Mike's Oud Forums

oud string

stingerz - 1-26-2014 at 09:48 PM

Hi Guys, hope you guys r doing well.
i have a question. 2 actually. :)

first is which strings are the best for a turkish oud using a arabic tuning of CFADCG? La bella? OU80A? any others string? or brands that are good or better? i heard thomastik are the best? am not too sure.

Second question, i have a waziri floating bridge oud. which string are the best for FADGCF? i heard that the string length should be at least 1 m in length? any advise?

Thank you. :)

Brian Prunka - 1-27-2014 at 08:58 AM

For Turkish ouds tuned Arabic, I tend to like the Pyramid #650 set as an inexpensive choice. LaBella ou80 is ok, but you will need to replace the two treble courses, as the ones in that set are too thin for Arabic tuning.

You can also put together custom sets from various string makers, but I would try a simpler approach first, as experimenting with custom sets gets expensive.

For floating bridge, yes the strings should generally be 1m long.
LaBella OU80A is decent for that tuning.

fadel - 1-27-2014 at 10:21 AM

Quote: Originally posted by stingerz  
Hi Guys, hope you guys r doing well.
i have a question. 2 actually. :)

first is which strings are the best for a turkish oud using a arabic tuning of CFADCG? La bella? OU80A? any others string? or brands that are good or better? i heard thomastik are the best? am not too sure.

Second question, i have a waziri floating bridge oud. which string are the best for FADGCF? i heard that the string length should be at least 1 m in length? any advise?

Thank you. :)

Brian Prunka - 1-27-2014 at 11:24 AM

Quote: Originally posted by fadel  
Quote: Originally posted by stingerz  
Hi Guys, hope you guys r doing well.
i have a question. 2 actually. :)

first is which strings are the best for a turkish oud using a arabic tuning of CFADCG? La bella? OU80A? any others string? or brands that are good or better? i heard thomastik are the best? am not too sure.

Second question, i have a waziri floating bridge oud. which string are the best for FADGCF? i heard that the string length should be at least 1 m in length? any advise?

Thank you. :)


I also prefer Pyramid and think it is worth the extra cost. I think that .850mm for the gg course is excessive. For a 58.5cm oud I would use .775 or .800mm.

PaulS - 1-27-2014 at 07:49 PM

Is this the answer to my question as well, Brian?

Brian Prunka - 1-27-2014 at 09:10 PM

Hi Paul,

sorry . . . you have a Turunz oud, and you want high f'f' right?
I would be careful, since a lot of high f'f' sets are made for floating-bridge ouds, which can withstand (and even thrive) with higher tension.

Turunz ouds are very responsive, so I would go with a lighter-tension set.
I can set you up with the Pyramid lutes like Fadel suggests (though lower tension), or something else. I sent you an email.

cheers,
Brian