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The next Oud in syrian style !

Fritz - 5-17-2014 at 09:28 PM

Hi again...

Another Oud in syrian style is going to be completed soon.
It´s made of cherry and flamed maple with a very thin slightly concave top of caucasian spruce of high quality. Very light in weight, 19 ribs with maple and nut lines between. The shamseyya is made of selfmade plywood, birds-eye-maple in 3 layers, the script inside the big one is a wish of the customer (a woman)... the beginning letters of all members of the family. Now the neck is needed to build and the pegbox... that´s all.
The pickguard is again made of mahogany in 3 pieces, the grain layed together in 3 directions.. very nice effect when light is shining on it...

I thought of an ebony fingerboard with a beard in the top. String length 585mm, 11 strings, may be an arabic tuning beginning with a deep C, depending on the wish of the customer.

Please take a look...

Regards
Fritz

[file]31446[/file] [file]31448[/file] [file]31450[/file] [file]31452[/file]

Jody Stecher - 5-17-2014 at 09:41 PM

You've done a special beautiful thing here, Fritz. Somehow the nature of each piece of wood remains intact and yet the whole is harmonious.

When you mention what the tuning will be, does that mean you will adjust something accordingly? the braces perhaps?

Fritz - 5-18-2014 at 12:01 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher

You've done a special beautiful thing here, Fritz. Somehow the nature of each piece of wood remains intact and yet the whole is harmonious.

When you mention what the tuning will be, does that mean you will adjust something accordingly? the braces perhaps?

Hi Jody

Nice to read you, Jody ! And I know, your words are honest.

I see you have the right look to the things and how they are. Again in this Oud I give all I have... the knowledge ans skill at this stage of my way... as I did in the last one made of mahogany in the same style. This one here is a bit deeper because of the cherry wood... cherry is softer than mahogany, and therefore I made a deeper bowl to give attempt to more deepness in sound and structure of tonality. The mahogany-made Oud was very clean in sound and almost "crispy" because it was an instrument for a musician who plays jazz and not only traditional Oud-like musics. He needed more an instrument for a wider flexibility to the styles of music he playes with his band.

This one here is for a very sensible woman with a lot of soul and spirit... So I decided to use cherry mixed with a small amount of the hard maple. The tuning may vary between deep C and deep D... not higher... the bracing consists of very light spruce, very slim bars, set in a special order to reach a very fine tone in bass and treble... the distance between the bracings around the bridge is about 4 inches... this repuires the wider bridge... but the sound is awesome ! The bridge is very light in weight, but hard in structure, very tight grain (specific weight compared to other woods for bridges) and gives the right impulse to the right area. Now, without strings, the assembled top is sounding like the skin of a drum ! Very beautiful ! The outer area... glued to the ribs, is about 1,3mm... a good basic for the vibrating membrane made of wood.

The big sound hole is made a bit bigger in diameter than it was planned... to match the outgoing sonics of the moving air inside the bowl. The smaller ones are left as they were.

Adjustment is made on the bracings and the thickness of the top, now it´s impossible to change something... the top is mounted

May be I will go on making the pickguard in the way I did here... this has two or ten reasons... one is, that the grain in the middle piece of the guard is matching the grain of the top. I found out that this gives much more attack to the soundboard. Most guards are grained rectangular to the grain of the top... creating a "ply-wood" in this area. I decided to check another way... with very good results. Like the Oud made of Padouk (wich also has a very thin top) this methode seems to be good for very thin tops, while rectangular guards are better for "heavier" tops with more own rigidity.

So the tune will be best at C or perhaps D... this is a kind of "more or less"-like of the woman who will play it and the teacher she will have. I know the teacher for whom she might decide ...

It´s fine for me to make such instruments... a lot of fine features created in my own head... never copying anything.
I really like to make Ouds for special people... and I think, that is my way.

Thanks again for your nice comment, Jody

Kind regards

Fritz

Jody Stecher - 5-18-2014 at 08:58 PM

I never knew that about the grain of the pick guard and not making plywood. What happens when the pick guard is celluloid?

Fritz - 5-18-2014 at 09:36 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher

I never knew that about the grain of the pick guard and not making plywood. What happens when the pick guard is celluloid?

Hi Jody

Pickguard, plywood etc. ...

On almost all Ouds I see a pickguard with the grain rectangular to the grain of the spruce (or cedar) top. This means : The wood in this area is made to plywood. There are then two layers of woof, one soft (the top), one hard (the guard). This means again, this area will vibrate in another way than it would if the grains of both are matching. If you use rectangular grain for the guard, the area will be forced to be more stiff... when you make the grain mostly matching the grain of the top, it will be more flexible in length and wide direction. This might be only a bit, but I think, this will improve the sound. I compared it on the last Oud made of mahogany and maple... this Oud has the pickguard nearly on the same place, with nearly the same dimensions and nearly the bracings under it at the same place. Only the one in front of the bridge is a bit more farer from the bridge on the new Oud now. This means : There are at least two bracing bars under the pickguard. The one in front of the bridge and the one at the small sound holes. The one in front of the bridge ist most effected when giving impulse because of the string tension. Ant there is the "trick" ! This bar is mostly directly under the beginning of the guard... and exactly this area is the source of the whole vibration... giving the impulse in the other areas of the top. The next bar is the one directly under the widest area of the guard... and in most cases much lower in height than the bar before. Meaning : The sound in the wood of the top might go through this area in another way, if the guard changes its grain-direction. Every bracing is making a small area of plyed wood, where exactly the bar is glued on. I try to eleminate all breaks for the sonic waves trough the top. The tempo of these waves along the whole top is creating more for the sound than one might think.

