Dr. Oud - 2-23-2014 at 08:37 AM
30 years ago I was making cabinets for a custom house near Buellton, CA. I would pass an apricot orchard on the way there and one day noticed a pile
of trees in the clearing. I stopped and asked the farmer if I could take some. He said "ok, but put the pile back, I'm burning it in a few days". I
took two loads in my pickup back to my shop in Santa Barbara, cut it down, sealed the ends and put it on the roof under a tarp to dry out. First
mistake! Much of it checked, probably too hot on the roof. Any way I ended up with enough to make maybe 3 ouds, and its time to start one. This will
be a modeled after Manol/Karibyan/Hamza Usta. Good luck to me.
Doc139 - 2-23-2014 at 11:48 AM
That's very beautiful wood, Richard, I wonder how it will look (and sound) when it's finished... god luck, indeed! Hope you will show us the result in
the end.
BTW, does anybody know, is apricot wood (or plum, apple, cherry and so on) used in the middle east for building instruments?
Alexander
Dr. Oud - 2-23-2014 at 11:58 AM
Apricot is used for bridges and pegs, but rarely for backs. It's rather rare in the size big enough for ribs.
hussamd - 2-23-2014 at 12:36 PM
The wood is gorgeous! Can't wait for the finished product.
SamirCanada - 2-23-2014 at 02:25 PM
Nice wood indeed, happy making 
I guess people try to keep the apricot trees alive as long as they make fruit.
excentrik - 2-23-2014 at 10:43 PM
Hope the wood sounds as good as the fruit tastes!
jdowning - 2-24-2014 at 04:03 AM
As Richard notes Apricot wood is rarely found flawless in larger sizes so is best for small sized work. Should make a fine looking bowl.
Here is what Charles Holzapffel (Charles Applewood!) had to say about Apricot wood in 1843. Note that for many fruit bearing trees though the fruit
may taste good the wood may not be so great!
[file]30608[/file]
Dr. Oud - 2-24-2014 at 07:07 AM
I may differ with Charley about lemon wood. In 1980 I made an oud with lemon, alternating with Koa Nut. The lemon was dense but flexible. The Koa was
less dense, and not as flexible. The color combination was nice, huh?
[file]30610[/file]
jdowning - 2-24-2014 at 05:09 PM
Bergeron was referring to wood from the lemon tree (Citrus limon) that produces lemon fruit - not the commercially available 'Lemonwood' (or Degame) -
so called for its lemon colour - a dense flexible wood sometimes used for making archery bows. It comes from Central America or Cuba. Likely not so
readily available today as it once was due to trade restrictions?
Makes a nice contrast in colour.
Dr. Oud - 2-28-2014 at 03:21 PM
I'm making a video record of this oud build so it may take a little more time than usual. This will be a Turkish sized oud based on the Manol design.
I'm using a mold to build the body, rather than the open fixture method used in the Oud Construction book.
http://www.cafepress.com/droudpress
The build will follow the book process but for a different size oud.
hartun - 3-17-2014 at 05:01 PM
apricot, plum, mulberry wood is used in turkey and armenia to make woodwind instruments such as duduk, kaval, etc.
paulO - 3-18-2014 at 09:12 AM
Hi Richard,
I remember the apricot wood acquisition story from back when you were living in Ben Lomond and driving the Black El Camino. The wood looks great,
spectacular actually - good luck to you !!
Regards,
Paul
SamirCanada - 3-18-2014 at 09:40 AM
Hi Richard,
I have never tried cutting the ribs to final shape while flat, I usually bend them straight and then cut them to shape.
I am guessing it would make bending slightly easier at the tips if its already shaped. So do you leave yourself some room for the final planing of the
ribs or are these exact size before bending?
Dr. Oud - 3-18-2014 at 12:04 PM
Samir, absolutely leave extra material for trimming to fit. Each rib is fitted to the one glued up as well, so I find it nearly impossible to pre-cut
exactly to a finished dimension. Slight variations in the shape of the bowel during assembly make it necessary to fine tune the mating edge of the new
rib, both in profile and curve. I find it more difficult to cut the ribs after bending, and it takes longer to bend a rib blank.
So you're experience with quarter-sawn rib blanks breaking is reflected with my attempt to bend the swirly grain with lots of knots in these apricot
ribs. I don't have enough spare material, so I'm attempting to patch together the broken ribs and hope nobody notices when it's done. The crazy
bookmatch patterns just might be distracting enough to hide the patches, but don't tell anyone, ok?
SamirCanada - 3-18-2014 at 12:11 PM
For what its worth, what fixed my issue was soaking the rib about 15 minutes before bending.
I used to try to bend the wood dry or with a light spritz like I did with all other bowls I had made but this walnut was having none of it. It was
developing several hairline cracks at the deepest curve of the wood.
