Hi Folks... I'm doing a bit of shameless self-promotion, trying to get the word out a bit more about the hybrid instrument I designed and built
called the RAGMAKAMTAR. It is essentially a combination of an Indian Sarod and an Oud. I have to date, over the last 7 years designed an built 14
original versions and 6 copies of version #9. What you see in the clip below is the original of version #9. All versions are completely different,
some of them like guitars, some like UFOs, some with sympathetic strings some not.... but it was not until version #9 that the sound really opened
up beautifully (in my opinion)... What was the difference? The difference was that with version #9 I finally just went back to the "tried and true"
basically of life and sound..... I dropped all fancy, wild and crazy, design ideas, and went straight back to a simple oud body design, and just
added on extra neck - and bingo, it worked! I used a bracing design that looks something like a Faruk bracing pattern and I am sure that helped!
It is 61.5 cm and tuned to Bb... on the sarod neck (lower neck) I pick with a sitar mizrab which is a metal wire pick attached to the first finger,
and with the left hand I put crazy glue on the fingernails to make them thick and hard. The oud has only 5 courses for two reasons: 1) with the glue
on the long nails of the left hand I need to have more space between oud string courses 2) because the soundboard is braced so lightly, in order not
to overload it, I eliminated as many strings as possible - so I thought that since I can play very high notes on the sarod neck, I can eliminate the
very high strings on the oud, and use the oud more for bass playing. For the sarod I used maximum light strings and eliminated all sympathetic strings
- actually the open oud strings function very well like sympathetic strings for the sarod, and vice versa.
I hope you like it... thanks for your time.
MatthewW - 1-16-2014 at 04:38 AM
Hello Edward- regarding the sarod half of the instrument, it gives a nice meend/glissando, is this played with the fingertips like the oud and not
with the fingernails as the India sarod is played?
Have you ever built a sarod only with sympathetic strings in the ragmakamtar style? I think this could be a nice alternative to anyone wanting to play
both oud and also sarod (perhaps in the Amjad Ali Khan style of sarod) but not have to deal with the sarod's fingernail issue, and wanting to keep
them as separate instruments? regards, MWEdward Powell - 1-16-2014 at 11:23 AM
Hi Matt...
Yes I have made such a thing, but I will start a new thread for that because it is worth a separate topic....
good to hear your g'oud bro
I must have missed that thread on the sarod. Interestingly I've been in discussion with Arnab about sarods lately. What became of that sarod you made,
did Arnab use it, any youtube or sound clips? And is it played with the fingernails or fingertips?Edward Powell - 1-16-2014 at 03:13 PM
Arnab still does not have this Wood Sarod from me yet... it is still with me at home, so no clips available yet. He and his wife because of
unforeseen circumstances had to leave Hungary and move to the UK which is much further away from where I am.
I am hoping perhaps to come to the UK in April or May, play some concerts, and also deliver the wood sarod to Arnab at that time.
majnuunNavid - 1-16-2014 at 10:43 PM
I love reading and hearing about your ragmakamtars. DId you tune to Bb because it is the natural resonance of the instrument or because of string
tension/thickness or something else like personal preference?Edward Powell - 1-17-2014 at 01:58 AM
I love reading and hearing about your ragmakamtars. DId you tune to Bb because it is the natural resonance of the instrument or because of string
tension/thickness or something else like personal preference?
HI Navid...
That is a really good question. I can remember designing it, and thinking that it should be as "oud-like" as possible but still not go so far away
from the sarod - now keep in mind that a sarod likes to have a long neck which is normally between 66.5 and about 71.5 cm long (scale length)... so I
figured best to go with the longest possible "standard" oud scale which is 61.5. Now, this scale is standard for Arab ouds and the lowest string is
tuned to a low C, not lower. But in the case of the ragmakamtar I am tuning in a configuration similar to the lowest 5 strings of a Turkish oud tuned
in KIZ. So a Turkish oud 58.5 tuned in KIZ will have the lowest string tuned to B. So if I would use KIZ tuning configuration with ARAB TUNING TENSION
AT 61.5 then the lowest low string would be at low A........ but...... the difference between 58.5 and 61.5 really seems to me only a
difference of what would be about one single fret distance if it would be a guitar... so it seems to me that the distance is only ONE SEMITONE
DISTANCE, not a full tone. So this means that in general, if using the same strings, a Turkish oud has higher string tension than an Arab oud (of
course this is generally solved by Turkish ouds being strung with slightly lighter strings) --- but I wanted the tension to be slightly higher than
Arab tension which sometimes seems to me a bit loose and dark. I wanted this especially because of the extremely low tuning I would be using.....
THEREFORE (sorry for the looooong story), I chose Bb instead of A as the tonic.
Of course I did my best to also tune the instrument itself to work well in Bb (mostly this involved tuning the AIR RESONANCE to be strong at a low B
note which meant that the tonic (Bb) would still be punchy but not be overkill (because when you play on the string the EXACT note of the AIR RES.
then you get such a powerful punch that it is overkill and doesn't sound good).
But I remember immediately after building this that I was extremely surprised and satisfied with the sound but began to wonder how the hell I am going
to collaborate with other musicians if Bb is my tonic!!!! Edward Powell - 1-22-2014 at 10:38 AM
I wanted to add some comments to the Ragmakamtar discussion, from the unique perspective of someone who actually owns one…..
I have been playing music for 28 years, Oud for 4.5……and following Edward's music and building adventures over the last several years. In the
fall of 2012, when Edward was working on version #9, and posted some Youtube clips, I contacted him about building me one, which would be an exact
copy of model 9. He did this and got it to me in early 2013……..I tuned it too high, and the bridge came off, and he immediately redesigned the
bridge and made me an entirely new and improved instrument, at no extra charge. I've had this second copy for about nine months now, and I'm really
happy with it. It is a beautiful instrument, well built, and sounds amazing. Edward plays it much better than I do, so I would refer you to his sound
clips rather than mine, but I just want to offer my experiences with both the instrument and the builder……..he is a really amazing musician and
talented builder, and he's created something unique and entirely his own. In answer to the question about the Sarod neck, the strings are fretted with
the nail, not the finger, but I have been able to work around that leaving a small bit of nail exposed on my fretting hand, which doesn't interfere
with my oud playing.
I love my instrument……….no financial interest, just a satisfied customer………if anyone has questions please feel free to email me.
lloyd Thayer Concord Ma. usa
