Knargh - 7-29-2011 at 01:11 AM
Hi There,
I am considering having a new oud made for me. I have contacted several luthiers in Istanbul and I think I will go with Ramazan Calay.
His prices seem very reasonable: between € 800,- and € 1200,-.
Have anyone of you ever played one of his instruments? Please help me out here, because there are so many builders out there. I have to come to a
decision soon, as I am travelling to Istanbul in October and it should be ready by then.
Thanks!
teslim - 7-29-2011 at 10:45 PM
I was just in Istanbul and had an oud ordered from Ramazan for over a year...i send numerous emails about the exact woods and pickguard
design...etc...when I arrived he brought out an oud that was a dark purple color with gold specks mixed into the very thick polyester finish on the
back...i mean to say you could barely tell there wood underneath ,,,,i didn't quite know what to say as I really speak no turkish and he doesn't speak
english (I did my ordering through a Turkish speaking friend)-- it however had a nice sound so rather then create a scene I took the oud...when i got
home I scraped off the polyester and discovered very poor joinery where the ribs meet the neck - basically several of the ribs were short and he just
left a gap between the rib and block underneath which could not be seen under all the stain and polyester....this was during the oud festival in oct
and I saw many great examples of Ramazans work but alas it seems one needs to have an in to get one of these ouds where attention to detail is
done...the first oud I got from him was not like this at all ---it is very simple and clean looking so I am not sure what to tell you other then be
careful if you are ordering and don't speak Turkish or have a player or teacher that can intervene for you.. i felt a little taken advantage of after
my last experience...you might also try ali nisadir-at udmaker.com---a very honest and sweet man who makes very beautiful instruments from 800- 2000
dollars.
eliot - 7-30-2011 at 08:55 PM
I own 2 Ramazan ouds that I love very much and regularly play, they are superb instruments. That said, the wait time for instruments from him
currently is between 6-12 months, and to play it safe, if he quotes you 6 months plan on it being ready a bit late. As teslim noted, it's advantageous
to get assistance from a Turkish speaker who understands what you want and can clearly communicate it to Ramazan, and I'll go further and say that I
found it useful to travel there twice - once to speak with him in person and write down all the details and make a down payment, and once to pick up
the oud, perhaps to adjust a few details. This summer I brought back an instrument he made 2 years ago since there were a few problems with the
extended fingerboard causing cracking on the face, he fixed that and also tuned the braces and adjusted the action of the instrument, it plays
wonderfully now.
He's quite an ambitious and experimental maker, so sometimes in the absence of specific requests/requirements he tries out things that you might end
up liking a lot or alternately might not be just what you were looking for. Be specific with regards to the wood of the bowl (e.g. pelasenk, ceviz,
kayısı
and the face (ladin (spruce), not pine or cedar), the length and
shape of the fingerboard, whether the wood should be natural or stained and what finish, whether the soundboard face should be eggshell varnished or
left raw (I prefer raw).
Surprised and sorry to hear about teslim's experiences - things must have been horribly mistranslated and/or he simply gave you the wrong oud, since
typically he keeps accurate records. But the build quality issues are worrying, I would communicate these to Ramazan via his facebook page. I would
even consider asking him to remake the oud exactly as you originally ordered it, return the one with the stains and poor construction?
Mustafa Çopçuoğlu is a very good, experienced maker in the same neighborhood of Kadıköy, I'm not exactly sure on the prices of his ouds,
but I'd guess they're about 25% more than Ramazan's - I remember one of his lines of ouds ran $2000, I've played several at that range and they were
excellent instruments, impeccable craftsmanship. Wait time was 3 months if I remember correctly from my visit there last month... but again, you'll
probably want to be specific regarding woods. forum member plumpasha knows Mustafa very well and has several of his instruments.
spyros mesogeia - 8-2-2011 at 07:11 AM
