Hey BOB. The Irish borrowed the bouzouki from the Greeks and others in the Mediterranean area. It is in the mandolin family of instruments. We cut the back off and made it flat (it was a gourd shaped back), changed the scale length, are still monkeying around with the tuning and so on. It has changed so much as to be a whole new instrument, but it is still called the Irish Bouzouki. Wonderful sound and fits into trad very well. There are those that say it is replacing the guitar in Irish trad. It crosses over very well into other genre's.

By the way, I never offered my welcome to you. Glad you are a member of the Mudcat.

Mick