What is a normal amount of bulge/buckle in a soundboard
Hello everyone. How are you all? This is my second topic even though its related to the first. Some of you might have read about my first oud buying
horror story.
For reasons that I have already touched on I am going to try to make this oud playable. At least then I will actually have an instrument to play right
now instead of more months from now and only then maybe. Anyway.......
I think I can handle most of the repairs except one issue. Could any of the makers or restorers please tell me what is an acceptable amount of
bulge/buckle in an ouds soundboard? I suspect that the top wood is not very stiff. It is quite mottled in colour and parts of it can be depressed very
easily with a finger despite the fact that it is over 3mm thick. Also the treble sound is very dull with very little sustain. It is bulging behind the
bridge about 5mm using ultra light strings that average 1.8kg per string or so the figures I was given suggest. This seems alot to me. Would anyone
suggest additional braces or a new soundboard.