Do you understand, what I mean ? My bad english might not be as good as I wish... but I think, I´ve grabbed the sense.

Very kind regars

Fritz

Fritz - 5-18-2014 at 09:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher

I never knew that about the grain of the pick guard and not making plywood. What happens when the pick guard is celluloid?

Ups... overseen...

Some make guards made of celluloid, some use plastic foil (arghhh)... some use tortoise... some use very thick pieces of wood ( I saw pieces with 4mm in thickness)...

My opinion is, that the thinner the guard is the more will it increase the soundability of the top. All the leaving things are the kind of wood, and last but not least the direction of it. On every Oud I made before I used the rectangular direction, but now I change this thing.

The materials with no grain / no fibers like plastics or celluloid are perhaps not so effective against the speed of the sonic waves.. but may be tortoise shell is. This natural material has fibers in a special, may be changing direction inside like horn has. But these materials are soft, flexible. Every glued area on the top decreases sound, I think, and the "trick" ist, to make these breaks as small as possible. This is given with matching grain and very thin material. My opinion.

Hmm ?

Greetings to you

Fritz

fadel - 5-26-2014 at 01:30 AM

good my friend

Antoine - 5-26-2014 at 01:40 PM

I never saw Syrian style with string length 58,5.
Could you explain than?
Good luck!

Fritz - 5-27-2014 at 12:51 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Antoine

I never saw Syrian style with string length 58,5.
Could you explain than?
Good luck!

Antoine...

Yes I could... and I will :

I make this Oud for a small woman, she will have a special way to use it, and a special reason to play Oud. These are some reasons for creating this Oud with scale length 585mm, although the body has a length with about 50cm. This requires another bridge position, but allowes a special bracing, creating the sound she wants.

Explanation enough ?

Greetings

Fritz

Marcus - 5-27-2014 at 10:39 PM

Code:

I make this Oud for a small woman, she will have a special way to use it, and a special reason to play Oud.

Hey, that makes me curious.What is a "special reason/way" to use a oud?

One more explanation,please

Btw, your ouds look very beautyfull, and how do they sound??
No explanation is needed, soundsample should be enough:-))

Antoine - 5-28-2014 at 02:19 AM

Thank you for explanations, but honestly i am a little lost!
What does style means? Iraqi Oud wasn't like the one of today, the Syrian start to take other shapes and sounds, Egyptian is contra bass!

I am not an expert but with my little knowledge I started to be confused...
Of course I understand that the women needs a special size but at that time the Oud was longer and women played more than today...
Yes explanation needed.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing this Oud :airguitar:

Antoine

Fritz - 5-28-2014 at 12:12 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus

Code:

I make this Oud for a small woman, she will have a special way to use it, and a special reason to play Oud.

Hey, that makes me curious.What is a "special reason/way" to use a oud?

One more explanation,please

Btw, your ouds look very beautyfull, and how do they sound??
No explanation is needed, soundsample should be enough:-))

Hi marcus

The special reason and way to use this Oud in the future is the coming job of the customer ! This woman is teached in musical therapy and soon she will be ready with this school... starting an own etablishment. So she had special requirements for the sound and look of this Oud. And so I did.

May be there is a sound sample when this Oud is completed...
I have a small but very good digital recorder... only my playing isn´t as good as I want... but a few plings and plungs I will make to give an idea how this Oud sounds...

Coming soon

Regards

Fritz

Fritz - 5-28-2014 at 12:48 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Antoine

Thank you for explanations, but honestly i am a little lost!
What does style means? Iraqi Oud wasn't like the one of today, the Syrian start to take other shapes and sounds, Egyptian is contra bass!

I am not an expert but with my little knowledge I started to be confused...
Of course I understand that the women needs a special size but at that time the Oud was longer and women played more than today...
Yes explanation needed.

Anyway, looking forward to hearing this Oud :airguitar:

Antoine

Hi Antoine

The term "style" I use for the special patterns and typical features of some Ouds coming from different areas of the world. May be an egyptian or in general arabic Oud is known as you mentioned above... as a deep sounding bass-ful instrument with low sustain and traditionally beeing mostly used with a singer... while other Ouds, may be armenian or turkish ones are played in a completely other way and for a completely another repertoire of musics... depending on the theory of music of the country or area. The original syrian Ouds are more with a longer body, compared with the string length... The main thing for me is to create an arabic sound ... matching the needs of the playing technique of todays players using some accords during a melody with unisono striked strings.

The iraqi style "Bashir"-Oud with a floating bridge is... my opinion... a new-styled instrument to match the aesthetical requirements of the players who want to play in this high tuning and with the guitar-like sound of the open strings. I do not like this dis-forming of a traditional instrument... and I think, such an Oud never could be played as "sad" as a classical arabic / egyptian Oud could be used for.

Even with a very good turkish Oud you can play arabic pieces with sad sounding vibes... but never reverse. And so I try to make an Oud sounding like the classical ones could have sounded. I studied many many recordings... listening carefully to the special vibes in general and also to the differences between the sound from country to country, depending on the Ouds made in different ways and of different materials. May be the dimensions seem to be nearly equal from one Oud to the next, in the past the sound varies a lot from maker to maker.

Today it seems that all makers want to copy the sound from one Oud to the next. You can hear this by checking some Ouds of one Oud-maker... and some of another one.

So I try to give every Oud a special sound... a very own sound. Every Oud has its special concept since the beginning of building, its special way to make the top, and so has every body. I do not produce in series... every Oud is very own.
Every Oud-making has its own reason to grow up becoming an instrument for a special person...

Okay ?

Greetings

Fritz