Irish bouzouki when having a longer scale length. The fifth course is usually either a lowest bass course tuned to C2 or D2 on an instrument with a long scale, or a highest treble course tuned to G4 or A4 on a shorter scale. Luthier Stefan Sobell, who coined the term "cittern" for his modern, mandolin-based instruments, originally used the term for short scale instruments irrespective of the number of their strings, but he now applies "cittern" to all 5 course instruments irrespective of scale length, and "octave mandolin" to all 4 course instruments, leaving out bouzouki entirely. Mandolin-family luthiers producing an
Guqin strings manufacture situation of silk strings is not. Throughout the ages, particularly the political disturbances of the twentieth century as well as the popularity of the metal-nylon strings, has seen silk string manufacture decline. Plus the difficulty in obtaining the best quality silk and the difficulty in obtaining a high quality throughout has brought about only short phases now and again of silk string manufacture. There has been efforts to produce silk strings to the quality and standard that they were before the disruptions. Wong Shu-chee led the first serious undertaking to produce good quality silk strings around the turn of