rojaros
Oud Junkie
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My Khidor Mustafa Daghir Oud Reborn Story
Hi everybody, as I reported in
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7841#pid493...
I bought this oud cheaply in ebay and to check its quality I did a first repair by myself. (See the thread above).
I found the Oud has an acceptable sound but was quite unplayable.
As I reported later it turned out that the neck is getting very concave.
I brought the Oud to Matthias Wagner who did a wonderfull repair of the peg box and neck.
As there was still an issue with one place buzzing a bit I brought this oud to a friend of mine who lives in the same village and happens to be one of
the really great guitar makers for classical guitars, and he also plays Oud.
On first sight he identified the oud as what it somehow is: a not so expensive egyptian oud. But then, when he played it, he had to admit that the oud
has something very special to its sound and that making it work was absolutely worthwhile.
So he helped me to bring away the buzz with some wonderful tools he has, and some really good advice.
Then he strongly advised to remove the finish on the sound board which firstly didn't look well and secondly turned out to be some simple alcohol
based finish.
He taught me how to remove the finish.
All this work hapend last weekend and the oud turned out to have been a sleeping beauty. Through removing the finish it changed from a cheaply looking
to a dignified instrument
Here a picture:
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rojaros
Oud Junkie
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Continuation
During this work I also changed the bridge system and this is maybe interesting - I saw this issue discussed here in the forum.
I had to remove the headplate of the bridge because it buzzed, so I decided to experiment with another string fixing on the way. I turned out to be so
good that I'll probabely keep it.
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rojaros
Oud Junkie
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And this is a little less esthetic look onto the newly shaped bridge.
It has its headplate removed and has a bit aof a slope so that the strings have all a clear stopping point and they are introduced from the opposite
side with a knot on them.
I obtain exactly the sound I envisaged and this system helps also to make the string distance a little wider than the string holes, with the help of
little indentations filed into the wood.
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rojaros
Oud Junkie
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before the bridge was like this. You can see the old headplate of the bridge and also the varnish on the sound board reflecting the light...
Hope you can enjoy this tranformation proces as I do!
best wishes to everyone
PS when I come to I'll post a little sound file or video...
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corridoio
Oud Junkie
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Hi Rojaros
this way of attacching strings was discussed in an old post
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7554#pid473...
reading that maybe there are more contro then pro
but anyway if it doesn't work you can always go back to the traditional way
ale.
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rojaros
Oud Junkie
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Thanks for your consideration.
It seems the only contra I can see is the increased torque on the bridge. In the case of my oud it seems that the distance of the effective attachment
point to the sound has not been increased (it's maybe even shorter because the neck has been made straighter so the action can be lower now).
Also I tend to prefer lower string tension, so the oud is now tuned to b insted to c as the highest string.
As can be seen on the pics I didn't use wooden beads but just tied the strings in double knots so that they don not slip through to string hole.
And of course I can go back to classical string attachment as well by adding some nice headplate onto the bridge.
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Greg
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Rojaros,
what a wonderful transformation If it sounds as good as it looks, you have yourself a great instrument.
Thanks for sharing the story and including the nice pics.
Regards,
Greg
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rojaros
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I will record a bit in near future so I'll share with everybody the sound...
best wishes
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