Hifnawi Restoration by Jameel

I just wanted to share what I'm doing with my Mohamad el-Hifnawi oud. I decided to put Aquila Nylgut strings on it, and this was probably a mistake. The nylguts are NOT bad strings, but the oud being so old and the nyguts having such a high tension was not good for the oud. I noticed some separation happening from the soundboard and the bowl at the bottom of the oud. There were other blemishes that could use some work as well, so I decided to send the oud off to none other than my man, Jameel Abraham.

We decided to do the following:
1. Repair large split in pegbox back and refinish pegbox completely.
2. Clean grubby area between pegbox and neck joint.
3. Clean and polish tail end inlay and shams.
4. Splice in purfling at tail end.
5. Repair/remake nut.
6. Clean the oud and spruce up the finish on the back.

Jameel started on it this weekend, and I'm really excited about this. I can't wait to see it after he's done. Jameel has been kind enough to send me photos of his progress, and here's what we've got so far.

Thanks a million Jameelo.

Here's a shot of the separation at the pegbox.



Here's are some pictures of the section he removed and will replace.









And VOILA!



Here he prepared the bottom of the soundboard to receive the border purfling. There was a small section that was missing here, and also here is where the soundboard was beginning to separate from the bowl. So this is going to be a great fix.



Finally, some cosmetic work done to spruce up and clean/polish the ivory shams, tail piece, and pegbox tip. What a big difference.







Way to go Jameel!!!

Good job Jameelo

More progress

Here's a little update on what Jameel has done so far with the Hifnawi restoration job.

We decided to make the pegs flush with the sides of the pegbox. Now they don't protrude out like they did before. A much cleaner look, no doubt. Here are some shots.




And here you can see how he cleaned up the neck/pegbox joint. There was lots of buildup and excess glue there before.



Here are two pictures of the pegs refinished. Looking good!




If you remember, the ivory tailpiece was not inlaid into the bowl, but rather glued on top. It also had a cracked piece missing. Jameel removed the old tailpiece, and inlaid an identical new ivory piece into the bowl with ebony purfling and center hole and all. The following pictures detail the amazing job Jameelo did on this part of the restore.





Here's a picture of his drill press and plane. He used them to make the ebony plug in the tailpiece.




Next are some pictures detailing how he made the recess in the bowl with his router to accept the ivory tailpiece.





Check out how Jameelo clamped the tailpiece into the bowl. He made this special fixture to hold the oud so he could work on the end without just clamping the neck in a vise. This is very gentle on the oud, secure, and safe. It is a board with screws to tie rubber bands he made from a bicycle inner tube. He also clamped a thin board at the end of the fingerboard to keep the oud from sliding down. Is this guy innovative or what?




Here's a picture of the clamping caul he made to apply pressure as he glued in the tailpiece with hide glue.



And finally, a perfectly fitted inlaid tailpiece with ebony purling and plug.




All that's left now is to refinish the oud and string it up. Woo hoo. Thanks a million Jameelo!

!!!Wicked!!!

Did Jameel fix the separation crack at the bottom yet? any pictures of that?
Well done... Jameel I cant wait to see it refinished its gona be soo nice.

Getting Close

Here are some shots of the new nut and the new binding at the bottom of the oud.

New ivory nut...




I don't know if I have any shots of how the binding at the bottom used to look. But it was unique in that there was binding all around the perimeter of the oud except for about a 6-8 inch section at the bottom. In other words, that section of the soundboard was directly attached to the bowl with no binding. This is where there was a small section of it detaching from the bowl, and also a small section of binding missing (treble side) where it should have been. So we decided to have binding around the whole perimter. Here are some shots.





Jameelo took some steel wool to the face to clean it up a little. Here is a shot of the oud.



Next shots will be of the completed restore...Woo Hoo!

God bless your hands Jameel - Perfect Job

Mabrouk Mike for not only owning such a beautiful oud but for having such a wonderful talented friend like Jameel.

Play it in great health mate.

thanks a lot guys....Jameelo is the man though...ain't he?

Staining to match

Jameel spent about a week researching the best way to match the old stain to the replaced sections of the pegbox fix. Here's what he came up with. Being the perfectionist that he is, he told me it isn't a 100% perfect, but I'd venture to say that if it isn't it is 99.99%. One would have to look really close to notice a fix after this is refinished, and even then it looks a million times better than it did before. Way to go my friend!

Jameel, you are truly an artist, innovator, and a perfectionist!

Congratulations Mike, you and Jameel have somehow found a way to take a perfect oud and make it better!

Re - Spacing Bridge

As you all know Jameel made a new ivory nut for the oud. We needed to re-space the holes in the bridge as the high c course was too close to the bottom of the neck. So Jameel plugged the old holes in the bridge and drilled new ones using a very cool looking bendable drill bit. Then he restrung the oud. Next photos will be of the finished restore job.

Final Pictures

We'll let the photos do the talking.

Stunning

Wonderful work Jameel!

A truly elegant instrument! Great to see that it will be preserved with the respect it deserves.

Congratulations Mike. Enjoy your baby in good health!

10/10