Mike's Oud Forums

strings on a small size arabic tuning oud! help me!

danieletarab - 5-16-2009 at 07:20 AM

Hello everybody..
I have a Munir bashir model oud made by Alì Nisadir in istanbul.
It's a small size, like turkish ouds, but I tune it in C.
( c, g, d, a, g, c).
The question is: should I use turkish strings (because of the size of the oud), or arabic strings (becauese of the tuning) ?

If I use turkish strings I must tune the first 4 one tone lower and the 5th half tone higher and I don't think is good!
If I use arabic strings they are built for C tuning, but for 61 cm diapason!

I am very confused, please help me!

daniele

fadel - 5-16-2009 at 09:10 AM

اhi

for bashir oud tune ff cc gg dd cc F

use lut string

thank

MatthewW - 5-16-2009 at 10:37 AM

Hi Daniele- if you have a Turkish shorter scale oud and want to tune it down to Arabic, you can use Arabic strings if you like. it is generally safer to tune a Turkish oud to Arabic tuning using Arabic strings than to tune an Arabic oud up to Turkish tuning.
Fadel has suggested one common tuning for Bashir style oud, try it and see if it works for you, but check that you are using the right string gauges.
When I got my first oud it ws Turkish, from Haluk Eryadin (peace be with him). I always used Pyramid Arabic orange label 650/11 strings tuned to Arabic, from low to high- C, ff,aa,dd,gg cc. Never had any problems with that. I still use the Arabic tuning with my Nazih oud, which is a 58.5 scale, and I incorporate a bit of the Bashir tuning that Fadel suggests since I have 13 strings, I keep that mellow low C then low ff,to high ff. Though I still use Arabic tuning, I am more particular about the gauges I use, and got some good advice from Jameel, Matthias and Soueheil. The string gauges are an important factor if you want to get the best tension for your oud and tuning.
Regarding your question on if using Turkish strings and tuning them down except the 5th, if this would cause problems or if perhaps the overall tension would equal out I am not sure, but Pyramid regular Arabic strings do seem to work well - someone here ought to know. also check the FAQs section for more info.
Have you ever tried using low ff instead of gg? ff seems more versatile...I'm curious to what you think on this.
regards, MW

Franck - 5-16-2009 at 11:47 AM

I suggest you use a string calculator to have the precise tension for your oud.

Arto's string calculator:
http://www.cs.helsinki.fi/u/wikla/mus/Calcs/wwwscalc.html

You can also search the web for other calculators.

Good luck

Luttgutt - 5-18-2009 at 09:44 AM

Hi Daniele!

I have a 58,5 floating bridge arabic oud (Nasir shamma style).
I have tried 8 different types of strings on it.
And I setteled with the daniel marie (thanks to Charlie) strings tuned to EADgcf (ff from Aquila nylgot). And I am VERY pleased with it.

I suggest you try that : )

p.s. I am planning to try Aquila light tension (form Jameel) nest time I am changing the strings.

danieletarab - 5-19-2009 at 01:16 PM

Thank you!
I know what you mean with using F instead of G\ for sure it's more versatile. The thing is that I started with G and I have already wrote several pieces in G using G bass and I don't know if I can go back..
The thing is that most of the times I play in C, in D or in G..
For all of these tunings having an empty low G helps you a lot.
But you're right for another point of view\ a low F allows you to have a nice F bass if you play in F or in C and it still allows you to have a quite easy G on the second position.
Hmmm... you know what? I will try and I'll let you know!
Thanks a lot!







Quote: Originally posted by MatthewW  
Hi Daniele- if you have a Turkish shorter scale oud and want to tune it down to Arabic, you can use Arabic strings if you like. it is generally safer to tune a Turkish oud to Arabic tuning using Arabic strings than to tune an Arabic oud up to Turkish tuning.
Fadel has suggested one common tuning for Bashir style oud, try it and see if it works for you, but check that you are using the right string gauges.
When I got my first oud it ws Turkish, from Haluk Eryadin (peace be with him). I always used Pyramid Arabic orange label 650/11 strings tuned to Arabic, from low to high- C, ff,aa,dd,gg cc. Never had any problems with that. I still use the Arabic tuning with my Nazih oud, which is a 58.5 scale, and I incorporate a bit of the Bashir tuning that Fadel suggests since I have 13 strings, I keep that mellow low C then low ff,to high ff. Though I still use Arabic tuning, I am more particular about the gauges I use, and got some good advice from Jameel, Matthias and Soueheil. The string gauges are an important factor if you want to get the best tension for your oud and tuning.
Regarding your question on if using Turkish strings and tuning them down except the 5th, if this would cause problems or if perhaps the overall tension would equal out I am not sure, but Pyramid regular Arabic strings do seem to work well - someone here ought to know. also check the FAQs section for more info.
Have you ever tried using low ff instead of gg? ff seems more versatile...I'm curious to what you think on this.
regards, MW