Mike's Oud Forums

Oud lost its sound after glue crack?

manoutis - 7-23-2015 at 11:20 PM

Good morning,
I own a Sukar oud and after 6 years of playing it I was lost in the sky by me happines of the sound that was coming out lately.

Last Monday I was trying to get to my cell phone while playing and I just touch the soundboard to the side of the neck. Just right where the soundboard starts under the neck. You can see the spot in photo.
The glue that holds together the soundboard to the ribs, not the soundboard, cracked. Maybe cause of the dry and hot weather.
I put some Titebond glue to my nail and carefully glued the spot.
Don't know why, but since then 80% of the sound is lost.
I went to my luthier here in Crete - Greece and anything seems to be perfect.

Any ideas?
Help the oudist find his smile again.

suz_i_dil - 7-25-2015 at 03:49 AM

Hello
the part you circle in red doesn't have a rib behind. It is a block of wood and this part doesn't make anything to the sound if you crack the soundboard there.
Actually it should even not crack because the whole part is glued. If you had a real open crack there it means there is a problem of the soundboard/neck block joint but that is weird and very unusual.
Check others areas for a crack or an unglued area.
If you really lost a lot of the sound it is another issue than the one you circle in red

jdowning - 7-25-2015 at 04:17 AM

Does your Sukar oud have a mechanical bolt tensioning device in the neck that holds the neck to neck block? If this screw has failed or the assembly become worn the neck may have been pulled up under string tension resulting in local separation of the glued joint between sound board and the neck block upper surface? Have you noticed a change in the string height over the neck joint position?

I know nothing about Sukar ouds but they are popular and highly regarded among some forum members so perhaps others have had a similar experience to yours and can comment? Samir has had some experience with repair of broken Sukar bolt tensioning devices so failures of this component - for whatever reason - are not unknown.

http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.ca/2010/08/when-sukar-oud-ne...