Mike's Oud Forums

buying a high quality oud

wahid soltani - 1-1-2009 at 11:32 AM

I have been learning the classical guitare for 8 years and
the oud for 5 years now, includind the music theory since school my teachers generally consider I am no longer a beginner but I am not a confirmed player yet. Despite this, I am considering buying a very good oud; I know thanks to my experience with the guitare that when we have a good instrument we practice more and get on faster, I simply know almost nothing on buying or selling an oud, I have 3 ouds, one from Syria (cost 400 US dollars in 2003), one from Algiers (600 euros in 2004) and one from Tunisia( bought in Paris 1650 euros last year 2008), but I heard other players playing with other ouds costing much more, from Syria and Egypt, and was really impressed can anybody give me tips in this field, with many thanks and good wishes for the years to come, Abdelwahid

Franck - 1-1-2009 at 12:42 PM

Hi,

For arabic ouds:
Wissam Joubran is a Palestinian luthier that lives in France, he's a master oud maker that studied in Cremona.
http://www.wissamjoubran.com/fr/

If you prefer Turkish ouds:
Ismail Fencioğlu lives in Montréal, Québec (Canada) and also is a master oud maker and a personal friend of mine.
Here's the e-mail address of Ismail
fenci@hotmail.com

Those are the ones that I know well of. Of course, there are also all those well known oud makers (Faruk Türünz, Nazih Ghadban, etc.)

Good luck

amtaha - 1-1-2009 at 01:14 PM

Check the beginning of this FAQ thread ...

http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=6809

Welcome aboard and good luck!

Franck - 1-1-2009 at 07:47 PM

Ramazan Calay (Turkish)

http://www.ramazancalay.com/english/biyografi.htm

YILDIRIM PALABIYIK (Turkish)

http://www.turkishouds.com/

wahid soltani - 1-2-2009 at 11:22 AM

thanks a lot to all of you, your information is helpful, Abdelwahid

wahid soltani - 1-3-2009 at 07:50 AM

Hello, Franck and the others
thanks again for the information concerning the turkish ouds, I do not know much on them although I am an Algerian from turkish descent I am planning a trip to Turkey either next month or in April during the easter holiday, if you can supply adresses
I will most certainly travel to Canada on the summer.
As for the oud maker Wissam joubran living in France, I would rather be careful, I heard of similar ouds( indian palissander mainly ) to be made in the future and much cheaper, for the time being I cannot get in touch with Joubran to have his prices, cheerio, Abdelwahid

Franck - 1-3-2009 at 08:41 AM

Hi,
Joubran ouds (for what I know) are around 2500 euros. When you come to Canada and want to get in touch with Ismail, it will be a pleasure for me to let him know. He usually has a number of ouds that you can try and choose the one most suited for you (Turkish models but I think he can also make arabic models on demand).
مع السلامه

Matthias - 1-3-2009 at 09:19 AM

Hello wahid,

do not know where you live, but first you should visit my websites and have a look on my instruments. After over 25 years of making the european lute, I now build since several years different models of the aoud as professional instruments. I have syrian model, some iraqi models and finally I made the model that Munir Bashir himself played.

Furthermore if you like to see some you and all others who are interested are invited to visit me. A good chance will be the workshop weekend with Raed Koshaba soon in march. See the separate topic:
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=8607

There some of my instruments can be seen and naturally tested.

Wish you all the best

Matthias

wahid soltani - 2-7-2009 at 11:07 AM

hello, franck

many thanks for the information you supplied about "buying a high quality oud", I just wanted to inform you that many french friends have just informed me that the luthier Wissam Joubran, the palestinian living in Paris proposes his ouds for various prices( from 2500 to 22000 euros!!!!) but he has no shop and supplies no invoice, so I would rather be careful and avoid illegal dealings, thanks again, wahid