cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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My First Oud
Ahlan,
I just thought I'd introduce myself by posting a picture of my first oud that I recently bought from nileshop. The body is made from rosewood and it
cost a total of 500 USD including shipping, a hard case, and an extra set of pyramid strings. When I first tuned it and played it I was very saddened
because all the notes played around the middle of the neck buzzed horribly. After about three hours of re-stringing and modifying the bridge, it
finally sounds good, tuned to cfadg with the pyramid strings. You can see the wood on the bridge that I added in the picture (the lighter color on
top of the bridge). I have been trying to get comfortable playing it pretty much by playing maqam over and over again, strumming in different ways.
The difficulties I'm having are with the string tensions. The d strings are a bit looser than the others. I am looking in to ordering new strings
online, perhaps ones that are a bit tighter than these. One thing regarding the case that I am wary of is the fact that when lying flat, the neck is
not supported. In this picture, the peg box is actually supporting the entire top side. I don't know if long durations of laying the oud this way
could slope the neck in unwanted ways, so I stand it up lengthwise when storing it. I must say that though I wasn't expecting a grade A oud, I was a
bit let down with the buzzing. But after two hours of work, I have the instrument I feel is worth the money I paid and I am much better acquainted
with the mechanics of it.
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akram
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 3-29-2005
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ahlan wasahlan
mabrok for the new oud
could you past more pictures and sound file
ho is the maker?
akram
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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Shoukran Akram!
Here are more pictures of my oud. Let me know if you want detail of any certain part. I will try and post a sound clip tomorrow, since my roommate
is asleep at the moment. The only thing that the vendor told me about the maker was that it is from Gawaret el Fan. It is OU11 from the nileshop
site, though the oud looks a little different than the one pictured there. Sorry about the background, I just had final exams and my room is still
very messy.
Also notice the messy stringing at the bridge. Like I said, this is my first oud. :-)
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abusin
Oud Junkie
Posts: 442
Registered: 3-23-2006
Location: Manchester England
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Mood: Ya Fuadi La Tasal
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Salam cjmichael,
Mabrouk the new oud, I just have question in regard to stings buzz. I think from the pictures you have added a peice of wood to the bridge, does that
increase the hight of the bridge and if so does it cure the buzzing?
thanks
Awad
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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Awad,
Shoukran, yes, it actually solved the problem for the most part. The man from nileshop told me to raise the nut and that would solve the problem. It
didn't help much, as it seems the buzzing was coming from a slope or dent on the fingerboard. I tried raising the strings just a little bit, and the
buzz decreased. To raise them any more I needed a little help, and that's why I used the wood piece.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
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Registered: 6-4-2004
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Making the brige too high like this increases the already high tensions that the strings promote.
Its important to make sure that your oud has a good action but that its not forcefully created with the wrong feature of the oud: ex: raising the nut
too high or raising the brige too high.
I know this was an effort to get some kind of playing out of the instrument you just bought but beware that raising the brige considerably higher can
lead to some bigger problems down the road. What might happen in this case when the neck joint becomes strained over time... it might warp at an
exponantialy faster speed then usual because the strings being higher on the brige will pull the neck up. It might even lead to the brige breaking off
because the higher you make that brige the more tension affects the glue joint.
You should take your instrument to a luthier and have it examined. It could be a simple fix like planing down the fingerboard to make it flat.
Your oud looks very nice by the way and hopefully you like its sound but there is always a risk when buying a company rather then directly from a
luthier and your not alone to experience this situation. From my experiance those ouds always have a couple of flaws, sometimes major ones... but
mostly they have minor flaws that when you take your oud to a porfessional luthier he can make it come back to life and make it into a quality
instrument.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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I had no idea raising the bridge a few millimeters could matter so much. I expected to not get a top-of-the-line instrument, but the least I was
expecting was for it to be playable. After all, I had heard and read some good things about gawaret el fan ouds for beginners. The strings are not
very tense, as I mentioned earlier I was planning on buying some new ones. I would definitely consider a luthier, but I need to find one in the New
Orleans area, and this may be difficult.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Hey CJ, congrats on the oud. It looks like a decent instrument and Ghawaret el Fan usually makes decent stuff. I lived in New Orleans for 10 years.
You could try taking the oud to Sal Giardina. He mostly works on guitars, violins, upright bass, cello etc. but he should be able to help you out
with basics like the nut/neck/bridge. His shop is in Old Metarie, but I don't have the info on hand. Any bass player in NO will have his number.
Also you could talk to Stuart LeBlanc, a lute/oud player who may know of someone. I'm not sure if he's still around, but if so he's probably in the
phone book.
Chip Wilson is another luthier, mainly builds guitars but could possibly help.
-Brian
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
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Mood: better than before
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The The action may have been set low to allow the oud to adjust to the string tension over the first few years. You might try tying the string loop
at the top edge of the original bridge to see if it raises the strings enough to correct the buzzing problem. The added height at the bridge will not
affect the neck joint, as it is the resultant angle that puts torque on the neck joint. It does add some srtress to the bridge glue joint, however, so
I would suggest trying the string loop re-tie.
Another cause could be the top nut too close to the fingerboard. There should be a gap of 1 mm or 1/32 inch from the fingerboard to the bottom of the
strings at the top nut.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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Brian,
I have looked up Sal Giardina, and if need be I will take my oud to him. Thanks for the info! Also thanks for telling me about Stuart LeBlanc. I
have been told about him a while back through a friend and as it turns out he shares another passion with me, playing Go.
Dr. Oud,
All of the information you have given is so valuable. I will take the time to carefully re-tie my strings without the extra height there. What an
amazing resource this forum has turned out to be!
I will work with my oud as soon as I have the time and keep everyone updated. Many thanks for all the help.
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pauldata
Oud Maniac
Posts: 64
Registered: 4-20-2007
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Your new oud looks very lovely! My guess is that a simple fingerboard planing by a luthier or tech will resolve your buzzing issues without having to
raise the action.
Good idea BTW to not store the instrument laying down on it's back. It would probably be safe to lay it flat in the case on it's face, or upright as
you are doing...
Bust of luck, and keep us posted!
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
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what you can do is put a sock or something in the hollow part where the neck of the oud goes in the case.
So that the neck is the suported part and not the pegbox touching the bottom.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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Everyone,
I finally had the time to retie my strings higher at the bridge and remove the wood I put there to raise it. Good news! It is very playable and the
buzzing has almost ceased completely. I've been playing it quite a lot since I got it, and I have noticed that with time, the harder I pluck the two
nylon strings, the more they rattle on the fingerboard. This doesn't happen at all with the wound strings. The set of strings I have are Pyramid 650
20X. I will be ordering new strings soon, not because of this problem, but because the tensions in these strings were noticeably inconsistent from
the get-go, especially the two nylon strings (the two problems may be connected?). Thank you all for your help again, and I will post a sound clip as
soon as I get access to a mic that works well.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
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An update.
It has been about a month now since I got this oud. The more I play it, the better it sounds. A lot of the ticks and buzzes are less drastic, it is
an ideal first oud to learn with. When I received the oud, the neck fitting only had slits for 5 courses. I let Essam (the one who sold me the oud
from Nileshop) know that I was expecting six courses and he sent me the high c string along with a new neck fitting that accounted for six courses
instead of just five. A sound sample was requested, but before listening please note that I am an absolute beginner with no music background so don't
tear me apart, this is my first real instrument and I probably can't do it justice yet. :-)
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