Michelle Webb
Oud Lover
Posts: 22
Registered: 3-19-2009
Location: Washington DC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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5 course Ouds
Hello everyone.
I have really been enjoying my OUD !
I just love playing. I have a question for all that can help.
I'm interested in buying a 5 course Oud specifically. I really like the Oud that Ghassan Abbasi is playing in this video :
http://www.youtube.com/user/musicomposer5#p/u/2/uOJ2huHe5hw
I haven't been able to find 5 course Ouds, they are usually 6 . Are these custom made Ouds or am I looking in the wrong place ?
Any suggestions ?
Thanks 
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Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
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Mood: مبتهج ; ))
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Hi Michelle, looking at the oud head there, it is still made as a 6 course, just strung as a 5 course, quite common, just find an oud you like the
tone of and remove a course if you wish. You can always replace/renotch the nut if it is the wider string spacing you're after. Many "old school"
players only use 5 courses, and our very own Oud.Proff also likes 5 courses, but they are still mostly 6 with 1 removed.
Ghassan's son who manages the page, has good English, you could ask about the maker if it is that particular tone/style you're after.
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Michelle Webb
Oud Lover
Posts: 22
Registered: 3-19-2009
Location: Washington DC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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O....wow,
OK.....yeah that's what I'm doing with my Oud. It came with only 5 courses and I have been playing it like this ever since. How do get a new nut or
renotch the one I have ?
Are replacement Oud nuts easy to get a hold of ?
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dubai244
Oud Junkie
Posts: 490
Registered: 3-8-2004
Location: Dubai, UAE
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Mood: No Mood
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Hi Michel,
Any oud maker can make 5 course oud for you. It is exact same process as making 6 course oud, but instead of 6 holes in the bridge, they make it 5
holes and same thing with the nut.
My recommandation to you, since you tried Ghassan oud, try to own some thing different, then you will have different mode and tast.
Thanks
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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A LOT of ouds seem to come with 5 courses of barbed wire, apparently as some sort of austerity move. The real question, boys and girls, is what they
expect it to be tuned to. I almost wrecked one by assuming the top course would be cc, and the nylons were .028" thick or so, a bit much.
Is it just me or does $10 for a digital caliper (on Amazon e,g,) that will measure from 6" down to string issues like 0.001" (and metric) seem like a
cheap blessing and a necessity for every musical instrument player? Best thing since the oud.
http://www.amazon.com/Display-Digital-Caliper-Interface-Molded/dp/B...
This caliper is very useful to locate new notch positions on the nut. As long as the bridge has 6 hole pairs, you can set up nut notches so it's easy
to string back and forth between 5 and 6.
So .. how does everybody tune their 5 course oud? And how do you set up the bottom course: double or single?
To change the nut, there are guitar nuts of hard bonelike plastic that can be easily adapted. Measure your existing nut carefully. Go down to the
guitar shop and whine. Make sure the nut is removable by light steaming and prying (the little bit of hide glue holding it should release). Shape the
top of the new one similarly to your existing one (assuming it's doing its job) and make the notches then sand down the bottom to the right height and
level and shim it in place and tack with a little liquid hide glue.
OR (in recognition of the fact that OUD means wood) just remove the existing nut and sand down the top, and make all NEW notches, then place it back
in with some wood shims to raise it higher, now that you have shaved the top off.
At the nut the strings should ride no more than a string thickness above the fingerboard.
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jazzchiss
Oud Junkie
Posts: 217
Registered: 12-20-2004
Location: Madrid
Member Is Offline
Mood: Improvising
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I would never advise anyone to buy a 5-course oud. It is preferable to leave the sixth string tuned as the tonic and not play it. If you get used to
playing with only 5 strings it's impossible to play a 6-course oud with no mistakes.
I know what I mean because for years I had an 8-string guitar, and became my only instrument (I couldn't play any other). In the end I think coming
out of the standar was a mistake.
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Michelle Webb
Oud Lover
Posts: 22
Registered: 3-19-2009
Location: Washington DC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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I think that if you dedicate yourself to it, you can play anything you want, the only thing standing in your way is you. I know tons of musicians who
play a variety of instruments you just have to work on it. I"m loving 5 course. Like I said, the Oud actually came that way from Egypt and when I
started playing I found out that many Oud players from that region and others play this way. So....I think I'm going to get a new nut and bridge for
the Oud and dedicate myself to that.
I can't shave down the nut because the grooves are to deeply cut into the nut.
Any of you have resourses for Oud nuts and bridges ?
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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You can purchase bone nut blanks (for guitars) from the major luthier supply companies based in the U.S.A. like, for example, L.M.I. Inc and
Stewart-MacDonald.
http://www.lmii.com
http://www.stewmac.com
Good luck with your 5 course oud. That was how they were for centuries past (the introduction of the 5th course to the oud was attributed to the
famous minstrel Ziryab employed at the court of Khalif Harun, 9th C). So you are on good historical ground!
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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Michelle, two things.
1) When I look at 5 course ouds, it seems they all have the highest course simply missing. On a 6 course, the highest course often rides precariously
close to the edge of the fingerboard, and taking it off gives a nice spacious area. Look at a lot of videos and photos and see. Why not simply do
that?
2) If if want to re-groove: depending on what you have on hand, while you await your bone/plastic nut, you can mix some sawdust with glue, or buy some
filler wood paste, file down and clean out your grooves and fill them, while you fill the top of the nut to create a homogeneous surface, then cut new
grooves, shallower. It's easier to cut shallower ones, and they work just as well. I have this DAP "plastic wood" that is way harder than wood, a bit
of a grind to cut the grooves (you could make dental fillings and crowns out of it), but there are softer ones. The point is that if you fill the
grooves and "plastify" a wooden nut, it's likely as good as a new bone one without having to even remove the old one! If nothing else, it's
practice.
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Michelle Webb
Oud Lover
Posts: 22
Registered: 3-19-2009
Location: Washington DC
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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Hi,
I think I stated in my original post that I'm actually doing what you suggested in part 1 of your reply. I own a 6 course oud and I am using it as it
came to me from Egypt which is as a 5 course oud. There is nothing wrong with this, however I feel that if I'm going to play 5 course then I want a 5
course oud......not a 6 course that looks like ( because it is....) missing strings.
Simply, if I play 5, I want a 5.
Also, although I can purchase and try to doctor up my current oud to make it 5 course ( and all of you have given great suggestions) I think it's best
to either pay someone to get that right for me so that I don't ruin my Oud or buy a 5 course Oud. So.....any suggestions on buying a 5 course oud in
particular would be most helpful.
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jazzchiss
Oud Junkie
Posts: 217
Registered: 12-20-2004
Location: Madrid
Member Is Offline
Mood: Improvising
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Munir essentially played with 5 strings. Why not just add a leading bass? Look at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=69hjuVv5dzs
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