Mike's Oud Forums

Does anybody own a Moussa AL LETHY replica?

danieletarab - 10-21-2013 at 04:49 PM

Hi folks,
I am considering to buy an AL LETHY replica oud by Michael Moussa.
Does anybody here own one?
I am a little bit worried about the seven courses.. I have never played a seven courses oud and I wonder how it feels like..
Any informations about this oud?
Is the neck much larger than usual?
what about the action?
Could you use it normally as a 6 courses oud removing one course? Would it look or sound bad?
Thank you very much!

Jody Stecher - 10-21-2013 at 09:36 PM

I did own one of these. I loved how it played, and how it sounded, But the body was too big for me and I injured my shoulder playing it. It has been about a year and I am still not 100% recovered from an impinged nerve. This does not mean it will happen to you but you should be aware it is possible. I bought it second hand from another forum member who was also having shoulder or arm trouble and needed to change to a smaller oud. I did not find the 7 courses to be a trouble at all. They were not too close together and the fingerboard was not too wide at all. The action was not high.

danieletarab - 10-22-2013 at 02:30 AM

Hello jodhi, and thanks for the reply! There's ONE think I don't understand: is this Oud bigger than the average of egyptian or arabic ouds? I have never played "big" ouds (i have always had turkish made ones) but i wish to' have an arabic "big" Oud. My question is: is it a standard big arabic Oud or is it simply TOO big? And then, may I ask you how tall you are? I am 190 cm and I have very long arms: don't you think that this aspect may affect the playability?

markus - 10-22-2013 at 05:50 AM

Dear Daniel
I have got one of Moussa's Alethy styles- It is not unduely big, its size is in line with 4/4 full sized arabic oud:the bowl is
38cm wide
20cm deep
and 50cm long
the neck is 4.2 at the nut end
Best thing is to liaise with Michael to get exact measurements of any existing instrument of this style as he makes another subtype of the same style which Ihave come across.
Greco-Egyptian

Jody Stecher - 10-22-2013 at 08:00 AM

Quote: Originally posted by danieletarab  
Hello jodhi, and thanks for the reply! There's ONE think I don't understand: is this Oud bigger than the average of egyptian or arabic ouds? I have never played "big" ouds (i have always had turkish made ones) but i wish to' have an arabic "big" Oud. My question is: is it a standard big arabic Oud or is it simply TOO big? And then, may I ask you how tall you are? I am 190 cm and I have very long arms: don't you think that this aspect may affect the playability?


My arm from shoulder to wrist is about 61 cm long. I am 176cm tall. I would guess you will have no problem at all with one of MM's Al Lethy ouds.

Yes, the one I had was bigger than the average Arabic oud. What makes for "big" and therefore for possible pain, is the combination of width and depth. Length of bowl may be a consideration if it pushes the right arm off to the right. This may have been a factor in my injury. I'm not sure. The MM El Lethy copy I had and was playing had slightly smaller dimensions than the dimensions given by Markus here. The maximum width was 37 cm and the depth was 19 cm. I now have 2 Arabic ouds and they have smaller dimensions. My Nahat model, made by Nazih Ghadban is 36cm wide and 18cm deep; the oud made by Majid Atik, which is not a small instrument at all, is 35cm wide and 18 cm deep.These are comfortable but the depth (and maybe length) has to be taken into consideration when gauging comfort. My Moussa oud was 19cm deep and the one Markus has is 20cm deep. This oud was the largest oud I've ever played.