Musa - 1-26-2006 at 06:34 PM
On Carpenter's Oud Rehab thread, I discovered that we both have similar ouds from the Damascus oud maker, Ayman Cassem. Although both started out as
"wallhangers," mine was rehabed to a suprisingly good instrument by a violin luthier, and Carpenter (who is a violin luthier) is in the process of
rehabing his (and it's looking really good!). We both noticed that the bowl was of far superior quality in comparison to the rest of the oud, which
led to the question if this maker also makes higher quality ouds.
So, does anyone else know of this oud maker and if they produce any quality ouds?
Here again is the English label on my oud:
Ayman Kassem, Oriental Lute Factory, Damascus, Syria; phone # 710177; Mohajrin - Bash Kateb Salamyeh; Date of Fabrication: 1989.
Thanks for your help.
Salamat,
Musa
Musa - 1-29-2006 at 10:57 AM
I see that a lot of folks have looked at this posting, but no bites yet. But I know that people have seen these ouds out there, through my discussions
of oud makers and oudis. For example, Viken Najarian told me that he has come across them, but his general impression of them was that they were junk.
But due to the quality of the bowl, and the bracing (about which my violin luthier told me that somebody knew what he was doing), I'm still holding
out for the possiblity that this factory makes or made some quality ouds (that don't need major work to get there.)
Looking forward to hearing from somebody.
Salamat,
Musa