marzinp - 8-27-2005 at 04:04 PM
I find many pictures of very beautiful ouds on the web, some of these have lots of ribs! Like this beauty from Mike's collection: Are the thin white
strips real ribs or veneer purflings inlaid between ribs?
Can any of you Oud gurus 
tell us more about the advanced decorative techniques
used by the masters?
Thanks!
Dr. Oud - 8-28-2005 at 07:49 AM
The thin strips or seperators are solid wood between each rib (vault). They are sometimes made of lamination cut into narrow strips. The back of the
oud is sanded after it is built up to smooth out the glue joints and the shape, so veneer wouldn't work here. Applying veneer after the build up would
be more difficult than laminating the seperators between the ribs or vaults. The exact teqnique of the master is unknown because none of those guys
never recorded their procedures, but any wookworking technique for inlay and marketry will work. The decorative pieces themselves are made of
laminations of small pieces of wood, bone, plastic and even metal, glued into logs, then sliced thin for inlaying. You will need to get inventive to
clamp inlay on the curved back of the body or pegbox.