Hi @dspreadbury,
I suppose @Pantelis_Krestas has in mind the Greek bouzouki, because there is an Irish one, which was brought to Ireland from Greece, just like the Bagpipe from the territory of present Bulgaria.
Greece is neighbor country to mine, so here are some good sources about the instrument:
I suppose the bouzouki is a transposed instrument (sounds 8vb than written), just like the guitar. Because the most common tuning is the same as the guitar.
By the way, there is an Arabic bouzuq, too… actually this is the predecessor of the Greek one:
Generally would be nice if you dive deeper into the traditional instruments of the Balkans and the Middle East.
The Bouzouki belongs to the Tamboura family where the baglama (saz) is.
Unfortunately the tough moment here is that there are many sub-divisions of the same instrument.
I’ve seen that the Tamboura is included, and suppose it’s based on the Bulgarian tamboura?!
Some time ago I did a feature request for Saz notation and Tabs:
Best wishes,
Thurisaz 