Bouzouki in the soundhole. There are also numerous photographs between 1953 and 1959 showing bands in which both vocalists and bouzouki players are using microphones for amplification. By 1960 special bouzouki pickups (such as the German "Ideal") were being produced and permanently mounted in the instruments. Similar pickups are widely used by several Greek artists today and come in active and passive versions. The Greek baglamas () or baglamadaki () is very different from the Turkish bağlama. The treble baglamas is pitched an octave higher (nominally D–A–D), with unison pairs on the four highest strings and an octave pair on the
Strings (band) festival of the BITS Pilani Goa. A recent Pepsi commercial features Strings. In April 2013, Strings joined Meesha Shafi, Ali Azmat, Shahzad Hasan and Alamgir as judges on the vocal-talent show "Cornetto Music Icons" on ARY Digital. On 29 October 2017, Strings announced its farewell to Coke Studio after season 10. In 2018, they announced new videos from their new album, to mark 30 years of Strings. A romantic number, Piya Re is in top list. It has been written by Anwar Maqsood and Bilal Maqsood. The song has been mixed and mastered by M. Ishaq Nazir. Strings released a