Has anyone purchased a oud from the Nile shop. I noticed they have several oud for sale through ebay. I just wanted to know if they sold good quality
oud. If so, what type of wood would you reccommend?
Yehia at the Nile Shop is very good to deal with. He sells a number of inexpensive ouds that are of low quality, but has a good working relationship
with Maurice Farouk Shehata, who is a very good builder. My advice is to have Yehia at the Nile Shop broker the deal for you and spend a little extra
for an oud by Maurice Shehata. I have purchased both the cheap ouds and one made by Maurice, and I offer this bit of advice based on my own
experience. I will say again that Yehia is excellent to deal with.
Cheers,
RoyZulkarnain - 7-9-2004 at 07:19 AM
Hi
I have met Mr Yehia personaly while in Cairo and his other partner at Nile Shop.
Salamrevaldo29 - 12-21-2005 at 03:16 PM
From what I gather from previous posts, yehia is very trustworthy and will not cheat you. If you have a picture though, we can tell you for sure. I
can tell you that all of Maurce's ouds are great and I personally only a rosewood oud. The sound of the pellisander is exceptional and the ebony
tuning pegs are great.Lebanon - 12-21-2005 at 07:39 PM
Yehea at the Nile shop is a very honest person.So don't worry if he said Shehata then it is a Shehata.Don't worry. And hope that he enjoys the
oud.Good choise.
Regards , Samir,Californiatezza - 12-21-2005 at 09:02 PM
Dear muse, if it is a Shehata the oud will have the Shehata label with a signature and a number that you can see through the main sound hole.tareqs_muse - 12-21-2005 at 09:53 PM
Thank you to everyone for the reassurance. You made me feel alot better.Sidi - 12-21-2005 at 10:09 PM
Hi,
Maurice told me about those Palisander/Ebony ouds recently. He said it's one of his latest tonewood combos for the back. So I guess you got a real
Shehata, and a good one too.
The label should have a colour photo of Maurice. You should also be able to see "Al Aseel" printed in blue all over the tape material that binds the
ribs inside the oud.
Take care,
SidiM
RE : the binding blue tape
sydney - 12-22-2005 at 04:30 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Sidi
You should also be able to see "Al Aseel" printed in blue all over the tape material that binds the ribs inside the oud.
SidiM
Hi Sidi,
I just wanted to point at something here... Not all Al Aseel ouds come with that tape with the Al Aseel printed on. I think that the tape was not
there in the time of Farouk Shehata " The Father". I have seen many ouds made by Farouk him self and they all have his photo not his son Mourice. But
they do not have that tape. Maybe this tape is a new idea by Mourice. I have seen lots of ouds with Mourice photo on the inside certificate and the
tape too.
In case someone gets to buy an oud made by Farouk they do not have to worry about the printed tape.tareqs_muse - 3-23-2006 at 04:55 PM
I'm Sorry that it has taken me so long to get back with an update. I had written asking questions about The Nile Shop back in December. Wow!!! When
the oud arrived, I was speachless. It is so beautiful....and the sound is incredible. Yehia at Nile Shop was amazing to work with. All of my fears
were for nothing. Tareq's name is carved into the pickguard, and that was
the icing on the cake (so to speak). I have'nt figured out how to upload a picture to the forum yet, so if anyone could help me with that, I will be
glad to do it. Thanks so much for everyones help......and to you Yehia.....Shukran my friendRed - 3-24-2006 at 11:32 AM
From what i hear Shehata ouds have a good reputation to them. I've never heard what they sound like. Anyone got a good audio clip they can refer me
to? How much would one cost and will it be customly built?SamirCanada - 3-24-2006 at 12:48 PM
Here you can listen to my shehata oud I received last year.
When I received to oud, it did not have the gold banded pegs that are shown in the photos, and did not come with the hard case - which the web site
clearly implies that it comes with. After contacting Yehia, he said the hard case was extra.
Here's a direct cut and paste from the site "The oud comes with deluxe soft case, hard case, extra strings set and 2 horn picks."
