rojaros
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 7-9-2008
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Shortening the scale length (diapason)
Hello, has anybody ever shortened the scale length (diapason, free vibrating length of the string)?
If so, how would you do it and what are your experiences with it?
Taking away of how many % of the original neck length would be tolerable?
I have a Turkish oud with 59,5 scale length. It has had a broken and (not so well) repaired joint between the neck and the tuning head box. I thought
to bring it down to maybe 58cm or so ...
I experimented a bit just by putting a nylon guitar string (g) as a sort of a provisional nut for the shorter scale length and the effect doesn't seem
to be that drastic for the position of the fifth at the neck-body joint in terms of playing.
What are your opinions?
best
Robert
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Location: Ontario, Canada
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As I understand it, the traditional 'man sized' Turkish oud has a string length of 58.5 cm - with a fingerboard length (front of nut to neck joint) of
1/3 string length. Perhaps there would be sufficient material left after cutting away the damaged portion of the badly repaired joint to bring the
string length close to 58.5 cm?
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
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With no frets to affect intonation, the neck length is not a factor except for experienced players who expect to find the fifth position note at the
body joint. The neck length can be restored after removing damage by adding a spacer between the neck end and the body block.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
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For information - attached is a sketch of the relative proportions of a Turkish oud from an article on the proportions of Turkish instruments by Eren
Özek published in 'Müsik ve Bilim', 2005.
From this you can verify if the oud has been made proportionally larger than the traditional size (i.e. with string length 58.5 cm) or if only the
neck is longer than usual.
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