Introducing the new bouzouki cases

The first case is a full octave teardrop case suitable for all bouzoukis and citterns with a lower bout width of up to fifteen and a quarter inches, leaving 10mm or a little less than a half-inch around the body of the instrument.

The two largest sets of templates used to produce this design were a large-bodied 10-string cittern by Stefan Sobell and a 10-string Hullah provided very kindly by Brad McEwen of Cambridge Ontario. The production of the prototype shells and moulds was done by my mouldmaker, Allan Crow from a base plug done by me in MDF. He takes what I do basically and makes it work.

The body contours have been carved to produce deep draft angles along the case edges and the top and bottom sections of the body of the case are deeply arched, giving great strength without the need for major amounts of glassfibre reinforcement. The case is weighing in at around 10lbs / 4½ kilos.

I'm calling this case the TD™ - teardrop model. More photos to be added as we progress into the year & the seasons change. This photo was taken after a couple of days of hard frost produced a crust of ice on the loch (Loch Tummel). Click on photo to enlarge.

The second case is a non-symmetrical two-point archtop case for the high-end instruments of Stephen Owsley Smith, who builds beautiful instruments currently in Hawaii (Steve's website). This case is based on two templates from Steve of his Models B, C & D instruments. Initially Pegasus will be building these cases from home here in Scotland, but I‘m looking at possibly developing a base in North America for this, along with building the TD case.

This actual design was produced completely by Allan Crow, my mouldmaker, with a very small amount of guidance from me.

Lid & base are both deeply carved, producing great strength, while helping us keep the weight down to an absolute minimum. The lining will be standard with no real customisation apart from responding to the scale length of the specific instrument. The new owner chooses the shell colour and the interior lining. Click on photo to enlarge.

Both of the new cases are available now ™ contact Sam Gifford for details: telephone (011) 44 1882 634256; email sam@pegasus-cases.com.

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