Voskiluis - 5-12-2005 at 09:14 PM
Hey all, it's a pleasure to be apart of this forum as there are many experienced oud owners. I'm a new person to this forum and the oud. My knowledge
is very limited on the instrument, but I'm very impressed with it. I'm looking forward into owning an Oud that is of good quality (sound, material,
and decoration doesn't hurt) and reasonable price. I went searching for places that would sell it, such as Amazon, Ebay and other online musical
instrument stores, and found that many of the Ouds in the market are of either Arabic (Egyptian, Syrian) or Turkish styles and I'm not sure what the
differences are between them. I'm only looking forward into owning one Oud for now, and I found a couple from these sites that gathered my attention.
I'm not sure if these are good or over-priced, and not sure if these are ones I should be looking into. Here they are:
http://www.larkinam.com/product.asp_Q_pn_E_OUD010_A_Learn+To+Play+t...
http://www.heritageethnicmusic.com/site/607029/product/OUDT
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B0002JKKMM/sr=1-10/qi...
Thanks for the help everyone! 
SamirCanada - 5-12-2005 at 09:52 PM
My sugestion to you Voskiluis, would be search the forums extensively before you purchase a oud. And read up on the differences between the many types
of ouds.
To let you know quickly you need to decide which repertoire of music is most intersting to you and that you want to focus on, either
Turkish/Ottoman/Armenian/Greek OR Arabic music. A turkish oud features a shorter scale length and is tuned differently then a Arabic oud. this is
just a quick awnser.. you should read more of the topics in this forum.
Lark in the morning has been all around described has a poor carrier of ouds. My advice would be to stay away from any comercial sites like the ones
you mentioned. They are basicaly seling art work made to be hung up on walls and most off those models arent really playable.
Wheter you decide to go for either a turkish or arabic oud the two dealers that seem in ur price range that have had verry good feedback are
for Turkish
http://www.eraydinsazevi.com.tr/ - Haluk from Turkey
For a Arabic oud
http://stores.ebay.com/Nile-Shop - Yehia from Egypt
Ultimately my advice to you would be to contact yehia from egypt through the nileshop email and ask for a oud made by Maurice Shehata.
Happy ouding
Cheers
Samir
Voskiluis - 5-13-2005 at 12:24 PM
Thank you so much SamirCanada. All this information made things a lot easier and saved me from buying something pointless that can't play efficiently.
I'm most likely going to be concentrating on learning how to play Armenian music with my oud. In other words, music that is similar to John
Bilezikjian's:
http://www.amazon.com/exec/obidos/tg/detail/-/B000008U38/qid=111601...
From what I've heard, Armenians most commonly use an oud identical to Turkish style. Those sites you've sent me are wonderful and great prices, but
I'm also going to take a Najarian oud into consideration as well. The only thing is that I don't know what his prices range for the A-100 and
A-200:
http://www.oud.net/acoustic.htm
Thanks again Samir.
Gabriel - 5-13-2005 at 09:00 PM
I deffinetly recomend http://www.eraydinsazevi.com.tr/ - Haluk from Turkey
His prices are very low and the qulity is very high
Jonathan - 5-14-2005 at 08:38 AM
Since you want to emulate John Bilezikjian's style (I am pretty much trying to do the same), why not contact him--I know that he has some ouds for
sale, although I do not know the price range.
His email is:
dantzrec@aol.com
And, if you are anywhere near Boston, he is going to be performing with the Boston Pops--the first time the oud will be performed on that stage. John
will be guest soloist at the Boston Pops on June 11, 2005, at Symphony Hall in Boston.