Below is a video of a luthier who alledgedly modified the bracing and the bridge of a Ghadban oud which apparently made the oud sound better and with
30% more resonance/volume:
My question is, if all that is true, then why wouldn't Ghadban originally engineer the oud with the modifications that this man provided?
An increase in 30% more resonance/volume is substantial so I'm skeptical. Curious what others with more experience in oud construction have to say.Jody Stecher - 11-24-2019 at 02:28 PM
Why not ask Nazih Ghadban? He's the one who posted the video.
My own thought is that a gain in one area may be a loss in another. Sometimes more volume can result in a shortening the life of the instrument for
instance. But really I don't know.animalwithin - 11-24-2019 at 04:35 PM
Why not ask Nazih Ghadban? He's the one who posted the video.
My own thought is that a gain in one area may be a loss in another. Sometimes more volume can result in a shortening the life of the instrument for
instance. But really I don't know.
I did see he posted it but didn't think to contact him! I suppose I could send him an email, I was just really curious.
How does a gain in volume lead to a shortening of the life of the instrument?Jody Stecher - 11-24-2019 at 07:32 PM
It doesn't necessarily lead to that but some ways of increasing the volume will. Thinning the soundboard, increasing the size of the sound hole(s),
thinning the braces, these are some things that in certain circumstances lead to apparently increased volume (it seems louder only to the player) and
hastens the death of the instrument.
Anyway no luthier knows everything there is to know about building an instrument. The best luthiers are permanent students, always seeking to improve
their work. I would think a philosopher-luthier such as Nazih Ghadban would be interested to learn how to make even better instruments. Speaking of
volume and his instruments I have one of his ouds. It is an excellent instrument. It had great tone form day one. But after a few years the tone got
even better. And then after a few more years it got considerably louder. Just from regular use. animalwithin - 11-24-2019 at 09:01 PM
Ah, I get what you're saying.
I have one of his ouds as well! They really do age beautifully, which is part of the reason why I thought the modifications in the video were
peculiar. Would be great to have a chat with Nazih Ghadban. Brian Prunka - 11-25-2019 at 02:50 PM
Anyway no luthier knows everything there is to know about building an instrument. The best luthiers are permanent students, always seeking to improve
their work.
This is a very important point.
Arabic oud in particular seems to be full of mysteries.SamirCanada - 11-25-2019 at 06:19 PM
I remember chatting with Nazih about this. You should know that they are luthiers and friends. Nazih has a lot of admiration for this Japanese luthier
from what I remember.
Also I don't know what was done with the braces. Looks more like the bridge was thinned out. There is school of thought in classical guitar making
that the bridge must be as light as possible and of hard wood in order to transfer energy from the strings to the top.
Jody said it best. Always learning. That's the key. Always striving to make instruments at the limit of failure. It has bit me in the arse also...
Making a top too thin and without enough bracing strength. Amazing sound but within a few years the top had failed and had to be removed and rebraced
entirely. SamirCanada - 11-25-2019 at 06:21 PM
Thank you Samir!! That answers my questions perfectly.
I have heard of the nuances of how a really thin top produces the best resonance/sound but yes, there is only so much thinness possible before it gets
too thin and the oud (or acoustic guitar) eventually falls apart. bulerias1981 - 5-5-2020 at 03:16 PM
"30%".. Says who? The guy that gets paid to slander the work of Nazih Ghadban.
Acoustics is a very fine art. It seems he's only removed mass of some parts.. this can be classified as "tuning", (maybe) There is a sweet spot. So
this method isn't going to work every time.
