jamesissa2004 - 4-30-2015 at 12:06 AM
Hello,
I am selling my 1922 DIKRAN NAJARIAN OUD which I recently had restored to the fullest extent possible. The oud sounds absolutely fantastic!! 
If you are interested in placing a bid, please visit my auction listing
on e-bay:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/1922-DIKRAN-NAJARIAN-OUD-RECENTLY-RESTORED-...
This is a 10-day listing which will end on May 9th at 12:45AM. Good luck with your bidding! 
- James
[file]35137[/file] [file]35139[/file] [file]35141[/file]
Brian Prunka - 4-30-2015 at 06:51 AM
Beautiful oud. Who did the restoration work? What was done to the face? Any recordings?
Alfaraby - 4-30-2015 at 09:37 AM
Nahat Ikhwan rosette on a Najarian oud ? 
What a pity !
Good luck
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
jamesissa2004 - 4-30-2015 at 09:42 AM
Thanks! The oud was restored by Richard Barnes in Pomona, CA. He was highly recommended to me by Viken Nadjarian (Viken was far too busy at the time).
I had over $1100 total of restoration work done. For the face in particular, there was 10" of delamination repaired, 2" of top cracks, and rosettes
were removed and replaced to fix 3 loose braces.
In addition, the top was reconditioned and some excess glue was removed from an old repair, a few missing binding pieces were made and replaced, and
finally a new string hole was drilled in the bridge (previous owner was probably "left-handed" so the bridge was on backwards and needed to be turned
back around.
Unfortunately, I do not have a sound file since I do not play This oud belonged to
my late father who played it.
-James
ameer - 4-30-2015 at 04:37 PM
Hi. I have a couple of questions:
1. The label says that this oud was restored by Najarian in 1917, but built by the Nahat Brothers in 1922. Can you explain this?
2. Can you verify if the large rosette is plastic or wood?
jamesissa2004 - 4-30-2015 at 05:11 PM
I am looking into your questions. However, what you said sounds backwards. Wouldn't it have to be "built" in 1917 and then "restored" in 1922. My
apologies since I do not read Arabic.
jamesissa2004 - 4-30-2015 at 09:53 PM
ameer,
I have attached 2 additional photos of the label which show more writing at the top of the label. Do you know what it translates to in Englsh?
Anyways, I am still looking into your questions from some credible soures (hopefully they will get back to me soon).
However, I had a friend who reads Arabic look at the picture of the label. My best explanation for question#1 is the oud was probably made in 1917 by
Dikran Najarian and Sons. The upper right hand corner of the label says "repaired" so I can see why you attached that to the 1917 date since 1917 is
in the upper left hand corner. It makes more sense that it was repaired in 1922 by the Nahat brothers (Nahat Ikhwan). Perhaps "repaired" was written
in th upper right hand corner because by that time there was not much room left on the label to write it anywhere else since it was filled with
printed verbage and signatures...Seems like the most logical explanation.
As for #2, do you know of a quick test I an do to see if the rosette is made of wood or plastic? If so, perhaps I can get you a quick answer to that
question.
Thanks,
James
Alfaraby - 5-1-2015 at 03:20 AM
First: Nahat Bro. partnership didn't exist in 1922, since it was liquidated back in the mid 1910's.
Second: Nahat never repaired other's ouds. We've seen some Nahat ouds repaired by another Nahat member of the family (e.g. Taufiq or GHN), but never
of "strangers".
This label is a mixture of names and years. Above we may read another names like "Ameerah And Waleed Abu Dahr" - apparently the owners- among other
unreadable gibberish.
The label looks younger than a century old paper, so we can't tell what's the right story behind this oud and label.
As for my taste, Najarian made one of the most beautiful bowls ever, and this looks his.
Good luck though
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
ameer - 5-1-2015 at 04:50 AM
James,
Let me lay this out for you. You are trying to sell an antique oud that could easily go for thousands of dollars. The label is useless and
contradictory. It doesn't help your case at all. You have no sound recording to tell us what this oud actually sounds like. I understand that you
can't play but there are numerous oud players within easy reach; William Shaheen is right there in San Diego. If you are serious about getting back
the money you invested and then some I would get a sound recording made.
Brian Prunka - 5-1-2015 at 08:14 AM
AlFaraby, do you know anything about the history of Dikran? The ouds that have I've come across before from him are all from the 1930s or later . . .
I don't recall seeing anything as early as 1917 or even 1922.
I am curious if there is actually a Nahat label underneath the Najarian label.
The bridge is certainly odd, I've never seen anything like it. I expect it was added later.
That might be the ugliest peg design I've ever seen. Certainly not Nahat pegs, but they are old, so maybe added by Najarian.
Nahat would not have access to plastic rosettes in 1917 or 1922, so if the rosette is bone then the dates line up better. If the rosette is plastic,
then it certainly came about later.
The earliest plastics, which would have been at least theoretically available to Nahat in 1922, were hard rubber, cellulose nitrate (aka celluloid,
formed from the interaction of celullose and camphor) and casein (formed from the interaction of milk and formaldehyde). There is no evidence of
Nahats ever having used any of these materials for rosettes; regardless, hard rubber is black, celluloid is unstable and would likely have severely
discolored or disintegrated, and casein (despite its similar appearance to bone), is not suitable for the delicate carving work found in a rosette.
'Modern' plastics did not become commercially available until the 1930s.
Since this oud has been in James's family for a couple of generations, it seems very unlikely that there would have been some elaborate forgery, but
the actual origins of this oud are very confusing.
