Hello all! I was just browsing around the internet, looking to see if I could find a place that made guitars w/ an oud look to them.
Can an oud or a lavta be converted into a 6-string guitar? I realize it might not sound as good, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. Any idea if
something like that exists or if there are people out there who could make one?
Thanks for the help!Jason - 11-13-2006 at 08:47 PM
Check out the Godin glissentar..... it's basically an 11 string fretless guitarbillkilpatrick - 11-14-2006 at 12:43 AM
... click on "musikinstrumente" from the left-hand column and then on "Lauten & Mandolinen" from the "Streich- & Zupfinstrumente" column in
the middle of the page. you might also try "Akustische Gitarren" and the wierd and wild (at times) section called "Sonstige Zupfinstr.."
they almost always have a bowl-backed guitar or two up for auction - you sometimes see them in the states on ebay as well.
but jason's advice on the "glissentar" is best - looks like a wonderful instrument.will_oud - 11-14-2006 at 06:07 AM
I believe Sandi at Kankaya Music has a guitar necked oud, but I'm not sure. I thought I saw something like that on the Kankaya site.
William F. Sparksjdowning - 11-14-2006 at 11:11 AM
Guitars with bowl shaped, lute like bodies were popular in Germany during the 19th C. serving a period of Romantic/Folk revival in musical tastes and
were still being made to my knowledge well into the 1960's.
Unfortunately, many fine and historically important lutes were converted during the 19th C to this type of instrument - vandalised by cutting off the
original necks and replacing them with guitar necks and machine heads as well as replacing the original bridges.
Rather than repeating history by converting a perfectly good oud to a "guitar-lute" it would surely be much better to build such an instrument from
scratch?dahbus - 11-14-2006 at 01:22 PM
Wow, thanks for all the help folks! I'm going to look into all of those leads now!billkilpatrick - 11-14-2006 at 02:52 PM
once again, i'd agree with jdowling - ouds are ouds and guitars are guitars. i've wasted i don't know how much money and a great deal of effort
trying out different tunings on a lovely little instrument called a charango. in the end - accepting the instrument as it is (fixed vibrating length
included) - the recommended tuning is the one that works best.
the glissentar (for example) is an instrument in its own right - neither guitar nor oud. trying to make an oud a guitar or a guitar an oud will only
lead to grief.
the fine details in each instance are what counts. my egyptian oud sounds different than my syrian oud - i don't know why this should be but it's so.
there's nothing to stop you playing a guitar as if it were an oud but you'ld be missing out - me thinks.
verisimilitude - billBranko - 11-15-2006 at 04:29 AM
See:http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=3459
You can hear difference in sound with/without frets. I removed frets after few weeks of playing. Fret experiment was a bad idea. dahbus - 11-15-2006 at 10:22 PM
I was thinking, maybe I could throw 6 single strings in a bouzouki and tune it them to guitar tuning. Maybe that would work?radixfc - 11-16-2006 at 04:05 AM
I´ve got an instrument similar to what you search... It´s a kind ok kwitra (similar to lavta) put with 6 single strings instead of 4 double
strings...
I really ´can´t play it as a guitar... of course it doesn´t sound as an oud... I use ir for sounds as vihuela or guiterna, but as billpatrick says,
if you want guitar sound better try with spanish guitar
I post photo
hi from spainRene - 11-16-2006 at 05:57 AM
I know this may seem heretical, and as I'm new I should probably keep quiet, but it is possible to tune Ouds as guitars if you get the right strings.
A friend did just this and a lot of fun it was too. Maybe tension wise on the neck it was a bit risky, but it didn't break or warp. Any thoughts
anyone ?Jason - 11-16-2006 at 06:54 AM
Get a set of strings guaged for F A D G C F tuning retune the bottom string to E and the two highest strings to B & E. The tension listed for
these sets is usually the same as a regular set of strings. I recently tried this tuning on my oud but the instrument just doesn't speak well at all.
I'm going to be going back to D G A D G C as soon as I can afford another set of strings.billkilpatrick - 11-16-2006 at 10:54 AM
Quote:
Originally posted by Jason
... but the instrument just doesn't speak well at all.
that's it ... perfectly said.
heaven is in the details. i've tried to adapt almost every instrument i've owned to do something other than what it was designed to do - what it
evolved to do - and in every instance (aside from the charango as mini-vihuela) it's been a huge waste of time, money and doubley-huge waste of mental
and physical energy.
what we do as humans is natural - we're a force of nature - and most of the time a guitar or an oud is designed - naturally - to do just what nature
intended it to do.
going with the flow (much like a dead fish) - billkevin - 11-16-2006 at 01:15 PM
Quote:
I removed frets after few weeks of playing. Fret experiment was a bad idea.
he he he ,
I pulled all the frets off a classical guitar once, I think I was 17 at the time. I don't think I played that thing ever again. I should look around
and see if it survived....
I have also recently tried using a piece of wire to create a movable fret on a well loved (read: beat up) acoustic guitar. THAT worked
remarkably well, except for scratching the finish on the neck, that is. That worked so well I am thinking about repeating that little experiment.
Of course, it is still not a substitute for an oud!Branko - 11-17-2006 at 02:42 AM
Guitar tuning on oud should be used on 7 string oud, becouse on 6 string oud drone string is missing with that tuning.Jason - 11-17-2006 at 03:16 AM
Yep, that's the other thing. It just doesn't feel like an oud anymore to me.dahbus - 11-19-2006 at 01:28 AM
Maybe I could convert a bouzouki to a guitar easier...hmm...will_oud - 11-19-2006 at 01:54 AM
I don't think that the bouzouki idea is good. If you are looking for n oud sound, but you want frets, I suggest yu look at the forum topic "mandol
tunings." There is a website Udi John Urlich posted of a man who plays mandol. He may be able to find you a mandol.
