Mike's Oud Forums

Making a mould

FastForward - 8-27-2009 at 09:22 PM

I have the following questions regarding making a mould:

I was reading on this forum that the once you draw and cut the profile, and upon making the mold you should raise the profile at the back by about 1.5-2cm. What is the primary purpose for this, is it aesthetic?

The cross section of the oud in a plane orthogonal to the profile plane is somewhat semi circular except that it is raised by some distance corresponding to the inclination induced by raising the back profile?

Is the cross section semi circular at different sections, what about at the neck block, given that I am not looking for a semi circular neck profile, rather an elliptical or a portion of a circle evenly cut off center as oudmaker shows on his website.


Thanks.

Dr. Oud - 9-2-2009 at 08:40 AM

The added depth has a few purposes. Primarily it provides a flat area along the fist or top rib, making it easier to balance the oud on your leg . A purely hemispherical shape ends with a sharp edge at the top. The increased volume of the body may enhance bass resonance, but I have heard many small body ouds with very full bass sound. I believe the master makers developed the assymetric shape to differentiate their ouds from the less skillful makers, since it requires more work to fit the ribs as they are not identical as they are in a hemispherical cross-section design. Some designs merely add depth, others change the very shape to approximate an egg cross-section as seen in Nahat bodies. The shape of the neck block can incorporate any section, but it must flow smoothly into the shape of the body. Be careful with the shape of the neck as a small cross-section provides less area for bonding, and the neck-block bond is critical.

FastForward - 9-2-2009 at 10:43 AM

Thanks.

So the asymmetry here refers to slightly different profiles of the face and across the center resulting from the rotation of the profile by raising it 2cm or so. So the shape pulls to the back and the sides rather than being a rotated cross section.

I think the neck will be 2cm thick which is pretty decent. I have a similar thickness neck on my Iraqi oud and it has great action and is very stable.