Mike's Oud Forums

New to this Oud thingamajig

Moose - 6-27-2006 at 02:33 PM

Hello! I'm in Oman and I bought my uncle an Oud, but I wanted to have it strung and tuned in the most common Arab fashion. It seems that the 11 string tuning is the most common from internet searches, but the guy at the local music store is from the Phillippines and knows NOTHING about ouds.

I bought an Egyptian Oud made by a company called Dandash by Walid Hamido (picture of him seems to be inside the oud as well). It seemed like a fine beginner model and looked "pretty" with lots of fair inlay work. There was no buzzing from the strings when you plucked them (I knew enough about that being a classical guitarist). But the choice of strings is what is so confusing. There doesn't seem to be any one solid beginners choice. The oud I bought came with 9 strings which I knew was wrong. I went back to the store and I was given a set of Pyramid 665 strings with a high F 11th and 12th string option... what to do... Is this for high F tuning and would it be just as beneficial to tune the thing to the Iraqi High F tuning?

Hope you can help..... very confused....

Moose...

Mondragon - 2-11-2007 at 08:47 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Moose
Hello! I'm in Oman and I bought my uncle an Oud, but I wanted to have it strung and tuned in the most common Arab fashion. It seems that the 11 string tuning is the most common from internet searches, but the guy at the local music store is from the Phillippines and knows NOTHING about ouds.

I bought an Egyptian Oud made by a company called Dandash by Walid Hamido (picture of him seems to be inside the oud as well). It seemed like a fine beginner model and looked "pretty" with lots of fair inlay work. There was no buzzing from the strings when you plucked them (I knew enough about that being a classical guitarist). But the choice of strings is what is so confusing. There doesn't seem to be any one solid beginners choice. The oud I bought came with 9 strings which I knew was wrong. I went back to the store and I was given a set of Pyramid 665 strings with a high F 11th and 12th string option... what to do... Is this for high F tuning and would it be just as beneficial to tune the thing to the Iraqi High F tuning?

Hope you can help..... very confused....

Moose...

Mondragon - 2-11-2007 at 09:08 AM

I recently bought an oud made by Walid Hamido while in Cairo Egypt. I play guitar and I'm just beginning to learn about the oud. The salesman said it is a professional model, and in my opinion it is at the very least a good student model. It has a nice sound, no string buzz and the intonation is pretty darn good. The finish is plain with no inlay or details, nevertheless it is a beautiful looking instrument. I only wish it came with a better case. Does anyone know where I can buy a good hardshell case for my oud?

The Egyptian way of stringing an oud is with 9 strings, so your oud is not strung wrong. You can add more strings if you want. I have it tuned right now to DADGC. Right now I just mess around with it. I need to learn more about arabic music and find a good teacher to play it in an authentic style.

Good Luck, Mondragon

Hagop - 2-15-2007 at 01:41 PM

You can get a hardshell oud case from http://www.larkinthemorning.com for $185 USD, or just google search it and shop around for the best price. People sell them on ebay once in a while so check that out as well.

Hope this helps,

Hagop