ALAMI
Oud Junkie
Posts: 645
Registered: 12-14-2006
Location: Beirut
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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The curious case of a (probably) fake Fadel
A few weeks ago a friend called me to tell me that he has a relative leaving Lebanon for good and she's selling everything including her husband's old
oud. I met the lady (and the oud), and all she knew about it is that it was made by someone famous in Iraq and that her husband (who was a
professional musician) changed the rosette with one with his own name on. I looked inside and there was a Mohamad Fadel Label , 8-3-1967, nbr:
3617.
Ok we all know the drill, Fadel labels mean nothing and the oud is totally assymetrical in bowl shape and bridge position, I was about to say that I
am not interested and politely leave , but the build is clean and aside from a high action and a small crack on the face and lot of dust, the oud
seemed in good shape for a 50 years old oud.
It had three strings remaining, so I (kinda) tuned them and played and the sound was very nice.
The asking price was slightly above the price of a fake and way below a genuine Fadel, so I decided to play the oud Russian Roulette and got it.
Long story to say that there is something about the sound of this oud that I like a lot. Fake or not, I don't know but after fixing the action and
putting new strings, I can say that I like it, what do you think?
Raw recording (zoomH6) click to download
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Oud.Proff
Oud Junkie
Posts: 291
Registered: 1-27-2007
Member Is Offline
Mood: Sunbati Obsession
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Congratulations !
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bulerias1981
Oud Junkie
Posts: 770
Registered: 4-26-2009
Location: Beacon, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: John Vergara Luthier Lord of the Strings instrument making and repair
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Interestingly, the beautiful oud Mohammad Fadel is holding in his photograph above the label is not perfectly symmetrical either... or maybe it's just
the angle in which he's holding it?
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