Shadi
Oud Addict
Posts: 45
Registered: 10-8-2008
Location: Lafayette, LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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New Lover of the Oud needs advice in the USA
Hello all. I'm new to this site. I'm a classically trained guitarist from lebanon who was forced to move to the USA upon the destruction of my country
in 2006. Anyway, I play professionally here in Lafayette, Louisiana. There is a fairly big arab community here and a large amount of arab restaurants
and coffee shops and just a generally big interest in the culture over here, so I thought it would be interesting to get a little band together that
could play arabic music from like traditional songs to the Marcel Khalife thing. My original plan was to do it on the classical guitar, but just for
the heck of it I bought a cheap-o 200 dollar oud off of Amazon.com to see what I could to with it because I have experience playing the cello which is
also fretless and have knowledge of Maqams and after all, I am an arab so my ear is just tuned in that sensibility if you know what I mean. Well, my
amazon oud came in the other day, and even though you can all imagine how "high quality" that turned out to be, I absolutely fell in love with the oud
and everything about it. It's like everything the guitar cannot be and I want to become serious about it now. What I really need help with is Locating
a "real" oud here. What is the minimum I should expect to spend on an instrument that will stay in tune and sound decent enough to perform with in
small venues (will probably install a pickup or use a mike too)? ARE THERE ANY online sites that sell decent ouds?? I am going to return to lebanon in
about two years for a trip, so I'll probably save the money for a serious serious Oud for that trip, but untill then is around 600$ good enough for a
"real" Oud or will it not be that much better than the Amazon model? HELP ME PLEASSEE?
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Shadi
Oud Addict
Posts: 45
Registered: 10-8-2008
Location: Lafayette, LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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are the ouds on larkinthemorning.com any good? does anyone know any other site? I would prefer an Egyptian oud. I'm just so clueless as to where to
get one here.
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John Erlich
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1470
Registered: 8-26-2004
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Oud-Obsessed
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Hi Shadi,
Unfortunately, sellers of decent Arabic ouds in the USA are rare. The Arabic ouds sold by Lark in the Morning in the past have been generally of poor
quality. I have tried Turkish uds in their shop that are not bad, though not an especially good value.
In general, I have encountered for sale in the USA better Turkish uds that Arabic ouds.
Does your countryman Nazih Ghadban (http://www.oudnazihghadban.com/home.htm) ship? You can also find out whether Maurice Shehata in Cairo ships: http://www.mauriceouds.com/home.htm Both oud builders have their advocates in this Forum.
As far as buying on Ebay or in any other situation in which you can't actually try the instrument before you buy it, there have been many unhappy
stories posted in these Forums, including one of my own (which I will not recount, since I don't appreciate being accused of slander!). Not everyone
has been dissatisfied, though.
Good luck,
John
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
Member Is Offline
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Welcome to the forums Shadi,
hopefully you will find a oud that will make you happy.
Both the makers mentioned by John will be out of your price range. But they are 2 of the most talented makers out there.
I have 2 shehata ouds. they are gems.
That being said if I can offer you my advice, start looking around the forums for the different makers out there. You will learn a lot more about what
to look for in a good oud, what is a good oud and who are the respected makers that make them.
dont rush just to buy a oud that is just a little better then what you have. With a little work the khalifeh oud can be made to be a good user.
The difference between the 200-300$ khalifeh ouds and a 600$ oud are not that significant in my opinion.
If you look at professional ouds that are instruments made to play first then look good. Attention to sound, workmenship quality, dimentions and
material will be more present. A professional oud doesnt not start below 1000$ generaly speaking. You may have nice deals out there but they are hard
to come by and you need to know what you are looking for.
Be patient and learn as much as you can from the forums.
that is my advice to you.
Welcome again.
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oud-dude
Oud Lover
Posts: 24
Registered: 9-21-2008
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Hi, Shadi... I'm another guitar player (and half Lebanese) who's learning oud, too. Like you, I know a good guitar, but wasn't sure about how to
judge the quality of an oud. But Samir is right. If you hang out here on the forum, you pick up a ton of good info on who's building good ouds, and
where to get them. I haven't been on the forum long, but already I'm amazed by how much I've learned from the others here about the good ouds out
there. Just like you, I'm playing a cheap oud now. I'm just going to watch the forum for a while and then maybe start shopping for a better oud once
I am educated enough to know what to look for.
