An oud maker in Lebanon is well known for making beautiful sounding ouds which are the lightest in the world - - - 600grams.
Does the weight of an oud make much difference to it's sound?
What difference?
Is it worth to try to lighten it up as much as possible?
...in particular, does it make any sense to lighten up the back and neck?
- - -
I have played LUTES which are much lighter than ouds, and they have an extraordinary resonance. . . however they are not very loud and projectile.katakofka - 3-11-2009 at 07:04 PM
Quote:
Originally posted by Edward Powell
An oud maker in Lebanon is well known for making beautiful sounding ouds which are the lightest in the world - - - 600grams.
do you have his name?Edward Powell - 3-12-2009 at 12:36 AM
I think first name is Mahmoud.suz_i_dil - 3-12-2009 at 03:00 AM
Mustapha Said told me his oud was very light, something like 800 gramms I think to remember. His oud from Albert Mansour, a lebanese oud maker
also.
Concerning the weight, from the oud I tried I noticed I get a better volume and resonance with very light oud, but difficult to judge as they were
from different maker. Then it depends on what kind of sound you are looking for. I'm yet playing also on a heavier oud which bring me a different
timbre, "warmer" I would say and which also fits my taste, but for a different kind of playing.Edward Powell - 3-12-2009 at 03:20 AM
Albert Mansour
yes... this is the maker. ---supposedly 600grams for $2000 ...now that's almost $4/gram)jdowning - 3-12-2009 at 04:36 AM
Early Arabic and Persian texts dealing with construction of the oud - dating from the 9th C to 15th C - all place emphasis on lightness of
construction. "The bowl should be as thin and of even thickness as possible - likewise the sound board" (9th C) ... "and its boards should be thin and
and made from light wood. And its sound board especially should be of thin, hard and light wood, such as will resound when played" (10th C) .... "
seasoned Larch wood without flaws, cut very thin for the sound board ... the bowl should be of thinner wood than the sound board ... the neck should
be made slender" (14th C) .... "the wood should be as thin as possible ..... the lighter the wood the better the tone" (15th C).
Building an oud as light as possible would still seem to be an on going tradition among some oud makers.
The weight of surviving lutes from the 16th C may also be an indication of the weight of ouds from the same time period or earlier.
I have checked two of my lutes - copies of 16th C instruments - fully strung these weigh in at 650 grams (6 course, 60 cm string length) and 720 grams
(6 course, 73 cm string length). I could have build them lighter than this.
A good, light lute, should be resonant but should also project well (although this is not always apparent to the player).
For comparison an old Arabic lute that I own weighs about 900 grams unstrung.katakofka - 3-12-2009 at 04:47 AM
Yes, it is a piece from his work name Jadal, isn't it ?Luttgutt - 3-12-2009 at 01:05 PM
Now I am going to sound negative, but it is not meant to be negative. And I hope you guys tolarate a different opinion than yours :-) but I don't
think the oud Marcel is playing on this perticular you tube is Alber Mansour oud. And I don't think that was from Jadal :-)
Don't take it bad.. and I might be wrong...katakofka - 3-12-2009 at 01:10 PM
yep, it's not from Jadal, but most probably a Mansour oud, not sure tho.
Suz, i have jadal audio and video if interested buzz mekatakofka - 3-12-2009 at 01:15 PM
Thanks a lot for the video Katakofta! Mr. Alber looks so young on it :-)
I also heard your music. A lovelig fadi matta oud you have there!!! Sounds very authantic arabic. I would have not guessed it is floating bridge!
Impressive. Enjoy itkatakofka - 3-12-2009 at 02:06 PM
Yessssss I love my oud. Fadi made me hear 4 ouds on the phone I
picked this one with no hesitation.Edward Powell - 3-13-2009 at 02:24 AM
it is really a pity i can't understand what he is talking about. . . .
KATA, I also heard your playing... Wow, you really play great! ...and what a great sound! Bravo!katakofka - 3-13-2009 at 05:09 AM
thanks Ed
actually he is saying that he enjoys making oud because he loves the music of Marcel khalifeh. Nothing technical in what he said regarding the weight
of the oud. This interview was during the release of "Jadal" album of Marcel and his group.jdowning - 3-13-2009 at 12:22 PM
The WEIGHT issue?Edward Powell - 3-13-2009 at 12:30 PM
well, as we know, ouds are not guitars! (thank god)
---but i am discussing this on a guitarmaker's forum, and there seems to be two schools of though, at least for guitars:
first of all, everyone agrees that the soundboard needs to be as light as possible (without overdoing it)
1- make the body (back -sides) as light as possible and include the back as a resonating plate
2- make the back and sides very very heavy so that the resonance is forced to stay confined to the soundboard. This obviously means a rather heavier
instrument... and in fact seems to be the growing practice among guitar makers.
)
I love my oud. Fadi made me hear 4 ouds on the phone I
picked this one with no hesitation.