Enjoying my cheap oud, but feel pressure to upgrade
Just over a year ago a friend bought and oud for me in Amman for the equivalent of 70$ Canadian. A great deal, especially since he carried it back for
me (to Toronto) so there were no shipping charges. It's definitely far from perfect, it's a Khalife from the factory in Damascus, the neck is a little
crooked, but I think for 70$ it's a pretty amazing instrument. I'm really enjoying learning on it.
So here what I'm wondering: is it worth it to upgrade to the kind of oud that can be bought in North America for around 500$? Because at present it
just isn't possible for me to drop 1000$ plus that the serious ouds seem to cost. I'm not a serious oud player (yet), but my friend tells me it is
best to learn on the most expensive oud you can afford (this sounds like a salesmen's pitch to me). From what I've read on this forum it looks like
people don't really respect ouds under 1000$, with Ibrahim Sukar ouds being the cheapest that are considered "decent" (on Ebay they seem to be
available for around 1000$).
Second question: if I am going to drop some serious coin on an Oud, I want it to be a Syrian style oud and ideally I would like to buy one made by a
Palestinian or Syrian person. I realize with the crisis shipping out of Syria is probably going to be difficult to say the least. Does anyone know if
there are any oud makers operating in the liberated areas of Syria? It's also possible I may travel back to Palestine next summer - what oud luthiers
in Palestine make quality ouds in the less than 5000 NIS price range?
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