I also did not receive the extra set of strings and the rosettes were plywood note bone - my email communication for the order specified bone, but
Yehia said there was a miss-communication ( I was not charged for the bone rosettes ).
I was going to sell the oud on Ebay - it has a longer neck and fingering than an oud I purchased later and I prefered the shorter neck. I managed to
scatch the neck the night the auction was posted and I cancelled the auction so that I could address the flaw. I emailed Yehia to ask Mr. Shehata what
type of finish was used so that I could correctly re-finish the oud. I did get a reply from Yehia that he would ask and after repeated emails to him,
was never contacted again.
I choose to refinish the entire oud, since I would never be able to cosmeticaly match the finish and coloring used. after I stipped the finish off, I
found that the dark coloring was covering flaws where to ribs did not match up and where to thin to support themselves - a 1/8" inch wide gap section,
appox 2 inches long was filled with expox filler where the ribs did not match up. There are 4 other places that are very thin and also filled - if you
hold the oud up to the light, and look thru the sound hole, you can see where light shines thru, the ribs are too thin and expox is used to fill those
areas also.
When I stripped the neck down, I found the pegbox to neck joint was completly loose and needed re-glued.
I have also found that on the right side, outside pegbox Walnut peice starts out the same thickness as the left side, but as it gets to the neck, it
is half that thickness - with the finish removed, and the inner pegbox wood cleaned off of the dark stain finish ( which also was not what the image
on the web site showed ), the two sides look unballanced - the wall thickness is not the same.
I have debated if I should posted my experinace. I'm not trying to stir up trouble, but want otherswho are researching a first time oud to have both
sides.
Before I choose to purchase thru The Nile Shop, I researched this forum and read alot of posts that gave glowing reviews. I could have choosen to
return the oud when it arrived with no hard case, no extra string set and the lower version of pegs, instead I choose to keep it.
Now - in defence of Mr. Shehata, the oud has a fantastic low action and smooth playing. the Cedar top make the tone nice and deep and it has great
volume. The cosmetic flaws would never have been found if I had not stripped the oud of it's finish.
I do not want anything from The Nile Shop or Mr. Shehata - that's not why I'm posting - I have had every availablity to return the oud and elected to
keep it and learn. I have seen other ouds by Mr. Shehata that do not have the dark finish, which clearly show clean, very well matched ribs and
excellent craftsmenship. I did not know how to contect Mr. Shehata before the Nile Shop purchase, but would now not hesitate contacting him to have a
custom oud made.
My point in bringing this info to the forum is that if you do receive any instrument and it's not as ordered - return it at thier cost, no matter how
much you want it at the time ( this was my fist oud and I was quite excited to get it!) - shipping alone was $140.00 so I was hesitant to reship it
back.
My advice - Spend the extra money to get the best that you can afford and be clear what you are getting - use this forum to ask questions and learn
the details.
I have always appeciated the infomation exchanged on this forum and hope that Yehia and Mr. Shehata, or people on this forum whom are close to them
will not take offence. I do not wish to insult anyone's reputation. I hope that those reading this post will agree that a forum and it's content has
alot of opinions and can offer constructive critisim.
Toddrevaldo29 - 3-27-2006 at 06:09 PM
Hey Todd,
The link you posted doesn't work for me, I don't know if such is the case for others. Regarding your oud, was it built by maurice shehata? I know
tha the nile shop sells lower quality ouds but I was under the impression that they were being constructed by someone else. Finally, do you have any
pictures?
Shehata label
todda - 3-27-2006 at 08:18 PM
Hi Revaldo -
I tested the link that I posted and it worked for me.... for those that it did not work for, go to http://www.nileshop.net, select the photo of the Shehata oud, that will bring up a new page - then select the image of the "professional Ouds".
That will launch a new page displaying thier Shehata ouds and cases - I choose the Shehata Prof. Palisander Oud - was original labled SH3 back in
October when I order it ( 3 row of photos, middel image ) - that's the base that I worked from - upgraded to Walnut and Cedar top.
