monitort - 7-6-2015 at 09:38 AM
Hello everyone.
I've seen many ouds for sale recently and I have a question about rosette inlays.
It appears that on many (expensive) ouds the inlays are poorly made. The patterns do not align, the blocks of the inlays are not equal, sometimes the
inlay seems to be formed from several longer blocks of wood glued one over another. The ouds are all luthier-made instruments. When you look at the
inlays from afar, they are beautiful. But when you look closer, you notice all those imperfections.
Now, in the classical guitar world, this would be unacceptable. As far as I am aware of, luthiers try to make them as perfect as possible. Such
imperfections are not seen as giving the instrument personality, but as mistakes.
So, to keep this short, my question is: can you trust that an oud maker has put all his skill into how an oud sounds if he hasn't paid full attention
to how the oud looks?
Thank you and please excuse me if this has been already discussed.
P.S. On the other hand, I've seen some stunning inlay work on ouds, really amazing examples.
franck leriche - 7-6-2015 at 10:58 AM
You're right but your observation can be extended to all the oud parts...
I share the same feeling with you...
Maybe one of the reason of the more perfect guitar making is that the quality of cheap guitars has increasing amazingly the last 30 years, which is
not the same with oud making.
Even with famous makers one can see many imperfections on the basic elements:
-poorly sanded ribs resulting uneven shape of the back, all hidden by a large amount of sprayed varnish.
-bad junction of the neck and pegbox
-Pegs of different size
-Uneven fingerboard, so impossible to play in tune, i had to sand all the fingerboards from all the ouds i bought.
-sometimes the strings holes in the bridge is a bit weird...
Maybe you've heard the sentence: no one is perfect but god. Some people use it to give a quick excuse for a poorly done job...
Sometimes i wonder if a great sounding oud is the result of the knowledge of the luthier or by chance or a mix of both.
I had a discussion about one famous maker with a member of the forum and we agreed that there is different quality in his ouds, the one mades for the
famous musician and the one mades for Monsieur Nobody...
Being myself also a craftsman, i have to admit that it's very hard to make a perfect thing all the time, specially if the client has contacted you by
the internet and if you never had any personal contact with him.
Omar Al-Mufti - 7-6-2015 at 11:13 AM
The imperfections you mentioned are very much accentuated in Egyptian ouds.
Otherwise I can show you the work of many other oudmakes.......simply perfect.
Jason - 7-6-2015 at 03:02 PM
It really just depends on the maker and the style of the oud. I agree with Omar you often see those types of imperfections in Egyptian ouds for
whatever reason.
On the other hand, the inlay work on my Ghadban is as good as any I've ever seen on a handmade instrument.
saintmilkweed - 7-22-2015 at 07:42 PM
As a guitarist I was wondering about that too. Perhaps there is more acceptance of the 'human element' in the philosophy of some of the builders.
jdowning - 7-25-2015 at 03:55 AM
If such poor quality workmanship (particularly in structural aspects rather than cosmetic features) by those making ouds is so common how is it that
these instruments find a buyer? If the oud playing public is not as discerning as classical guitar players then there is little hope that standards
will change for the better. Junk is expensive at any price - caveat emptor!. If public demand is for highly decorated ouds whose only attribute is to
look pretty at a distance when hung on a wall then that is what will be churned out for sale regardless of quality - time is money.
Early writers about the oud cautioned against use of unnecessary, costly decoration that make the instrument sound bad.
On the other hand if standards of craftsmanship are to improve then so will the cost of purchasing an oud unless, like cheaper guitars, they can be
accurately made efficiently on a mass production assembly line basis.
A highly skilled experienced luthier, who makes many instruments by hand each year, can work quickly, efficiently and accurately and is likely to be
able to make instruments that are consistently acoustically 'good' that may be sold for a proper return. On the other hand that unusually exceptional
instrument is likely to be created with a certain amount of luck even by the best of makers.
I have heard that one famed Spanish guitar manufacturer - employing a number of skilled luthiers to build a standard line of high quality guitars -
does not price each instrument until it has been tested upon completion - the price then reflecting the assessed relative quality.