When you're picking out a oud what checklist do you go through before you make the purchase?
I'm trying to establish something along this
1. tune it
- how easy are the pegs adjusted?
- do they stay in place?
2. play it:
- check for action comfort
- listen closely to buzzing
- play notes all along the fretboard to check for dead notes or convexity/concavity
3. inspect the craft
- cracks?
- quality of finish?
what else is there to check?
fernandraynaud - 11-19-2011 at 04:11 PM
I think step 0 is to reset your expectations. Think organic. If you come from a guitar background, where the most useless Formica kitchen cabinet boat
anchor deadbaught fence-post campfire strummers sport a glistening shanghai Ferrari finish, you will find the most divine old ouds, and some good new
ones, "crudely finished". Not to suggest you should accept crooked bridges, foundering nuts or any of the "features" of many an allegedly
professional Arabic instrument.
Some cracks matter, many do not, or are easily fixed. If a soundboard or anything covert rattles, walk away. Tuning pegs are another tricky issue. The
native oud pegs are designed to test your resolve. Boutique ouds now come with slick 30:1 pegs, but an oud can be wonderful with 15:1 pegs that will
unwind like a fishing reel if you don't know how to ride them, and sometimes even if you do.
Flatness of the fingerboard and action below 4 mm at the neck-body junction are IMHO uncompromisable necessities. Action in turn is tied to the neck
having a few mm of lean-back from the plane of the sound board, but there are many factors. It's always easier to raise the action at the bridge than
to lower it, so if the neck has no adjustment (and only Sukars and Faddi Mattas do) go for low action. The turkish sound calls for lowest action, the
Arabic a higher one. Carefully check the nut. Strings should start no more than a string's width above the fingerboard. Carefully check the bridge.
Are the string loops high or low, how much range do you have in raising or lowering the action?
Timbre, or the promise of timbre upon break-in, is essential. Tap the soundboard. Do you have several different resonant areas? Overall lightness of
construction and resonance are critical, though some rare bowl woods, say ebony, can be heavier than others. Generally a good oud is easily held at
arm's length and, in a pinch, used as a conductor's baton.
If you are holding an instrument an inner voice will usually tell you clearly if it's an instrument you can love. Other voices will try to drown it
out, with earthly concerns. It helps to remember that you cannot maintain and play an instrument you don't love, and there are many other instruments
out there. charlie oud - 11-20-2011 at 09:00 AM
At our UK oud gatherings a frequent talking point is how different an oud sounds when you are behind it , as when playing, compared to when you are in
front of it, listening to it being played by someone else. Therefore I would add to the list: Ask the seller to play it so you can listen to it as an
audience would. It's got to sound good for the player 'and' the listener, but the listener is rarely behind the soundboard.naddad - 11-20-2011 at 03:41 PM
Can you please explain what a 30:1 and 15:1 peg is? DoggerelPundit - 11-20-2011 at 05:51 PM
Charlie,
Good point. At home with your oud, it's fun to sit facing a bare corner of the room, about 3-4 feet out. A good part of the "listener" sound comes
back at you.
-Stephencharlie oud - 11-21-2011 at 07:04 AM
Stephen,
Yes, thats good advice for hearing the oud as listener. Thank you.fernandraynaud - 11-21-2011 at 04:15 PM
Can you please explain what a 30:1 and 15:1 peg is?
Important issue. It's the taper of the cone section that is the peg. If a peg shaft is 60 mm, and the diameter goes from 10mm to 8 mm, the taper
is:
60 / (10 - 8) = 30/1, i.e. 30:1
That's standard modern violin or viola taper. A traditional lute or oud peg tends to have a steeper taper, say over 60 mm it might go from 10 mm to 6
mm:
60 / (10 - 6) = 60 / 4 = 15 / 1 i.e. 15:1
The steeper 15:1 taper pops out easier. A 30:1 tends to stay put. Maybe with humidity changes, it's more likely to crack the pegbox wall, but it's a
smoother tuning system, and has been widely accepted.
