dahbus
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Guitar / Oud?
Hello all! I was just browsing around the internet, looking to see if I could find a place that made guitars w/ an oud look to them.
Can an oud or a lavta be converted into a 6-string guitar? I realize it might not sound as good, but I'd be willing to give it a shot. Any idea if
something like that exists or if there are people out there who could make one?
Thanks for the help!
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Jason
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Check out the Godin glissentar..... it's basically an 11 string fretless guitar
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billkilpatrick
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check-out the german ebay site:
http://www.ebay.de/
... click on "musikinstrumente" from the left-hand column and then on "Lauten & Mandolinen" from the "Streich- & Zupfinstrumente" column in
the middle of the page. you might also try "Akustische Gitarren" and the wierd and wild (at times) section called "Sonstige Zupfinstr.."
they almost always have a bowl-backed guitar or two up for auction - you sometimes see them in the states on ebay as well.
but jason's advice on the "glissentar" is best - looks like a wonderful instrument.
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will_oud
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I believe Sandi at Kankaya Music has a guitar necked oud, but I'm not sure. I thought I saw something like that on the Kankaya site.
William F. Sparks
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jdowning
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Guitars with bowl shaped, lute like bodies were popular in Germany during the 19th C. serving a period of Romantic/Folk revival in musical tastes and
were still being made to my knowledge well into the 1960's.
Unfortunately, many fine and historically important lutes were converted during the 19th C to this type of instrument - vandalised by cutting off the
original necks and replacing them with guitar necks and machine heads as well as replacing the original bridges.
Rather than repeating history by converting a perfectly good oud to a "guitar-lute" it would surely be much better to build such an instrument from
scratch?
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dahbus
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Wow, thanks for all the help folks! I'm going to look into all of those leads now!
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billkilpatrick
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once again, i'd agree with jdowling - ouds are ouds and guitars are guitars. i've wasted i don't know how much money and a great deal of effort
trying out different tunings on a lovely little instrument called a charango. in the end - accepting the instrument as it is (fixed vibrating length
included) - the recommended tuning is the one that works best.
the glissentar (for example) is an instrument in its own right - neither guitar nor oud. trying to make an oud a guitar or a guitar an oud will only
lead to grief.
the fine details in each instance are what counts. my egyptian oud sounds different than my syrian oud - i don't know why this should be but it's so.
there's nothing to stop you playing a guitar as if it were an oud but you'ld be missing out - me thinks.
verisimilitude - bill
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Branko
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See:http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=3459
You can hear difference in sound with/without frets. I removed frets after few weeks of playing. Fret experiment was a bad idea.
Ich bin ein Balkaner!
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dahbus
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I was thinking, maybe I could throw 6 single strings in a bouzouki and tune it them to guitar tuning. Maybe that would work?
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radixfc
Oud Maniac
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I´ve got an instrument similar to what you search... It´s a kind ok kwitra (similar to lavta) put with 6 single strings instead of 4 double
strings...
I really ´can´t play it as a guitar... of course it doesn´t sound as an oud... I use ir for sounds as vihuela or guiterna, but as billpatrick says,
if you want guitar sound better try with spanish guitar
I post photo
hi from spain
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Rene
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I know this may seem heretical, and as I'm new I should probably keep quiet, but it is possible to tune Ouds as guitars if you get the right strings.
A friend did just this and a lot of fun it was too. Maybe tension wise on the neck it was a bit risky, but it didn't break or warp. Any thoughts
anyone ?
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Jason
Oud Junkie
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Get a set of strings guaged for F A D G C F tuning retune the bottom string to E and the two highest strings to B & E. The tension listed for
these sets is usually the same as a regular set of strings. I recently tried this tuning on my oud but the instrument just doesn't speak well at all.
I'm going to be going back to D G A D G C as soon as I can afford another set of strings.
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billkilpatrick
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Jason
... but the instrument just doesn't speak well at all. |
that's it ... perfectly said.
heaven is in the details. i've tried to adapt almost every instrument i've owned to do something other than what it was designed to do - what it
evolved to do - and in every instance (aside from the charango as mini-vihuela) it's been a huge waste of time, money and doubley-huge waste of mental
and physical energy.
what we do as humans is natural - we're a force of nature - and most of the time a guitar or an oud is designed - naturally - to do just what nature
intended it to do.
going with the flow (much like a dead fish) - bill
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kevin
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| Quote: | I removed frets after few weeks of playing. Fret experiment was a bad idea.
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he he he ,
I pulled all the frets off a classical guitar once, I think I was 17 at the time. I don't think I played that thing ever again. I should look around
and see if it survived....
I have also recently tried using a piece of wire to create a movable fret on a well loved (read: beat up) acoustic guitar. THAT worked
remarkably well, except for scratching the finish on the neck, that is. That worked so well I am thinking about repeating that little experiment.
Of course, it is still not a substitute for an oud!
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Branko
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Guitar tuning on oud should be used on 7 string oud, becouse on 6 string oud drone string is missing with that tuning.
Ich bin ein Balkaner!
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Jason
Oud Junkie
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Yep, that's the other thing. It just doesn't feel like an oud anymore to me.
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dahbus
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Maybe I could convert a bouzouki to a guitar easier...hmm...
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will_oud
Oud Maniac
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I don't think that the bouzouki idea is good. If you are looking for n oud sound, but you want frets, I suggest yu look at the forum topic "mandol
tunings." There is a website Udi John Urlich posted of a man who plays mandol. He may be able to find you a mandol.
William F. Sparks
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