xiloihos

Wood refers to the instrument’s physical nature while sound to its destination. Yet, it’s our hands, the hands of musical instrument makers, that hold the key to its metaphysical character, the inexplicable that lies in the instrument’s soul, the object of desire of instrument making. The enchanting processes that this art entails are concluded and corroborated by you, the musicians and music players, at that magical moment which gives breath to our vision.

We would like to thank you and welcome you!

The construction and use of bouzouki constitutes a representation of the paths that tradition unfolds in the neighborhoods of the present. In such a path lies the beginning of our story in 1997, in Kapadokias street in Thessaloniki. Driven by his passion for music and craftsmanship, Alexis Rotskos opened the first workshop. As is the case with all ‘first of the kind’ things, this instrument making workshop became a kind of school, fostering continuous training and experimentation. Six years later, the talented craftsman, already an accomplished musical instrument maker, met Yiannis Tsiligiris, a young pianist, who, attracted by the smell of inspiration, decided to use his musical instinct and his European experience at the service of making traditional stringed musical instruments. That’s how Xiloihos was born.

Xiloihos has been in operation for more than twenty years. It remains focused on the ritual of selecting materials and acquiring the most advanced machinery, which is coupled with that deferential human touch that gives them meaning, attesting to the unique quality and innovative character of our work. In our workshop you can find all the instruments of the bouzouki familly. Namely 8-string (oktachordo) and 6-string (exachordo) bouzouki, tzouras, baglamas, lute as well as custom made instruments. The byzantine kemane of cappadocia, double necked 8-string- 6-string bouzouki, the flat back bouzouki or the bouzouki necked guitar are some of the instruments we have created for our customers

Since 12/5/2005, our workshop holds the Patent for quite an innovative musical instrument: the so-called “silent” bouzouki. This patent (no. 1004879) refers to a musical instrument that was born out of the maker’s personal need to play the bouzouki at whatever time of the day, at a building apartment, without disturbing his neighbors.
It constitutes a one-of-a-kind innovation since it offers all the characteristics of the respective acoustic instrument as to the «feeling» a musician gets. It is played in exactly the same way, the only difference being that it doesn’t produce the same sound volume due to the lack of back, which has been replaced by a plastic bridge so as to maintain the feeling of weight, support and operability.