Glad you've found a place in Louisiana where people appreciate Arabic music! I'm sure you'll be a blessing to many when you start working your oud
into your music.
Cheers... Peter (in Virginia)
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Shadi
Oud Addict
Posts: 45
Registered: 10-8-2008
Location: Lafayette, LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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I feel so silly to have grown up my whole life in the arab world and to have never seriously tried to take up the oud till I came here... you ever
been to Lebanon Peter?
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Marina
Oud Junkie
Posts: 615
Registered: 9-1-2005
Location: Bosnia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Enthusiastic
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Hello Shadi!
You, as an guitarist, will menage to play oud in a short period of time and you'll do it gooood!
Good luck!
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Shadi
Oud Addict
Posts: 45
Registered: 10-8-2008
Location: Lafayette, LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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yeah it's already going well! It's like my fingers and ear have been waiting my whole life for me to start this and something in me was too stubborn
to cave in to my natural instincts.
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Member Is Offline
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Shadi,
It's nice to know there's now a member of the forum that lives close to me. Lafayette is only about a 45 minute drive from BR.
Like you, I am of Arab descent (part Lebanese actually), but unlike you I am very new to playing music. I bought my ouds a little over a year ago.
One is an Egyptian oud from Nile Shop (Egypt) and the other I bought directly from Oud.Proff through this forum. The Nile Shop oud had a very bad
buzzing problem, but I got it fixed by a luthier in Hammond (the first oud he ever worked on). The one I got from Oud.Proff is Iraqi-made my Haider
Najm Aabood. I'm not selling either of them, but if you'd like to try them out let me know! I think it's very well worth a trip to Lafayette to meet
another oud enthusiast in this state.
By the way, I _LOVE_ Lafayette. The city is very open to other cultures. I have a lot of friends and family there and they all really enjoy living
there.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Stringish
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Hey guys, looks like we've got a potential Louisiana oud hang . . . I'm in New Orleans. Never been to Lafayette, but have been in BR and Hammond a
little bit.
-Brian
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Shadi
Oud Addict
Posts: 45
Registered: 10-8-2008
Location: Lafayette, LA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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guys, One of these days we so gotta Do marcel Khalife's JADAL Masterpiece or something!!!! haha. CJ I would love to meet with you one of these days,
but give me a little while cause I think I'm gonna go ahead and commit the money to a really nice Oud. Brian, one of these days we're definitely gonna
have to convene too. Maybe between semesters or something, cause I'm really feeling your guitar playing as well. You gotta love these forums....
BY THE WAY
can anyone tell me what they think about this Pretty oud??
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=6283
Alaa Hegazi definitely isn't one of the more talked about Makers in this forum, but it looks to be a very well made Oud.
I'm also looking at a Nazih Ghadban that has a Fiberglass fingerboard, and I'm kind of uneasy about the Fiberglass. has anyone had any experience with
a Oud like that?
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cjmichael
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 4-22-2007
Location: New Orleans, Louisiana, USA
Member Is Offline
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Brian,
Did you recently move back to NOLA? Do you ever play there?
Shadi,
I'm glad you decided to invest in a professionally made oud. I hope the sale and delivery goes well on whatever you choose. We definitely should all
get together at one point or another. You'll find the experienced buyers, sellers, and luthiers on this site to offer really good advice.
Would like to write more but I'm about to fall asleep...
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Stringish
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CJ,
I lived here from 1993-2003. I moved back (for the time being, anyway) a couple of months ago. I wanted to reconnect with some musicians and spend
some time working on a few projects here, and Loyola offered my a teaching gig so . . .
I used to play all the time in NO, both guitar and oud. I'm trying to get some stuff rolling again but I've been focusing on guitar lately. I just
met a Palestinian-American bass player who wants to get into playing Arabic music, though so we'll see . . .
Re: the Higazi oud, it seems nice and has a good sound in the audio clip posted. The fingerboard looks nice too. It looks rather large in the
pictures, but it's hard to tell with no reference, and that's a matter of personal preference anyway. The biggest issue to me is that the face
appears to be pine, which can be okay, but is not really the best. A well-made and braced pine top is better than a poorly-made and braced spruce
top, though. It depends on the price; you might want to look into a Shehata oud for comparison.
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