In my opinion, an antique oud like this is better left unrestored if one wishes to sell it; I think it is more valuable if restored by an expert under
the direction of the eventual owner. Not saying that the luthier didn't do a good job, but if I was in the market for such an oud, I know I would
prefer to have it restored by someone I trust who is intimately familiar with the ouds of this region and time period.
Good luck with the sale. I agree with Ameer that it would be helpful to both you and potential buyers if you made the effort to have a short
recording made of the oud.
Alfaraby - 5-1-2015 at 01:53 PM
Well, Brian, I don't really. I came to "know" Dikran just for the fact he's Vekin's grandfather. I have come across one of his bowls from 1941 (with a
replaced top) and I was amazed from its beauty and structure, mostly one of the most sophisticated bottoms I've ever seen; and I have seen some.
Absolutely perfect. I still have some shots I took once it visited my museum for a short period of time. I kept staring at its round behind rather
than playing it, and I didn't loose anything. On the contrary, I came to know what a perfect bowl should look like. Playing could wait as long as this
"lady" sat on my sofa. Eventually it left to its owner, who I believe still have it till now.
Except for what varjouds.com has written about Dikran (very little), nobody knows anything about him. Maybe if Vekin is contacted, some light maybe
shed on his late grandpa RIP.
As to this oud, it's a pity it has been restored. I doubt if the owner would get back the money he had paid the luthier. He'd better give it as a gift
to Brian .
Moreover, the pegbox has been actually ruined by those never-seen-before ugly thick pegs. I doubt if they can be ever replaced after such heavy thick
reaming of the house !!
Good luck
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
[file]35180[/file] [file]35182[/file] [file]35184[/file] [file]35186[/file]
jamesissa2004 - 5-1-2015 at 02:35 PM
Thanks ameer,
I will try to get a sound file for this oud. Good idea! Was just thinking of who I could possibly ask to play a riff for me the other night. Do you
know what format I can upload? .wav, .mp3?
-James
ameer - 5-1-2015 at 02:43 PM
You won't want to upload here; the limit is one megabyte, which won't tell us anything. Upload the recording to a third-party service such as dropbox
and link to it here.
jamesissa2004 - 5-1-2015 at 02:51 PM
Great, thanks for the info. Also, I read on various.com that Dikran produced ouds for the first half of the 20th century. I also left Viken a
voicemail regarding the mystery of the label so hopefully he will have some info.
Thanks,
James
jamesissa2004 - 5-3-2015 at 07:53 PM
ameer/all,
I visited Viken Najarian today in his shop. He was nice enough to record a sound file for me of him playing a tune on the Dicran Nadjarian oud I am
currently selling. The link to the sound file in Dropbox is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pci6fpoywhsp2rh/Dicran%20Nadjarian%20Oud.w...
In regards to the "mystery" label, Viken verified the authenticity of Dicran's signature. Dicran always signed in Armenian (see vertical signature on
left hand side of the label). On another note, Dicran did not put this type of label in his ouds until the 1960's. Another source also told me that
the 196 printed in the lower right hand corner is the date and the luthier writes in the last digit for the year (which wasn't done in this case).
Overall, the oud is authentic but the 1917 and 1922 dates are still a mystery. Viken told me that Dicran migrated from Turkey to Lebanon in 1915. It
is possible for him to have made ouds by 1917 but it seems unlikely that he would have been established so quickly.
Perhaps this oud is very old and Dicran got a hold of it a second time and did some work on it in his later years (where he put the new label inside).
Perhaps the dates are some history of the oud's procurement and repair which were transposed to the new label? Just a guess at this point. I am still
gathering information from additional sources.
Thanks,
-James
ameer - 5-4-2015 at 09:49 AM
James,
Unfortunately the information you have given here only serves to confuse the situation.
What you're saying is, that at some point, Dikran signed a label. If the gibberish that is on there now about the oud being built in 1922 and restored
in 1917 was on there, then he knowingly participated in a nonsensical forgery which runs counter to his reputation as a respected oud maker. If the
gibberish was added after the fact then someone else attempted a nonsensical forgery. Then there is the matter of a plastic Ikhwan Nahat rosette being
added sometime later.
As an owner of a 1941 Dikran I would love to own another one but with so much uncertainty as to the oud's history its value as a collectable is
essentially 0.
jamesissa2004 - 5-4-2015 at 10:29 AM
Well, we will never know the real story behind the label. But what really matters is the sound of the oud, that is why I went ahead and uploaded the
sound file so everyone can hear it. I am sure many would love to own this oud.
Thanks,
-James
jamesissa2004 - 5-20-2015 at 08:52 PM
I have relisted the Dicran Nadjarian oud as a fixed price or best offer on ebay. Please feel free to make an offer through ebay if you are interested
:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/ANTIQUE-DICRAN-NADJARIAN-OUD-RECENTLY-RESTO...
jamesissa2004 - 6-7-2015 at 04:14 PM
I have recently recorded a new sound file for the Dikran Najarian oud since I did not have the "proper" recording equipment at the time. I used a much
higher quality condenser microphone and recording software to capture the true dynamics of the oud. The sound was recorded uncompressed with no
equalization editing (i.e. the actual true sound dynamics of the oud). It sounds absolutely fantastic! 
A link to the sound file on dropbox is:
https://www.dropbox.com/s/pci6fpoywhsp2rh/Dicran%20Nadjarian%20Oud.w...
If you are interested in placing a bid on the oud, it is still listed on ebay.
The link to the e-bay listing is:
http://www.ebay.com/itm/291488393070?ssPageName=STRK:MESELX:IT&...
ameer - 6-8-2015 at 03:40 PM
Since you appear to be running into trouble moving this oud on ebay you may want to consider selling this oud through Najib Shaheen. I know he
regularly sells vintage ouds and may be able to help you.