DavidJE - 4-5-2015 at 02:23 AM
A number of people have asked about the difference between Faruk Türünz Arabic and Turkish ouds. I have yet to see a decent comparison made, so I
made a comparison video this morning:
(Video removed, see posts below for reason along with links to other comparison videos.)
As I wrote in the video description, the Arabic oud is a custom single made in 2014 with a maple and santos bowl and a spruce top with a matte polish.
The Turkish oud is a reduced price made in 2013 with a mahogany and padouk bowl and an unfinished spruce top. I put D'Addario J95 strings on both of
the ouds at the same time. The strings are about a week old, and the tuning on both of the ouds is the same Arabic tuning: D, G, A, d, g, c
To my ear the ouds sound more different in person than in the video/audio. What I'm not sure about is how much difference the different woods might
make, along with the finished vs. unfinished soundboard. However, the finish on the Arabic oud soundboard is VERY thin...nearly non-existent.
I'm using the intros to the Nikriz Longa and Nassam Alayna as comparison pieces now and testing them with different strings on the ouds. I think it's
easy to THINK one set of strings sounds better than another, but I'm not sure how reliable the memory of a certain set is vs. a set that is currently
on an oud. Once I have a few more recordings of different sets I'll upload a video of string comparisons too.
Omar Al-Mufti - 4-5-2015 at 03:47 AM
Dave,
In both cases I like the arabic oud more than the reduced......I started to feel that shellac and similar finishes enhance the sound quality.
You yourself tried my reduced price Turünz and I guess you agree that it sounds much better now.........same experience with my Yildirim oud...it
sounds much better now with shellac........I guess Marouane had good experience with Belhaiba oud and might agree with me....although Samir and Brian
will disagree 😉
DavidJE - 4-5-2015 at 03:59 AM
Omar,
I can't say that *I* prefer either sound. It is definitely a different sound, but I like both.
It's impossible for me to say why my two ouds, along with your Arabic Türünz, sound different from one another. Is it primarily the different wood?
The polished soundboard? Did they make my Arabic oud with a thicker soundboard? Does a different kind of bracing account for the difference? Or is
it a combination of all of that? I don't know.
I do agree with you, based on having heard your ouds before and after you finished the soundboards, that there is a difference in sound. For me
though I wouldn't say it is "better"...only different. And I could be wrong, but with *my* Türünz ouds I think there is more difference than only
the soundboard finishing.
Jody Stecher - 4-5-2015 at 07:42 AM
I would expect that the main difference between the sound of these two ouds is due to the difference in bracing. When each is set up it the way that
is optimal for itself, each is likely to produce the sound they were designed to produce. The Turkish one may not be sounding its best in this
experiment because it is not tuned for the string tension and pitches for which the soundboard was designed.
I would say that to really find out what each oud can do they each need to be played at the pitch for which they were each designed to be played and
with the type of strings with which each has been found to respond best. And with the plectrum that brings out the best sound when the particular
player plays on those strings on the particular oud.
At the same pitch and tuning with the same D'Addario strings the Arabic oud sounds open and unrestricted and produces a "vowel" more like "aaah" than
"oh" but between them. The Turkish oud tuned like this sounds a bit restricted or confined and makes a vowel sound something like "aw". I would
expect that when tuned to the usual Turkish pitches with the same J 95 strings or other strings designed to be tuned to those pitches at a scale of
58.5 the sound "aw" will move closer to "oh".
DavidJE - 4-5-2015 at 10:21 AM
Jody,
I think I briefly mentioned that in the video description, regarding the Turkish oud not being tuned optimally. The problem for the "comparison" is
that if I did tune it optimally, with different strings, etc., anyone who wanted to make an "equal" comparison would think...well...of course they
sound different...they are different strings, tuning, pick, etc. You are correct though. My Turkish oud definitely sounds better with the
higher/Turkish tuning.
Perhaps I should remove the video, as it's not really the best demonstration of the quality of either of the ouds. Thoughts?
Jody Stecher - 4-5-2015 at 10:52 AM
My thoughts? Well, you're probably right that some people *will* say and think that. But they will be wrong. I have no opinion about leaving the
videos up or taking them down. I dunno. Having the photos up there might be good advertising for Faruk Turunz. The recordings might not be optimal but
they are not bad. The ouds both sound good.
DavidJE - 4-5-2015 at 11:26 AM
Thanks Jody. I went ahead and deleted it. It's just not the best representation of either oud. The Turkish oud sounds much better with Turkish
tuning, and the Arabic oud actually sounds better with different strings in my opinion. I also didn't play either of the pieces very well. So I
think it's better not to have such a potentially misleading video up. There are better videos on my YouTube account of both of the ouds. That's
probably a better representation.
Since I started this topic...
Here's a video of the Turkish oud tuned properly: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4u-LPZe3rAI
Here's a video of the Arabic oud with strings that I think sound better (Pyramid Lute): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RThRXjzCVno