TheBlindBard - 10-15-2017 at 11:24 PM
hello all,
I recently received a gift from an organization that I volunteer with. I play mandolin as my main instrument. At an event, the director of the
organization gifted me with an armenian Oud. I just know that the spare strings that came with it say eabead and that there are a lot of cracks on the
front of the instrument. there is beautiful rosework in the sound holes that looks really decorative. I am blind and will ened my dad to help me find
the brand. They say it was hand carved. I had to do a lot of cleaning with it due to being really grimey and dirty. Used standard lemon oil on
fingerboard and on the parts of body that looked like they needed it. Any information or help you can give me would be appreciated.
thank you
Greg - 10-15-2017 at 11:35 PM
Hi Bard, Welcome to the forums. What an exciting concept, a mysterious Armenian oud with no known provenance. That's the sort of stuff that gets us
all excited in the hope that it will be an, as yet undiscovered, Bedrossian or something of similar quality.
When you get the details of the maker from the inside label, you can go to Dr. Jonathan Varjabedian's Armenian oud web site to see if you can find the
maker - http://www.varjouds.com/armenian_oud.htm
And please post some photos of the instrument and the label on these forums. Some of the experts on the forums may be able to suggest how to fix the
soundboard.
Regards,
Greg
TheBlindBard - 10-17-2017 at 05:51 AM
Thank you for the reply. I will have help posting pictures of the Oud. sorry for the double post, I didn't see that this was accepted as a question.
Is the repair something I could do on my own, or should I take it to a luthier? the person who works on my mandolin said that they could most likely
help. I don't know the cost, though.
TheBlindBard - 10-17-2017 at 06:05 AM
The label on the inside says "Can muzik magazasi"
No clue what that means 
al-Halabi - 10-17-2017 at 06:45 AM
It means 'Can music shop' ('Can' is pronounced 'Jan' in Turkish).
TheBlindBard - 10-17-2017 at 11:00 AM
so, it's just from a music shop, basically? neat 
Thank you very much.
I'm going to tune an old mandolin to bead ot mess around with the tuning while I wait to get it fixed up.
Are there any good things I should look at for Armenian music?
TheBlindBard - 10-17-2017 at 11:31 AM
Could I string the oud up since most of the strings were moved while cleaning. is it safe to play with the cracks in the soundboard? not sure how much
tension this instrument takes.
TheBlindBard - 10-17-2017 at 12:51 PM
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TheBlindBard - 10-19-2017 at 04:01 PM
Does anybody have any idea? the mandolin repair guy I know doesn't have the tools to work on it, and any violin shops here don't know what to do with
it. beginning to think and worry that I'll have to send this thing away to be worked on, which provides it's own complications.
Thank you gys for your help so far.
hamed - 10-20-2017 at 12:09 PM
Hi there,
This looks like a nice oud, I would advise against stringing it up as these are very delicate instruments, you will most likely make the cracks worse.
Although I cannot tell from the photos, I would think it should be possible to close the cracks without removing the face . I'm sure someone else on
this forum will chime in who has better repair experience.
TheBlindBard - 10-31-2017 at 04:46 AM
I got my oud back from the luthier. cracks are all closed up and it plays beautifully. I'm loving it so far. got it tuned dabead
Greg - 11-1-2017 at 03:30 AM
Hi Bard,
Good to hear that you have the cracks successfully fixed and that you are now happily playing it. A great outcome.
Greg
TheBlindBard - 11-6-2017 at 01:51 PM
Yes, I am very happy with it I found a person hwo was taught by a famous oud
instructor. the person's name is raffy wartanian. been getting some good listening material from them is a very interesting new world of theory to dig in to! thank you for all of your help.