I just rechecked the actual label that is inside and it's marked - #297, built in 25/11/2005. It is blank where there is a space for a signature. I
have attached a photo.
I do realize that for the price point, Yehia has to make a profit - he's running a business, and Mr. Shehata has to limit his investment also - and
out-sourcing could be one solution.
It's just that there are differences from what I received and what the photo displays and the text presents as part of the package.
Todd
front image
todda - 3-27-2006 at 08:19 PM
here's the front showing the plain turning pegs.revaldo29 - 3-27-2006 at 09:39 PM
Excuse me, what I meant was, do you have images of the damaged portions of the oud? I have the exact same oud (different design) and when i
reinspected it, could not find any of the flaws you found on your ouds.SamirCanada - 3-28-2006 at 12:25 AM
I want to add my take on this mather aswell. Iam the owner of a shehata oud aswell. My advice tho (as you have said Todd) is to contact mr. Shehata
directly if you can when ordering a oud.
I have had a phone conversation with yehia and maybe Iam too much of an "Arab" when I negociate but I wasnt verry impressed and in the end I chose not
to do buiness with him. Its a personal preference only Iam not trying to destroy his reputation. Altough from what I understood his relationship with
Maurice is strictly professional and doesnt go any further (wich could explain the ''misscomunication''). When I got in touch with Mike in order to be
able to directly order a oud from Maurice everything became much clearer and simpler.
I did have problems too in terms of shipping. I have to remind you that Ottawa has an average of -10 to -15 degrees celcius in november wich is when I
received it. The main one was that the pegbox wanted to come undone. I have fixed that rather easily and it wasnt a problem to deal with. For the
pegs... I tought that the brass ones looked nice but I didnt specify I wanted them so I ended up getting the plain ebony ones instead. It could be
that he doesnt have access to them anymore???
As for the other flaws. Maurice's workshop is a rather busy place. Its amazing how they can make you a oud in 2-3 weeks actualy! but sometimes Its
possible that mistakes can occure. One thing for shure is that they will offer you to return it if you wish and even though its a bummer and its the
last thing we wish for You are right when you advise people to return it.
I can appreciate much more now that I see how much work and how talanted you must be to make a oud. Iam only performing minor adjustements and it
seems like it takes me an eternity to make shure I get it right. For example If you look at jameel's newest oud. It took him one year to finish
working on weekends only but still!! And the man is talanted, he has good tools and he knows what he's doing in woodworking. If ever he sold it, it
should be worth no less the 3000$
Finaly Maurice can make some fantastic ouds Iam still amazed at abadi's ouds he made for him. Absolutely A #1. It shurely isnt an excuse for the flaws
but you have to remember that superstars like that can pay up to 5 or 6 thousands $. And in the end when you order from Maurice directly wich can be
done through his site or on the phone eitherway... you will get what you pay for and your money's worth.
And Todd I do not beleive you should hold back from sharing any experiance in the Forum and I congradulate you for approching it in a professional
way... I doubt anyone can deny that.
Peace Samir.
I appreciate your closure
todda - 3-28-2006 at 06:50 AM
Thank you Samir for relating your direct experiance with the Nile Shop and Mr. Shehata.
I do understand that the specific oud I ordered was a lesser quality ( price related to production level ) and I have since purchased two ouds ( a
Yaroub from Ronney and the Sukar from Jameel ) that provide me with very high quality instruments that I can learn on - I was hoping that my osmosis,
some of the talent from thier prevoius players would rub off on me ( Ouds seem to be quite addictive!!).
I looked at my experinace with the Shehata as a chance to take steps to build my own. Just refinishing an oud and doing detail work as you mentions is
quite a challenge and time consuming.
As I had mentioned in my previous post, I would never had found the cosmetic flaws with the oud unless I had scrached the neck and choose to refinish
it. It still has a great sound! and perfect low action. I'm not sure if my first ouds will even be playable. I have the book by Dr. Oud and have read
it 15 times at least just getting the concepts and process in my head.
Again - I choose not to send it back when I first received it and it was not what I ordered.
Samir - I've always enjoyed your posts... pics and sound samples.
