It seems I have a thing for strings. Meet Marama and Takis.
Marama is a Mandocello, made by Peter Stephen in New Zealand, one careful owner. Takis is a baglamas (μπαγλαμάς, not to be confused with the bağlama, which is quite different). (The Greek baglama is roughly a half-size bouzouki, while the Turkish bağlama is an entirely different animal altogether. Thanks to Olga for setting me straight.)
They're both double-string instruments, and despite the above photo they're built to quite different scales. Marama is basically a mandolin made really really big:
... while Takis is a bouzouki made really really small:
Takis is tuned DAD, for rebetika (ρεμπέτικα), where he's usually paired with a bouzouki. The string setting is pretty weird when you think about it: three of the six strings are tuned to exactly the same note (D), while the 'low' pair has a wound string an octave below (so in more detail, that's DD'AAD'D'). It works wonderfully for rebetika, and surprisingly well for some Irish stuff as well. (Indeed we've written a very simple piece --"we" being Takis and myself--, "Takis' hornpipe", which sounds much funnier in Greek: "Hornpipe του Τάκη", του Τίκιτου.)
When I bought Marama she was tuned as a perfect mandocello: CGDA, exactly the same as a cello. I've lifted her to DAEB for a slightly brighter tone, with a new set of slightly lighter strings. Either way the tuning is great for Irish and bluegrass, with bare fifths just a matter of putting down a finger (scales, on the other hand, are a pain -- seven frets is just too far to stretch without shifting position, and I'm slow).
Here's a final photo, to make the difference in scale really clear. They're in Marama's travel case, a massive wooden box with proportions disturbingly similar to the monoliths of "2001: A Space Odyssey". It's just coincidence (or fate, if you prefer) that Takis fits so perfectly in one of the spaces.
