which is part of keeping
the cost down, I guess). They didn't stay in tune very well, and I
didn't like the feel of them. They also did not have bushings on the
visible side of the peghead, which doesn't look very good to me. I
replaced them with some black Grover tuners which look pretty
sweet on that instrument. (I just looked at the pics of the new guitar
design. It looks like he is using different tuners now.)
If the zouk tuners have the same problems (and I don't know if
that's the case), you don't need a new peghead. You can buy tuners
with the same dimensions as the old tuners, and they should fit just
fine. Tuners are the easiest things to change on a string instrument
(besides the strings...)
tuners that came with it were very cheap (which is part of keeping
the cost down, I guess). They didn't stay in tune very well, and I
didn't like the feel of them. They also did not have bushings on the
visible side of the peghead, which doesn't look very good to me. I
replaced them with some black Grover tuners which look pretty
sweet on that instrument. (I just looked at the pics of the new guitar
design. It looks like he is using different tuners now.)
If the zouk tuners have the same problems (and I don't know if
that's the case), you don't need a new peghead. You can buy tuners
with the same dimensions as the old tuners, and they should fit just
fine. Tuners are the easiest things to change on a string instrument
(besides the strings...)
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buddhu
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I sort of think you may be better off considering a Trinity College zouk.
The Troubadour stuff seems very reasonable - for someone buying in the UK. In the US, after shipping etc, the price seems less attractive.
Replacement tuners are available for slot-head instruments, so you shouldn't have to change the whole headstock! Even so, personally I think I'd play safe and go with a TC which are very robust indeed and come with perfectly adequate tuners. TC has a fairly large satisfied customer base who post regularly on forums.
Troubadour is a little bit more of an unknown quantity to most people. David K certainly seems like a straight guy, but the instruments are no-frills, and he is quite up-front about the fact that they need some set-up. Also, if humidity is a concern, I'd be more comfortable with a tank-like TC than a relatively light and fragile model.
And product return, if necessary, is simpler if you buy from a dealer in your own country.
YMMV
The Troubadour stuff seems very reasonable - for someone buying in the UK. In the US, after shipping etc, the price seems less attractive.
Replacement tuners are available for slot-head instruments, so you shouldn't have to change the whole headstock! Even so, personally I think I'd play safe and go with a TC which are very robust indeed and come with perfectly adequate tuners. TC has a fairly large satisfied customer base who post regularly on forums.
Troubadour is a little bit more of an unknown quantity to most people. David K certainly seems like a straight guy, but the instruments are no-frills, and he is quite up-front about the fact that they need some set-up. Also, if humidity is a concern, I'd be more comfortable with a tank-like TC than a relatively light and fragile model.
And product return, if necessary, is simpler if you buy from a dealer in your own country.
YMMV
And whether the blood be highland, lowland or no.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
And whether the skin be black or white as the snow.
Of kith and of kin we are one, be it right, be it wrong.
As long as our hearts beat true to the lilt of a song.
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sugarfoot jack
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I brought a Troubadour zook with built-in preamp off David a couple of months ago and was very impressed with his service which was fast and efficient.
David is very honest about the setup and quality of his instruments, which does need a bit of attention. I put new strings (Redwing from The Music Room in Cleckheaton, UK) on and adjusted the nut and this improved the tone from the factory setup. You could fiddle with this further (to improve intonation the first fret needs filing down apparently) and I think for the cost I would suggest this is a difficult instrument to beat and is playable straight away if you don't want to tamper too much.
The zook itself is light, relatively shallow bodied and sounds very different to my Hullah, which has clearer tone but seems less bouzouki-like. The Troubadour sits very well next to guitar in a session or band and carries well during a noisy session.
There's a discussion on Troubadour zooks on Mandolin Cafe in which David talks candidly about the factory and development of these instruments:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/iko ... 16;t=40131
[/url]
David is very honest about the setup and quality of his instruments, which does need a bit of attention. I put new strings (Redwing from The Music Room in Cleckheaton, UK) on and adjusted the nut and this improved the tone from the factory setup. You could fiddle with this further (to improve intonation the first fret needs filing down apparently) and I think for the cost I would suggest this is a difficult instrument to beat and is playable straight away if you don't want to tamper too much.
The zook itself is light, relatively shallow bodied and sounds very different to my Hullah, which has clearer tone but seems less bouzouki-like. The Troubadour sits very well next to guitar in a session or band and carries well during a noisy session.
There's a discussion on Troubadour zooks on Mandolin Cafe in which David talks candidly about the factory and development of these instruments:
http://www.mandolincafe.net/cgi-bin/iko ... 16;t=40131
[/url]
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TheSpoonMan
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