Mike's Oud Forums

Please advise: how to repair this oud's bridge?

kamran - 4-7-2014 at 04:08 PM

Dear fellow 'awwadin,

I have a lovely Iranian-made Arafati oud which I've had for about 12 years (I think I may have posted about it many years ago here) that sadly needs repair... I had stored the instrument while traveling and inadvertently the room it was in had very low heat for several weeks. I very stupidly did not slack the strings and as a result, or it would seem, the bridge split into two and came off, perhaps as a result of the changes in temperature in the room. As you will see from the attached images, a smaller part of the bridge remains on the instrument, and larger part of it has come off of the instrument.

I could take the instrument to a local instrument repair shop that I know could repair it, but am thinking of possibly doing the work myself. I would be very grateful to have your thoughts on whether or not this is advisable and specifically whether you believe (as I am inclined to) that it may be possible to just glue the larger part of the bridge back on to the face of the instrument after sanding the old glue off of it, using a very strong adhesive.

If you believe the bridge can be successfully put back onto the instrument, what sort of adhesive would you recommend?

I look forward to any thoughts and/or suggestions... thank you in advance!

Cheers,
Kamran



[file]31157[/file] [file]31159[/file] [file]31161[/file]

SamirCanada - 4-7-2014 at 06:34 PM

Ouch that hurts.
Good news is that it looks from the pictures to be a rather clean break.

What I would do is moisten and scrape off the glue from under the loose bridge,
Then prepare some high strength hide glue (use a high bloom strength one and mix a bit less water than recommended with the glue to increase the strength)

After this, just apply some under the bridge and on the spot where the bridge used to be on he soundboard. Place the bridge down and heat everything up with a hair dryer (don't tell your wife! Very important) and press it down with your hands to hold it in place for 5 minutes or so until the glue gels. Let the glue do it's magical shrinking for 70 hours and string it up again.

kamran - 4-7-2014 at 07:37 PM

Hi Samir,

Thanks for your quick and very helpful reply. It's heartening to hear from someone with your experience that it's not such a difficult job. I'll begin to clean off the glue tonight and will try to pick up some high strength hide glue. I just found a helpful YouTube video on how to use this glue for adhering a guitar bridge...

Thanks again--
Kamran

PS -- you have great looking ouds on your website!

Matthias - 4-8-2014 at 12:07 AM

hello,

for me there are two options:


best regards
Matthias

kamran - 4-8-2014 at 05:24 AM

Thanks Matthias, this is quite helpful. Sadly looking at the remaining part of the bridge I'm a little worried it would be very difficult to remove it without breaking it in half. But I may try... it will be very delicate work!

As for obtaining a new bridge, I'm not really sure where I could turn to find a new one—especially one that has the same shape (given the footprint of the original bridge on the soundboard).

So my first instinct is to just try out re-gluing the broken part as Samir suggests, which hopefully has enough surface area to be able to hold the tension of the strings if glued well. At worst it will just come off again and at that point I can reconsider my options.

But I might drop by a local luthier I know first to get his opinions...

In any case I'll follow up and post again to let you know what I end up deciding...!

Kamran
Quote: Originally posted by Matthias  
hello,

for me there are two options:
  • keeping that bridge:
    in that case I would remove the remaining glued part, as if you not do this, you will have different levels of the two bridge parts, the remaining and the comming off one and they will not come well togather as there was much glue between the bridge and the soundboard.
    After cleaning both surfaces, glue the two pieces togather and after that make sure that the whole surface is completely flat and not round. This may be the case after removing the the old glue with hot water. Now you can glue the bridge again.
  • new bridge
    I personally would prefer this option, as it does not seem this instrument is a historic one. For me the reason choosing this option is that the bridge lost it's function of stability through that break.


best regards
Matthias

Matthias - 4-9-2014 at 12:25 AM

Quote:


[quote=100497&tid=14820&author=kamran]Sadly looking at the remaining part of the bridge I'm a little worried it would be very difficult to remove it without breaking it in half. But I may try... it will be very delicate work!

Hello Kamran

No, it is very easy if it is hide glue:
you apply hot water from both sides, just only a little bit and when it disappeared again. After some time, may be 2 hours or more, the old glue is swelling and you can go beneath the wood with a thin metal to loose it.
But be patient!!!
Quote:

As for obtaining a new bridge, I'm not really sure where I could turn to find a new one—especially one that has the same shape (given the footprint of the original bridge on the soundboard).
Kamran

You must do the new bridge by yourself following the footprint.

Regards

Matthias

bulerias1981 - 4-9-2014 at 06:38 PM

kamran,

If you have any trouble you can take it to me, I'm upstate, NY and I specialize in oud making and repair. Thanks.

kamran - 4-10-2014 at 09:50 AM

Thank you both, Matthias and John, for your kind notes. I'll try your suggestion shortly, Matthias and see if I can at least remove the remaining part of the bridge and evaluate my situation then. I may be able to get a replacement bridge from Mr Arafati the original luthier via friends in Iran, if this one is too damaged.

John, I'm grateful for your offer. My profile needs to be updated -- I'm actually in Cambridge MA now (and thus just a stone's throw from Peter Kyvelos' shop where I could also take the instrument for repair—he's just very backed up and it would probably take a while). Your work looks beautiful, though, and next time I'm in the Beacon area I may look you up to see if I can drop by your workshop and check out your instruments.

Fritz - 4-22-2014 at 12:29 PM

Hi

I agree with the method by Matthias... using the left part to complete the bridge first. But... very important : Be patient... if making on your own.

Then cleaning both the bridge and the area of the top... leaving no old glue ! Clean the top with a hot wet sponge, always making sure not to wipe the removed glue back to the top. (washing the sponge as often as needed, or more !)

As Samir already said, use a thicker viskosity of bone-glue to glue the bridge to the top again. Keep in mind to hold the area warm with the hair-dryer until you assemble the bridge !

Perhaps try to use a very thin viskosity of bone-glue first on both surfaces... let it soak in the wood... because : Bone-glue glues to bone-glue very very good... Warm up both areas (more to the bridge... nearly make it "hot" !) ... and immediately before attaching the bridge, apply the thicker viskosity of glue to the warm bridge... and... press (careful !)... holding the pressure for a long time, as long as needed (depending on the viskosity of the glue). Let the glue squeeze out... leaving as less as possible under the bridge, and as much as needed to let enough in the joint. The finest feature of bone-glue ist the shrinking... pullig the twio pieces of wood together during the drying. Keep in mind, that nearly the same amount of water you used to make the glue... is leaveing the glue again after beeing applied... this pulls the parts tight together .

So let it dry for days... some days !

Work fast and careful !

Fritz