TruePharaoh21 - 10-26-2005 at 04:13 PM
Hey guys,
http://cgi.ebay.com/Turkish-Oud-with-semi-hard-case_W0QQitemZ736119...
It looks fairly decent. Pickguard seems brand new. Don't know how much that "Oudi Hrant" claim holds, but hey, an oud is an oud.
TP21
paulO - 10-26-2005 at 05:13 PM
The oud looks pretty nice to me -- the info:
Oud is in excellent condition.
Made in Istanbul on March 25, 1972
Maker's name is Macit Esleyen ("Esleyen Saz Evi")
New front face, finger board, and finish on back.
Purchased from world-reknown oudist, Oudi Hrant.
The crucial info here is: new front face !! -- if you were buying, who did the replacement of the top is crucial. From the tiny pics, it looks like a
decent insturment, but no matter who the original instrument was purchased from, if it has a different top, then it's a different oud. It could be a
great sounding oud, but still any prospective buyer should get some more information.
PaulO
mavrothis - 10-26-2005 at 06:40 PM
That oud looks nice...I wonder how it sounds.
Andy - 11-2-2005 at 10:48 AM
I own an oud made by Isleyen (not Esleyen) 1974. The sound of my oud is excellent however I wish the action was a bit lower. The rosettes on the oud
on ebay are different than my green abalone rosettes which are the original ones along with the top. The work on the Islayen oud on ebay was done by
Viken Najarian of Calif which is evendent by the shape of the pickguard. The sound hole edges on my oud are tappered down to about 1mm. You can see
my Isleyen on both my site and also on David Parfitt's site. It would be nice to get a sound clip of the one on ebay.
Andy
http://www.geocities.com/antronig/oud.html
Jonathan - 11-2-2005 at 11:34 AM
I wouldn't give too much importance to the Udi Hrant provenance. I absolutely love Hrant, but I know that a lot of ouds crossed his hands--some
superb, some not. I have heard that often he kept an oud for a very short time, as people would often come up to him at performances and offer to buy
the oud he was playing.
oudmaker - 11-2-2005 at 11:44 AM
Hello Andy
I just need to say that tappered edges of the holes are sing of a good craftsman with quite know-how. I do not know Macit himself but you just show me
by noticeing the sound holes that he is a good oudmaker and you are a good observer.
Regards
Dincer
Andy - 11-3-2005 at 12:34 PM
Hello Dincer,
Thank you, this is the only oud that I have seen with the tappered edge. I recall from a classical guitar buiding class in the 70's that the better
lute builders and classical guitar makers tapperd their braces to a point but never heard of sound holes tappered untill I bought my Isleyen. Are
there other oud builders that you know of that use this method of tappering sound hole edges.
Jonathan,
I have heard the same about Hrant selling his "slightly used" ouds to his followers but I know he is not alone in this practice. The ouds that they
sold, I would like to believe, had to be of some quality and musical value otherwise Hrant and these others would not even bother putting their seal
of approval on them. BUT, unless the instrument is tested then we have no idea what we are buying.
Jonathan - 11-3-2005 at 12:48 PM
I wasn't disparaging Hrant. I love the guy's music. And yeah, a lot of udists will sell their instruments to fans--there is nothing wrong with
that. Heck, Hagopian's father bought Richard his oud directly from Hrant (and it is a superb oud). But, it would be easy to get sucked into that
whole train of thought that "this is Hrant's oud so it must be awesome." Not sure that you can do that. He had a lot of ouds at one time or
another.
Manol taperred his sound holes. I think Kyvelos does.
Andy - 11-3-2005 at 06:16 PM
Don't believe Peter tapered his sound holes unless he is now. I am going by the one he made for me in 1974.
Jonathan - 11-3-2005 at 06:46 PM
All I am going by is a face that he changed for me in 2000 which, I believe, had it. But, I could be wrong.