#2 Oud rescued from dumpster

I took this oud in partial trade for a Sukar for a broke, deserving student. It's just an inexpensive Bavely.

When I got it, the head was mostly snapped off and it had a thick brown varnish on the back - so thick that you couldn't even see the sapwood. There was also a thick varnish on the top. It had a floating bridge. I stripped all the varnish off and did a tru-oil finish on the back and a few wipes of french polish on the front. I thought it sounded very weak with the floating bridge so converted it to a fixed bridge. As far as I could tell there was nothing specific in the bracing for the floating bridge. Frankly, I doubt that the makers of the inexpensive ouds pay much attention to the bracing.

In any case, it sounds pretty reasonable now and, after laying on another fingerboard (Honduran rosewood I think), the action is pretty reasonable.

So - saved from the trash and now a decent student instrument.