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new ouds

sabbassi - 4-13-2010 at 11:34 PM

All,
It has been a while but here I'm again.
I'm building 4 new ouds from different type of beautiful wood. another (5th) Oud is being build for me in Morocco by My friend majid Atik. it will be (and yes) Brazilian Rosewood.

the first I'm working on is made from Hunduran Mahogany, very rich wood known for its tonality. This oud is for Mavrothi because the oud I sent him before was broken during shipement. the oud has one soundhole, 49cm long and 36 wide and Sitka spruce soundboard. I will post more pictures in the coming days

The second one is made from Amercian Silky Walnut, beautiful patterns and swirls. difficult to work with such wood but the results are worth it. I have also purchased some beautiful flamed walnut that I will build some day.

number 3 and 4 are bent and I will start this week making the bowls, number 3 is Indian rosewood, 4 is Honduran Rosewood: strikingly beautiful.

Enjoy the projects.

walnut

walnut

Honduran and Indian Rosewood ribs

Honduran Mahogany

Honduran Mahogany

mavrothis - 4-14-2010 at 06:33 AM

Hi Samir,

The bowl looks really beautiful. Again, I really appreciate that you are building this oud for me, and so quickly also.

Thank you, I really look forward to playing it.

Take care,

Mavrothi

Pics

sabbassi - 4-16-2010 at 05:00 AM

Hi Mavrothi, You are welcome my friend.
here are some new pictures. the pegboxes will be next and later the bridge. Almost there

your oud came out very beautiful,

fernandraynaud - 4-17-2010 at 02:44 AM

Sabassi,

These ARE very beautiful!

Quick question. Are the fingerboards on these glued onto the soundboard or inset into a cutout in the soundboard ? How thick a fingerboard do you think can be glued on without affecting the vibration of the soundboard?

Thanks

sabbassi - 4-17-2010 at 11:58 AM

Helo Fernandraynaud,
the fingerboards are glued onto the soundboard and are about 1,7m thick.
this part of the oud does not affect much the sound of the board as the back part does.
by the way a solid ebony fingerboard will add some enforcement (a little but it's there) to the neck to hold his place when pressure is made by the strings.

mavrothis - 4-17-2010 at 02:47 PM

Looking beautiful Samir!

Thanks again my friend. After initial worry/disappointment due to the first oud being damaged during shipping, it is so nice to have this change of emotion watching a new beautiful instrument being built to take its place - and so quickly too.

On top of being a talented oud maker, you are a good and generous guy too.

Thank you so much.

Take care,

mavrothi

sabbassi - 4-18-2010 at 01:30 PM

It's my pleasure Mav, all I do is making ouds

thank you my friend

Butifull work

Yaron Naor - 4-18-2010 at 11:31 PM

Very nice Ouds, keep on building!
Yaron

final .

sabbassi - 4-20-2010 at 10:02 AM

Thank you Yaron and everyone for the nice posts.
Today I have mounted the strings on the new oud, it is already promissing. I 'have used Labella Arabic tuning:
ff,cc,gg,dd,aa,f
the oud have low playing action. 2,3 at the neck join and buzz free on all strings.
I have used some wild imagination and put a cobra head with 2 black eyes at the top of the peg box

I will put a video soon.

Mav: yours is next, I hope to finish it this week.
tanks
samir

mavrothis - 4-20-2010 at 10:49 AM

This oud looks great, can't wait to see and play mine.

Thanks again,

mavrothi

Aymara - 4-20-2010 at 10:59 AM

Quote: Originally posted by sabbassi

... put a cobra head with 2 black eyes at the top of the peg box

Nice ... but the low action is even better :applause:

sabbassi - 4-21-2010 at 01:16 AM

Thanks chris,
yes indeed it plays very smooth.
Today I have ordered a Zoom Q3 for video and stereo sound recording. I hope it will arrive soon so I can post a sound sample.

Aymara - 4-21-2010 at 01:27 AM

Quote: Originally posted by sabbassi

Today I have ordered a Zoom Q3 for video and stereo sound recording.

A good choice as it seems ... I read some reviews saying, that it has the sound quality of a Zoom H2. So I bet, you will be happy with it.

I'm curious for the next videos

sabbassi - 4-21-2010 at 01:55 AM

yes it is a good choice and for a reasonable price today only for 129 euro at WWW.IBOOD.COM/NL.

Aymara - 4-21-2010 at 02:11 AM

Quote: Originally posted by sabbassi

... only for 129 euro ...

Wow, that's a real bargain :applause:

Honduran Mahogany finished

sabbassi - 4-26-2010 at 12:10 AM

Mav,
this is your oud at his final stage. I will try to ship it this week. it is light weight one , less than 1 kilogram.
the bridge is from Walnut and the the pickguard is pear, both stained black.
the soundboard is Canadian bearclaw spruce, not varnished but waxed for minimal wood protection.
soundhole purfling: pear, berk and wenge
soundboard purfling, rosewood
strings: Labella Arabic Tuning .

(will be shipped this week.)
hope you will enjoy it,.

mavrothis - 4-26-2010 at 04:43 AM

Dear Samir,

The oud really looks beautiful! I can't wait to receive it and try it out.

