I shall be replacing the pegs on my oud later this year.
Are the peg heads on an oud usually all made the same size or are they normally made to gradually reduce in size from largest at the nut to smallest
at the end of the pegbox? I cannot tell because currently the pegs in my oud are an odd mixture with different sized peg heads.
Thanks
Johnmavrothis - 9-2-2006 at 11:44 AM
Hi,
They are generally the same size, your oud may have had pegs replaced at different times over the years.
Take care,
mavrothisSamirCanada - 9-3-2006 at 03:36 AM
Like Mav said on most ouds there generaly the same size. Only my Foad oud they are tapered and go down in size the further you go from the nut. As
long as there well fitted and made of a hard enough wood the rest is a mather of taste. I dont see how it would affect the task of tuning the oud.jdowning - 9-3-2006 at 06:00 AM
Thank you both for your comments.
If I have a choice, it may be more elegant to make the peg heads reduce in size towards the tail end of the pegbox - not a problem as I shall be
making the replacement pegs anyway.
The attached image gives a better idea of the pegs as they are now arranged, as they came out of the pegbox - the nut position being on the left of
the picture. As you can see there are a mix of possibly four peg styles. The first peg, left side top row seems to be a violin style peg and has an
MOP dot in the peghead. The next three pegs in the row are a different style and seem to come from the same set with concave shaped pegheads and a
double collar on the shanks. The last two pegs in the row are again a different style with convex shaped peg head and single collar on the shank.
On the bottom row, first peg left side has a convex shaped peghead (like the last two pegs) but with a double collar. The next five pegs have concave
shaped pegheads with double collars and seem to be from the same set as the three matching pegs in the top row. As this style of peg is in the
majority I might conclude that these are possibly the original pegs and the style that I should copy for the replacements.
As can be seen, the peg heads generally diminish in size towards the tail side of the pegbox - hence my query.
All pegs have been made from an unknown white wood stained black.
Excuse my ignorance but in what city or region of the ME was the Foad oud made? Do you think that tapering peg head size might be a unique feature of
ouds made only by this maker?
Thanks again
JohnSamirCanada - 9-3-2006 at 08:00 AM
The Foad oud is from Iraq,
I couldnt give you a definitive awnser if he is the only one to make them reducing in size. I think I might have seen pictures of a Fauzy also from
Iraq that had that same feature. But just to clear things up and make shure were talking about the same thing... Iam talking about the pegs becoming
shorter... in other words they protrude less and less from the peg box. Iam not talking about the actual peg head. I will look to find the thread
where I posted the pictures of that oud.jdowning - 9-3-2006 at 08:39 AM
Thanks for the clarification. So unless I hear otherwise, I guess it can be assumed for now that standard practice is that peg heads should be
uniform in size.
Varying protusion of the shanks from the side of the pegbox is likely a nice cosmetic touch and a lot easier to arrange than making graduated sized
peg heads. I suppose that this arrangement would have the disadvantage of causing the peg shanks exposed within the pegbox to gradually increase in
diameter towards the tail end of the pegbox making tuning adjustments more critical as diameter increases. Less critical if nylon strings are used
rather than gut or silk(do any oud players still use gut or silk strings these days?)
All pictures welcome.
ThanksSamirCanada - 9-3-2006 at 08:52 AM
Here is the link to the older thread but I dont think the pictures give you a good perspective.
Gut and Silk strings arent a practical choice anymore because the nylons sound really good and dont represent half the headeache. Actualy... I have
never tried gut or silk strings but from what I have heard I dont want to get into it. I guess there is some extreme purist still using them.... I
dont know just maybe?
The diameter of the peg would increase towards the end of course if you didnt shave off the pegs slightly more as you went down towards the end of the
pegbox... but thats why its less fuss and more practical to keep them the same length.jdowning - 9-3-2006 at 04:16 PM
Agreed and thanks for the images.
This is a bit off topic but I guess the situation within the lute fraternity is a little different with a lot of interest focussed on use of
'original' plain gut (and silk) strings in order to try to reproduce an 'authentic' sound of the 16th C. - not an easy objective to attain! The sound
produced by nylon and nylon overspun strings, on a lute, is quite different to that of plain gut or silk and the same situation very likely applies to
the oud. To many, the modern nylon string sound (on a lute) is inferior to that of gut or silk.
I guess that oud players work with a living tradition and, therefore, tend to look forward - accepting modern innovation and the resultant changes in
the sound of the oud as part of an on going "Darwinian" evolutionary process whereas lutenists tend to look backwards in history to try to recreate
things as they once were in the 'golden days' of the instrument.
When I purchased my oud in Cairo in 1965, I also bought a spare set of strings from the music store. These were gut trebles and overspun silk basses -
manufactured in France. Times have changed!Dr. Oud - 9-5-2006 at 11:00 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by jdowning
...Do you think that tapering peg head size might be a unique feature of ouds made only by this maker?...
I
don't believe the variable peg head (grip) size is intentional, but more likely a consequence of the mixture of pegs replacing the original ones on
your oud. Changing the peg head size or the shank diameter would add no advantage and would require a lot more work. The peg length is always adjusted
to keep the grips in line. This will require cutting off and smoothing over the excess shank past the opposite pegbox wall.jdowning - 9-5-2006 at 01:38 PM
Thanks Richard - that makes a lot of sense. I guess this means that I may have an even greater mixture of pegs from different sets than I first
thought!
John