Ok your secret is safe with me. :P
Dr. Oud - 3-22-2014 at 01:46 PM
First rib! Man these ribs were a b..ch to bend. Never, never, never again will I try to bend knotty ribs. It's gonna look fabulous tho....
I was able to glue the neck block end without clamps or nails or anything, just hide glue: primed both surfaces, then just held there for a minute.
The tail end would've worked but it had a little curve that kept pushing off, so I clamped it down.
The video is at 1 hour/1.8GB so far. At this pace it will take a boatload of DVDs @ 4.7GB/ for the whole project! I gotta find another medium. Oh
well, I had to try.
[file]30948[/file]
hussamd - 3-23-2014 at 04:00 AM
This is going to be GORGEOUS! Can't wait for the final product.
You'll have to do some cutting on the video. Just keep the bloopers and beep the expletives out 
Dr. Oud - 3-23-2014 at 04:41 AM
been there, done that. A typical build takes me 80 - 100 hours, and I want this video to be complete, so I may have to go digital big screen. Maybe
there's a cloud app?
hussamd - 3-23-2014 at 09:47 AM
You can do a trilogy ...
Dr. Oud - 5-22-2014 at 09:05 AM
Here's the back and pegbox, wiped with mineral spirits to raise the grain and bring out some of the color. Bending knotty ribs is a real challenge, I
broke several ribs, but did not have enough extra matching material to replace them so I decided to glue them together and hope the crazy grain
distracts from the glue joints.
SamirCanada - 5-22-2014 at 10:18 AM
Marvelous
Microber - 5-22-2014 at 11:47 AM
Absolutely fantastic, Richard.
hussamd - 5-22-2014 at 05:03 PM
That's just sexy! Well done!
bulerias1981 - 5-27-2014 at 05:14 AM
that is some beautiful figure in the wood. The more radical and beautiful the grain is.. the more difficult working with/bending it is.
Dr. Oud - 6-19-2014 at 08:07 AM
The face is done w/ horn roses and a rosewood veneer raqma.
Dr. Oud - 6-19-2014 at 08:12 AM
The face is done w/ horn roses and a rosewood veneer raqma.
hussamd - 12-18-2014 at 09:36 AM
Richard, any updates on this oud?
Dr. Oud - 12-20-2014 at 09:47 AM
Re-location has temporarily suspended my work on ouds
hussamd - 12-21-2014 at 06:04 AM
This one had the makings of the most beautiful oud (at least to me). Always looking forward to seeing your masterpieces.
bulerias1981 - 12-21-2014 at 01:23 PM
Yeah, I also looking forward to seeing it in it's completion. Moving is a B*tch!! Especially if you're a luthier, people have no idea how many things
and little things you collect (tools, scraps of wood) I hope that goes over smoothly.
Dr. Oud - 7-23-2020 at 05:35 PM
50 years in the making! Unique apricot back, aged spruce soundboard. It got strings today. It's loud but immature in tone, good balance. I'll play it
for about a week to test and develop the tone, then glue in the shams and finish the back.
https://pin.it/2or0T2D
https://pin.it/4XMdJqY
Jason - 7-23-2020 at 07:01 PM
Looks great!
Microber - 8-10-2020 at 06:09 AM
Hello Richard,
Very nice oud. It deserves better pictures !
The drive google says "access denied"
Can't hear the sound
Dr. Oud - 8-10-2020 at 12:25 PM
OK, here's the link to the video. You'll have to click to start and turn the audio on.
https://pin.it/1e0I3gZ
Dr. Oud - 8-12-2020 at 10:26 AM
The oud is in the process for finishing now. I just first put strings on it to test it and it sounds so good I had to post it. When it is finally
finished I'll post more pictures.
Dr. Oud - 9-15-2020 at 03:59 PM
Finished, new pics...
Face by aprxkogj42, on Flickr
BackL by aprxkogj42, on Flickr
BackR by aprxkogj42, on Flickr
Dr. Oud - 10-23-2020 at 10:47 PM
Dr. Oud - 10-23-2020 at 10:55 PM
Dr. Oud - 10-23-2020 at 10:56 PM
Dr. Oud - 10-23-2020 at 10:59 PM
Who wants to make a Turkish ut? Manol Design
Here's a link to the first session
https://flic.kr/p/2k1oTNF
buy the DVD set on eBay, Item ID: 164468689200 $60 including the full scale layout drawing.
Dr. Oud - 9-15-2021 at 12:58 PM
The Apricot oud is now available for purchase. This is a professional instrument of the highest caliber. Serious inquiries U2U or richard@droud.com
"Uniquely beautiful and very playable" Peter Dorian
https://youtu.be/1hF8oS9-c0w
naf - 9-15-2021 at 05:34 PM
A very fine instrument indeed. Thanks for sharing its details with us.
Dr. Oud - 9-9-2023 at 10:46 PM
The Apricot oud is sold! I'm very happy it's going to a good home with a fine player. One of the most dedicated oudists I've met. Thanks to all for
yor support, this may be my last one.