Last night I was thinking about this oud, because it will be tuned lower than my Theodorakis oud - I was playing with a group whose singers mostly sing in SOL and DO, which works on the Turkish tuning, but not as comfortably as in the Arabic tuning.

Thank you again Samir. I will let you know when I receive it.

Thank you,

mavrothi

bulerias1981 - 4-26-2010 at 04:45 AM

Nice bowl for sure. I'm not into flat bottom ouds, but thats my preference. Great work!

mavrothis - 4-30-2010 at 07:51 AM

The flat bottom might not be as common, but it is surprisingly very comfortable to hold. It also helps when you can set your oud down for a moment on its end and it stands by itself! Obviously, not to leave overnight somewhere, but if you need to do something quickly.

m

sabbassi - 4-30-2010 at 10:01 AM

yes that is very true. 2 important reasons mav.

and that's why we sometimes say: different people, different tastes

I'm at the moment building 2 more ouds, one like above, the other is narrower at the front and back. (more iraqi style)
number 3 will be soprano, will start in about 2 weeks.

all this ouds will be posted for sale when finished.

I will post some pictures soon.
Samir

Aymara - 4-30-2010 at 11:32 AM

Quote: Originally posted by mavrothis

t also helps when you can set your oud down for a moment on its end and it stands by itself!

That's what I like very much ... for example when recording, I can let it stand upright while I make short adjustments in the recording software.

I love this body shape and it's sound ... mine is the same

mavrothis - 5-15-2010 at 11:24 AM

Hi,

Just wanted to mention that the beautiful Honduran Mahogany oud has arrived and it is very nice.

Since it is less than a month old I'm going to wait just a little and then post a quick video of it so you can hear it.

Having now played two of Samir's ouds, I can say it's very impressive how balanced they both are across all of the strings. Even though the respective timbre is different in each one (different woods for the tops and bowls for each) they are both very well balanced. That is one of the most important things and possibly the most difficult thing to be consistent with, and it seems that Samir has really mastered it.

Thanks again Samir for everything, and I look forward to seeing more and more of your oud projects posted on the forum. These latest ouds you are building are exceptionally beautiful.

Take care,

Mavrothi

Aymara - 5-15-2010 at 12:59 PM

Quote: Originally posted by mavrothis

Even though the respective timbre is different in each one (different woods for the tops and bowls for each) they are both very well balanced.

It was the same with the two ouds I had the chance to test last November ... a walnut and a rosewood body. Both sounded very good, though brandnew, but I decided for the rosewood, because of it's very deep warm bass.

Now a half year later I found buffalo and cow horn at a medieval market, which was perfectly prepared to become rishas. And guess what ... the sound is really wow ... much more overtones. Horn rocks. But I was astonished, that cow horn produces more overtones then buffalo, but the reason might be, that they are thinner in my case.

So I'm very curious, how the above new rosewood ouds will sound ... I bet Samir will use his new videorecorder

PS: Enjoy your new oud, Mavrothi. I hope to hear it soon

sabbassi - 5-20-2010 at 12:29 AM

Thanks and you are welcome Mav, I'm sure you will enjoy it.

Chris, I will definitely post a sound sample (video) with my new Zomm Q3, thanks mate.

Best regards,

Samir

sabbassi - 5-30-2010 at 12:59 PM

And here is number 3, the indian rosewood.

the oud has high grade indian rosewood ribs, for the bowl with solomon paduk purlfling in between. Epecia soundboad with Eeony purfling around it.
the neck is solid rosewood,
I will try to mound the peg box and the bridge this days.
the bridge is will be Rio rosewood or , Indian Rosewood. I'm not sure yet.

enjoy
Reg

Samir

Very nice

Yaron Naor - 5-30-2010 at 08:33 PM

Very nice indeed, waiting to see the bridge and the peg boxes.
Yaron.

the oud is finished

sabbassi - 6-3-2010 at 04:14 AM

here are some pictures of the final oud.

No Frensh polish this time, light coat of tung oil thined and waxed.

Aymara - 6-3-2010 at 05:59 AM

Very nice!

Quote: Originally posted by sabbassi

..., light coat of tung oil thined and waxed.

Including the soundboard?

Sound file

sabbassi - 6-6-2010 at 10:16 AM

Hi chris
Wel only on the soundboard, very little. the bowl is french polished.
here is a sound file, it is crispy and very mature.

Attachment: Indian rosewood.mp3 (863kB)
This file has been downloaded 249 times

Aymara - 6-6-2010 at 10:52 AM

Hi Samir!

Quote: Originally posted by sabbassi

Wel only on the soundboard, very little. the bowl is french polished.

Aah ... I wondered how an oiled body could be that shiny

I think the oil/wax will prevent the soundboard from darkening by skin contact?

Quote:

here is a sound file, it is crispy and very mature.

This combination of indian rosewood body and spruce soundboard is absolutely fantastic ... I have it on my oud too as you know, but also on my 12-string western guitar. This wood combination rocks!

If I ever should buy a second oud, it must be of the same woods.

alan_mardan - 8-21-2010 at 09:13 AM

dear samir,

I have to say that you have impressed me with your taste of choosing great combination of wood type, design and colour. You must be very talented dear, i would love to hear samples of your ouds.

Do you build Iraqi ones also?

regards
Alan