Renato - 5-21-2005 at 10:22 PM
Hi there,
I'm writing for my friend who has a Najarian, 1998. It's very nice. He had the same old strings on it for about 200 years until I told him to change
them. He did, and now, when he plays higher up on the neck, and onto the body, the first string (doubled) (highest) strings; the intonation is
completely off, even tough when they are played individually, they are in tune with one another. This was never the case before. Someone told him
that it could be the strings, though I tend to not believe this. Is this a bowing of the neck or face due to a new tension?
What could be the problem. This oud, didn't have such a problem before.
mavrothis - 5-21-2005 at 10:53 PM
Hi,
The first thing your friend should do is pick one of the strings and reverse it. This means take the end that's tied to the bridge and put to the
peg, and vice versa.
This usually fixes the problem, b/c strings are usually a little thicker on one end. When stringing an oud, you should always try and have both
string ends going into the bridge to be similar in thickness (this sounds weird, but it's true).
Another thing might be that the strings are defective. Believe me, this is not so hard to believe. Strings are factory made, it's only logical that
there will be some duds.
Finally, there might be a problem with the fingerboard at that point, but I really suspect it's the strings.
Experiment, and definitely contact Viken Najarian and get his advice. He's usually helpful about this sort of thing, especially with his own ouds.
Take care,
mavrothis
spyrosc - 5-22-2005 at 12:33 AM
I agree with Mav. Reverse the strings.
Spyros C.
Brian Prunka - 5-22-2005 at 05:58 AM
Mav's right, bad strings are not that uncommon and can cause intonation problems. I've had this happen before and new strings solved it.
spyros mesogeia - 5-25-2005 at 10:44 PM
Dear friend,
Many times I had this problem with strings,especially with the nylon ones.....
Do as Mavroudis says.Viken is a very respectable oudmaker.But I can say for sure that 90% is the strings responsable.
Regards to all
Spyros
paulO - 5-26-2005 at 02:23 PM
One more vote for "It's the strings" -- I had a new Kyvelos oud right out of the case, with a bad top (D) string pair. I thought -- dammit, I've
waited all this time for this !! So I changed the top pair, and bingo -- all was well !! That was in 1975...over the years I've had nothing but
trouble with strings and have tried many different combinations. I always keep some extra D's around, just in case I run into some duds. Hank (who
posts frequently on this forum) can probably help you out. He sells strings under the MusiCaravan brand, and is very particualr about strings. Hey,
if you're L.A. call Viken and have him ship you some D's. Strings are a problem -- and for some reason, the top string seems to more prone to
intonation problems than the others. Good luck.
PaulO
Alan - 5-31-2005 at 05:00 PM
I had the same problem the high C string on my Fadel oud. As I went up the neck the intonation was off. I figured it was the strings. From advice
on this post I tried reversing the abberent string and putting the tied end on the peg. Problem solved. Learn something new every day.