INFAMOUD - 12-5-2006 at 11:49 PM
I was wondering what you guys think of this Oud..And what you guys know about Khalifa the maker and his Ouds..This is from the same gentleman that was
selling the Nahat on Ebay.This one has a nice video too..
http://cgi.ebay.com/OLD-DAMASCUS-OUD-ALI-KHALIFA-1985-LUTE-GUITAR-S...
Jason - 12-6-2006 at 05:46 AM
I was looking at that oud last night. It certainly sounds very good, a nice classic sound. I'm sure someone with more knowledge about Khalifa's ouds
will chime in but from what I remember the older ouds under his name are quite good but the ouds made since his son(s) took over the company should be
avoided.
INFAMOUD - 12-6-2006 at 11:47 AM
Thanx for you reply Jason..I remember reading that somewhere about his sons selling Ouds that were not up to par with their Fathers Craftsmanship..But
also is their a authenticity issue with Khalifa Ouds in the same sence as Nahat Ouds...Anyone else care to comment on the subject?
excentrik - 12-6-2006 at 12:13 PM
I have the exact same oud only without any of the ornamental stuff- they do sound OK, but the shams are plastic, the nut is wood, and the face is
thick with a bad book-match.
I just shaved the face down real thin and stripped the cheap shellack-esque varnish and the thing sounded OK- dont buy it unless you want to put some
work into it- (thats just my opinion).
Tarik
palestine48 - 12-6-2006 at 12:22 PM
yoyu pretty much hit it on the nail. The stuff his kids make is pretty much crap although the "official" Ali khalifas I heard are good ones. My
assumption is that if the oud was built in 1985, asl yourself if its legite. I am not sure when he died but im assuming 1985 was in his later years
so ask yourself is ali capable of building a good oud at old age. again i dont know his circumstancres or how he died or how old he was.
Well on the bright side, I think his kids ouds are clearly identifiable because they are so slippioily made. glue everywhere, thick soundboards and
plastic rosettes. also the bowls more or less look the same. This bowl has a more unique figured wood.
the rosettes on this one seem to be better than plastic but not sure what they are and there is a lot of detail to it. one thing that I can be
certain of is that of evenm if this was a knock off, they prob did a better job than his children will ever do.
Also i dunno if its the lighting but if u look at the bottom of the soundboard u can see pale white spots especially around the bridge. my assumption
is the bridge was replaced and maybe sanded around that area to even out the surface for a new bridge? i dunno im not an expert.
but also I wanted to mention on a personal note, that the first oud u sold, the learner one reminded me a lot of a decently built khalife. so if you
are really interested in a khalife I think you would expect to get what you got from that oud u had.
also another positive note I heard that that even tourist khalife's have decent bowls so if u knew how to modify an oud you can make it pretty decent.
'73 Khalifa for sale
freya - 12-6-2006 at 10:15 PM
Quite honestly, I like my Shehata "Nahat Copy" a lot more than this '73 Khalifa but I'm only asking $450 for the Khalifa (plus shipping in the US
only). I've got the boxwood fillers in the peg holes but haven't leveled them or reamed them for the new set of ebony violin pegs I have (there were
rosewood viola pegs that really didn't work smoothly against the existing peg head wood). In any case, I'll have the new pegs in and the oud strung up
with pyramid orange's in a few weeks. I have also cut a new bone nut for it.
Send me a U2U if you are seriously interested. The links below contain pictures from previous posts.
Harry
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=2953#pid191...
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=4153#pid272...
SamirCanada - 12-7-2006 at 07:40 AM
The Label on the Ebay one says Ali khalifa and Sons...
The one you have Harry says Ali khalifa and Brothers.
INFAMOUD - 12-20-2006 at 02:35 AM
Thanx for all your help guys..I went ahead and made a spontanious bid on it and won...The Oud is in my hands and it does need a litlle work here and
there..But sounds nice and feels sturdy for its age....Thanx again..
mjamed - 12-20-2006 at 04:16 AM
i have an oud from ali khalifah (best quality). it sounds really good.
I didn't let him do the finishing.
I took it to bahrain oud company to do the finishing becasue Ali khalifah finishing is not really good and somehow the oud is not as strong as other
oud so you might need to take good care of it.
I will try to post some photos soon.
INFAMOUD - 12-21-2006 at 01:22 AM
Hey sounds good..
Looking forward to some Khalifa Oud photos aside from the new ones for sale on Ebay..
excentrik - 12-21-2006 at 11:03 AM
as soon as I get mine out of storage, I'll post the photos of the work I did to mine-
tarik
INFAMOUD - 12-21-2006 at 11:41 AM
Ok cool...I hope u didnt add geese or voltures to yours..Ha Ha just kidding..Looking forward to it..
excentrik - 12-21-2006 at 06:35 PM
excuse me! I prefer black diamonds sir.
sir excentrik