Mike's Oud Forums

Tailblock gap...

marzinp - 9-17-2006 at 11:39 AM

Hi! I've almost completed my first oud, following Dr Oud's book and Jameel's journal. I'm about to glue the face to the back, but I have a problem. In his book, Dr Oud recommends to arch the top of the 2 lower bout braces, in order to rise the bridge. I followed his instructions closely, and when I lie the face on the back, there is a gap between the face and the tailblock (about 1 cm). Should I force the face down to glue it to the tail block or should I rather reshape the rib to conform to the face profile?

Thanks for your advice!
Pierre

Jameel - 9-17-2006 at 05:01 PM

Pictures?

marzinp - 9-18-2006 at 01:13 AM

Sorry! My little problem can be seen on the two first pics.














Dr. Oud - 9-18-2006 at 08:28 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by marzinp
Hi! I've almost completed my first oud, following Dr Oud's book and Jameel's journal. I'm about to glue the face to the back, but I have a problem. In his book, Dr Oud recommends to arch the top of the 2 lower bout braces, in order to rise the bridge. I followed his instructions closely, and when I lie the face on the back, there is a gap between the face and the tailblock (about 1 cm). Should I force the face down to glue it to the tail block or should I rather reshape the rib to conform to the face profile?

Thanks for your advice!
Pierre

Do not force the face down to glue it. The face must lie on the neck and tail block without any distorsion and only slight pressure to close the joint for gluing. You need to shape the top edge for string clearance and put the face in a concave condition. This will prevent the face from distorting into a "S" curve that often happens with a thin flat face. The arch in the lower braces is to compensate for the relief in the top edge and align the bridge with the neck/fingerboard. It appears from the pictures that the rib top edge is not yet shaped down for the relief. The face may need to be pushed down slightly onto the top edge at the relieved area, but this will be reinforced by the string pressure when it is layed. The tail block must be aligned with the neck, but the sides should be lowered in front of the bridge area.

Nice looking work btw.

marzinp - 9-18-2006 at 10:20 AM

Shame on me! You're right!!! I've not been able to work on this project for a few month, so I just leaved the top rib flat. I just omitted to read the pages about the back relief again!!! I'm also "used" to build guitars with a domed top, wich is just the opposite (convex face in order to avoid deformation). I just shaped the relief from the top ribs and got an almost perfect fitting! Bless you Doc!

BTW, have you ever build a domed top oud? X braced? Kasha style? I guess many of the guitars' techniques could apply to the oud. But would it keep its tone???

Thanks again for saving me from a very big mistake!

Dr. Oud - 9-18-2006 at 02:58 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by marzinp....BTW, have you ever build a domed top oud? X braced? Kasha style? I guess many of the guitars' techniques could apply to the oud. But would it keep its tone???....
The domed top (arch top)guitars employ an elevated fingerboard to align the strings with the floating bridge of the arch top guitars. The Bashir design uses a floating bridge and shapes the top edge of the body down to align the bridge with the fingerboard. I believe the arch top is also a carved soundboard similar to the violin, rather than a braced plate as are ouds and most guitars. I have thought of using other bracing designs, fan, Kasha, lattice, etc, I just haven't had time to experiment yet. here's one builder who has...