idoromano - 8-9-2008 at 03:10 AM
my turkish oud has a curved in soundboard, is it good or bad?
Jassim - 8-9-2008 at 04:09 AM
what is curved ?
idoromano - 8-9-2008 at 05:17 AM
the red line is the curved soundboard and the dotted line is the perimeter of the bowl and the soundboard
Curvature
nayoud - 8-9-2008 at 08:27 AM
idoromano
As far as I know, and judging from guitars, this could be a serious problem (Sunken bridges) due to low humidity conditions. Did the sounboard develop
a crack?
I'd send it to a luthier ASAP.
Best
Hisham
idoromano - 8-9-2008 at 08:37 AM
it's a new ud and it was curved from the begining, it sound great exept a buzzing that is suitible for a turkish oud, maybe because it's a new oud it
will take time until it will have a final shape and sound...
i know that turkish tanbur has a curved soundboard as part of the sound... but i don't konw about the oud...
Peyman - 8-9-2008 at 10:28 AM
Some makers shave the sides to allow for this type of curvature (refer to Dr. Oud's construction book). It helps with the sound and the picking. Some
saz's have it too, as you said, some tanburs have it (They call the curvature "Bombe" in Turkish).
jdowning - 8-9-2008 at 12:09 PM
A shallow dip in the soundboard between bridge and rose is normal (on a tied bridge instrument) - due to string tension rotating the bridge and
deflecting the soundboard downwards. Excessive dip, may be indicative of structural problems requiring correction (e.g. loose braces) - or simply a
result of too high string tension.
If it sounds 'good' - it is good.
This topic was also discussed last year in the thread "Oud Soundboard Dip/Warp", Advice, Tips and Questions forum.
Melbourne - 8-9-2008 at 07:55 PM
Urm....judging by that diagram, which am sure has been exaggerated, this oud is not well, for all the reasons jdowning mentioned above. It might
still sound good, but its not going to get better, if its sinking, it will continue to go down, it'll eventually settle, but theres no hope it will
suddenly start to rise up again.
Dr. Oud - 8-11-2008 at 10:09 AM
The curve is built in by the maker to avoid the "S" shaped distortion caused by the string tension on a flat, thin soundboard. Without the built in
"curve" or concave face, the soundboard would twist around the brace forward of the bridge, and raise up below the large sound hole, where it can
interfere with the strings, or at least inhibit the depth of the mizrab stroke. The curve also provides more clearance for the risha allowing a wider
range of tones with mizarab technique. It is intentional and is not a problem, but rather a deliberate feature found on all Turkish ouds following the
Manol design.