danieletarab - 4-11-2014 at 07:03 AM
Dear members of the forum..
I have a little question for you and I would be very grateful if you could give me the answer.
I use trad arabic tuning (C the highest).
I would like to get LA BELLA strings for my tuning but I don't know for which set I should go since as far as I Know, La bella produces both C tuning
and F tuning.
How is the C set called?
(I would be really grateful if string producers would be clearer on the description!!)
Thanks a lot
Brian Prunka - 4-11-2014 at 08:47 AM
Here is the situation regarding the LaBella sets.
OU80 is just listed as "oud". It is meant for Turkish oud tuning, but it can work on Arabic ouds in Arabic tuning if the scale is somewhat long
(62cm). Most people will find the nylon strings too light for tuning to g and c'. They are .022in and .028in, better gauges for c' and g are
.024-.026in and .029-.031in.
OU80A is the "Arabic" set. It is meant for 5 course oud in Arabic tuning or 6 courses with a high f'f' course. Optionally, you could purchase an
extra low C string (usually .042-.045in).
The c' and g courses in this set are OK on shorter ouds (58cm to 60cm) but are a little heavy.
I also have LaBella individual strings if you want to put together a custom set.
Hope this helps.
danieletarab - 4-11-2014 at 04:06 PM
I thank you very much for your very precise answer!
As far as I understand, you run the oudstrings.com website, isn't it?
In that case I would gladly make a try with the LABELLA arabic set PLUS the C bass string.
WHat shall I do to order? And what about the payment?
DO you have any other set to suggest to get a medium tension on my reduced price turunz oud (arabic) with my tuning?
As I wrote in another thread, at the moment I am using PYRAMID orange, and the tension is very light. I would like to try an higher one (but not too
heavy!).
THank you very much, and don't forget to tell how I shall proceed to get some labella arabic set plus C bass! 
Brian Prunka - 4-11-2014 at 06:18 PM
The tension of the LaBella Arabic set is comparable to the Pyramid orange. It's possibly slightly higher, but LaBella's tension information is not
very detailed.
Do you have the Orange set with the plain dd course or the wound one? The plain dd is fairly light, this is somewhat unavoidable with a plain string
unless you use PVF or Nylgut.
I actually consider both sets to be medium tension, not light tension, even on a short oud like yours. Definitely not "very light" by oud standards.
Tension for Arabic fixed-bridge ouds typically range from about 2.8Kg to 3.9Kg. The orange set is about 3.4Kg on your oud (if memory serves), so it's
medium tension.
You can send me an email through the oudstrings.com contact form regarding the strings.