Irish bouzouki Johnny Moynihan (apparently in an attempt to replicate the open, droning sound of Appalachian "clawhammer" banjo) first on the mandolin and then transferred to a Greek bouzouki. It was later picked up by Andy Irvine and Dónal Lunny, and quickly became the next thing to a standard tuning for the 4 course instrument. Other tunings used, although by a minority of players, are "octave mandolin" tuning G2 D3 A3 E4, and "Open D" tuning A2 D3 A3 D4. "Open G" G2 D3 G3 D4, is used by some players and has proven useful for "bottleneck" slide playing. The GDAD tuning
Guqin strings silk and also they were louder and more stable. A set could last many years and not break. The only drawback for traditionalists was that the strings had a harsh metallic sound which was considered inelegant. Another factor was that the strings could eventually wear the lacquer out requiring the qin surface to be repaired more often. Around 2007, a new set of strings were produced made of mostly a nylon core coiled with nylon like the metal-nylon strings, possibly in imitation of Western catgut strings. The sound is similar to the metal-nylon strings but without the metallic tone to