Oud.Proff - 5-17-2017 at 12:41 AM
Dear all,
Several months ago, I've been to South Africa in a business trip. Accidentally, I came across what's known as the "African eagle molting zone",
whereby male bachelors (kicked out of the rest of the flock, in a natural behavioral way!). At a certain point of their lives, a certain breed of
those males need to grow further, as their original feathers can no longer carry their overly growing body size. Therefore, they are momentarily
exiled, to start a naturally challenging phase, of removing/picking their own feathers (de-feathering), in order to instigate a resumption of a new
fresh cycle of feather growth for the rest of their lives, and can then proceed with mating and survival (of the fittest !).
Subsequently, arrangements were made to get hold of suitable feathers, that can be rendered (in a multi-step procedure) into something else
(decorations, or more importantly to me, into oud rishas/picks/plectra). That's what we exactly did.
1. Upon screening, nearly 70% of the collected feathers are excluded (to to structural damage, severe contamination, etc.), the remaining 30% are
collected for further preparations.
2. Detergent cleansing step: the initially sound feathers then go through superficial cleaning/rinsing and hot steam (to get rid of the fatty tissues,
and other debris).
3. Biphasic disinfection processes (against viral and bacterial germs; since those majestic birds are often scavengers, eat other dead animals). This
is a very crucial step for health/safety purposes.
4. Enzymatic protein-digestion: this step aims to digest functional proteins potentially-remaining from the previous steps, and to assure presence of
keratinized (structural/non-functional) proteins.
5. Shaping, and design formations (3 designs are available basically).
For perfect conditioning, the risha hard side has to be soaked in olive oil for 20-60 days, for prolonged stable perfect form.
The results are astoundingly satisfying 
Here's a video showing the use of rishas on oud:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wHXj0tDzb70
Also, here are a couple of videos for Naseer Shamma using them:
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSpJZLBlsoP/?taken-by=oudproff&hl=en
https://www.instagram.com/p/BSqN6b-F9B-/?taken-by=oudproff&hl=en
Video for Jordanian oud virtuoso Tareq Jundi:
https://www.facebook.com/OudProf/videos/1297328193636283/
Can be purchased off eBay
Or directly (Price is $53/risha + $24 S&H for up to 12 rishas), if a Mike's member:
Email: oud.proff@gmail.com
OR
Instagram/Facebook Messenger @OudProff
