alfalastini - 1-22-2013 at 05:34 PM
Hey so, a good friend of mine is luthier in Palestine, in Nablus to be precise.
I'm about to purchase an oud he has made but could use some help with deciding between two.
The first (top) is made of Rose wood and Ebony and is built in the Iraqi style. The sound board is Spruce.
its $800
the Second (bottom) is made of just Walnut with a Spruce sound board as in built in the traditional (Oriental) style.
its about $650
Now either way I wanted a Spruce sound board, duh. But I was hoping that he'd have a Bashir style oud made of Walnut (which he does, but its aged
walnut and costs over $1500, since this will be my first oud i'm not sure if I want to make that investment.)
But, i guess my question for ya'll is, Is anyone familiar with bowls made of ebony/rose wood? How do they sound? I unfortunately will not be able to
go to Nablus to try them out. Does the Ebony make it THAT much heavier?
Thanks,
chris.
Jody Stecher - 1-22-2013 at 05:59 PM
I have a lovely Turkish oud made by Faruk Tarunz. The bowl is alternating ribs of ebony and maple. It is a very light instrument with excellent tone.
A friend of mine reports that she has an Arabic oud with a bowl entirely of ebony and that is very light. Rosewood can be pretty dense and heavy but
I have a rosewood guitar that is super lightweight.
oudistcamp - 1-22-2013 at 09:11 PM
I have a couple of walnut, ebony and rosewood ouds.
What I have noticed is that the bowl wood is not the only determinant of the weight of the oud.
The general construction, bracing style, size of oud, thickness of ribs etc contributes to the airiness of the oud, or lack of.....
Ask the luthier to weigh the ouds for you. That is not an unusual request...
fernandraynaud - 1-23-2013 at 05:04 AM
@alfalastini, welcome! Are you worried about shipping cost?The ribs are thin, and ouds are so light anyway, I wouldn't speculate or worry too much
about the wood causing differences in weight. But of course they can be weighed.
There are those among us who think that the bowl wood has very little effect on the timbre. Yet any oud player will tell you that they feel the bowl
vibrating on the tummy. I happen to have two almost identical Sukar ouds, one with an all medium light walnut bowl, the other with what appears to be
ebony, finished in black, shellac. There are countless other factors at work, and we've debated this issue a lot here, and this is just one person's
opinion, but my light walnut oud is bright, airy, cheerful. One other Sukar 212 owner has confirmed that. It works very well playing chords, and in
major keys. The ebony (or maybe dark oily walnut?) model 14 is deeper, with a stronger low midrange and bass, and gravitates towards traditional
maqamat and gravity, "minor keys".
These two ouds are diverging even more over time, FWIW.
A Bashir oud is a bit of a specialty item, I don't know if it's an ideal first instrument.
Did you mean to post photos? They might be useful.
SamirCanada - 1-23-2013 at 05:59 AM
Falastini,
The density (specific gravity) of wood is what usually determines the weight of wood, moisture content also has an effect but we hope that the oud
maker uses wood that has been thouroughly dried.
here is the scientific data of the woods you asked about.
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/black-...
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/east-i...
http://www.wood-database.com/lumber-identification/hardwoods/macass...
In my opinion if the bowl and neck are made in the appropriate thickness there shouldnt be a large difference in weight when using these 2 very hard
woods.
Despite my own personal facination with exotic figured hard woods, I have come to the conclusion that walnut imparts the most diserable sound for the
true oriental (sharqi) oud. Its why the most famous makers through history have stuck to it and their ouds are now the benchmark to try and acheive
when making a oud. Not to say that there havent been exceptions. Mike's ebony oud made by Shehata is one of the nicest sounding instrument I have ever
played.
As Fernand said, unless you are specifically intent on focusing on the floating bridge style playing then get the fixed bridge and save some money in
the process 
alfalastini - 1-23-2013 at 12:06 PM
Thanks for everyone's feeback thus far! Yes, I did mean to post photos, but i guess they didn't attach properly, i'll try again right now.
I was wondering also the technical differences in playing an Bashir vs Sharki.
Oriental:
Bashir:
alfalastini - 1-23-2013 at 12:11 PM
oh and i personally enjoy a darker/ more minor sounding instruments.
ex: i prefer Steinways over Yamahas when it comes to piano and Martins over Taylor when it comes to guitar.