aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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Crackling sound
Dear Masters. Today I heard some crackling sound from one of my ouds. I afraid of loosing and quickly released the strings. I live in Eskişehir.
My flat is on the seventh flor of an apartment located near Porsuk River. The actual temperature was 35 degrees C. I dont have any humidifier or air
conditioner. Do the Masters advice any other thing to do.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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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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Masters?  Ideas: Get ear plugs. Shut the door, run down the stairs, and don't
come back. Move. Ship the oud to your mother-in-law. Sell it to a P.O.P. producer or on e-bay. Offer it to a space exploration program or a museum.
Wrap it in a fancy package, leave it on a public bench and collect insurance. Check it as airline baggage and collect insurance. Use it as a planter
or a wall decoration. Make a submarine for a cat. Put cheese in it and make a rat-trap. String it with high tension bass strings and see what happens.
Put it in the fireplace. Don't worry about it.
Seriously? Can you describe the sound, how loud, did you notice anything else? Is the humidity very high or very low? Has he temp and humidity
recently changed a lot? Are these correct strings? What is he scale length? How is the oud tuned? Is there a strange or bad smell in the oud? Can you
find any glue that is softening or breaking up? How old is it? Is it valuable?
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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It is obviously a typical crackling sound. Not so loud but I ann my son heard it nearly 2 mt. away from oud. The temparature was 30.2 C and the
humidity was % 38. The temp and humidity was interestingly increased during the last 15 days.
I use Labella OU 80 strings for my oldy girl. I think they are correct but not sure.
The scale length is 18,5 cm.
There is only a bit of bad smell of glue. but there was no softening or breaking gue.
İt is absolultely very old and valuable for me.
Thank you for your kind interests.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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I forget to answer. I use classic turkish tuning. DEABCF#
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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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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Did the sound continue for a long time? No way to be sure of anything. It could be just settling in the heat, but most likely some joint is failing. I
would leave the strings loose and take it to a luthier. If you value it, let someone serious examine it.
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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No. Not at all. We heard it just for two times and they both last for less than a second. I just want to learn that is it always necessary for old
ouds to loose strings during hot days with high humidity.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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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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I don't know if anyone recommends preventively loosening the strings.
I took an oud on a trip to Central America from Northern California. Our humidity here varies from 25% to 80% often during a single day, and
temperature is usually around 22 deg C near the ocean. My body experienced the climate down south as much warmer and very humid. A few days in a 32
degree 90% humidity environment and my oud's glue started to smell very bad. Then my soundboard brace between the soundhole and the neck buckled so
the soundboard rose a few millimeters, enough for the bass strings to slap against it. After I got home the smell almost disappeared and the brace
almost went back to its old position. I plan to heat-bend it down. The point is that it doesn't take much change to stress an oud. My glue must be
slowly rotting but when it's warmer, the reaction accelerates.
I still think that you have a joint that will probably fail, because if the creaking sound was loud, it must have come from something under tension,
like the bridge. I would have a luthier look at it, and reglue it if needed.
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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Thank you for your interest fernandraynaud. It s also seem to be possible for me that the cracking sound should be come from the bridge. Than one more
question please. How can one cheque the bridge if its fully glued or not (partly removing from the face).
ıs there a way to cheque it.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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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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I don't know if there's a way other than looking, maybe try to slip something like a metal thickness gauge under it. If it comes unglued, it generally
won't damage anything (though it may wake you up!), and you can have it reglued. But I would still have a professional examine it, if you care about
it, as it could be other joints or some problem we have not thought of.
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