Waterglass
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 10-2-2014
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New oud owner question
Hello,
Happy to find this forum. Maybe some of you could help me out.
I am new to the oud. I play a bit of guitar and my wife is from Morocco. On our latest visit, I looked around for an entry level oud. I really didn't
know what I was looking for nor did I speak Arabic. After enlisting the help of my brother-in-law, who has never played anh instrument, we set off.
Long story short is now I am back in southern california (inland-very dry) with an oud. However, I can't keep it in tune and the tuning pegs seem to
keep shrinking. I wonder if the lack of humidity could be causing this and if it will stabilize enough to where I can Maintain tuning. I have to apply
serious force to keep the pegs from unwinding when tightening the strings. The force is to push them into the neck. After reading a few posts here, I
am also scared of cracking or splitting.
It is also possible I just bought a cheap oud. On that note, does anyone know of any sellers in the US that sell entry level models on which to learn?
How much would I be looking at?
Thanks in advance for any help or tips
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hussamd
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 12-18-2013
Location: Bartlett, IL
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Dry weather will definitely shrink the wood. It would help if you have a humidifier. I have this problem in winter in Chicago where humidity drops
to 25%.
For helping with keeping the pegs in place you can use some W.E.Hill peg compound (looks like a brown lipstick) an apply where the peg sits in the
hole. Any music store should have them since violin players use them also.
I got mine from Amazon at http://www.amazon.com/Hill-AC780-Peg-Compound/dp/B0002F6XVS
Hussam
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Waterglass
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 10-2-2014
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Ok, great idea on the peg compound; sounds like what I need.
Yes, I had a radical change in humidity and I didn't foresee this problem. I went from Rabat, Morocco on the coast 60-70%, to inland S. California
where our humidity gets literally to the single digits.
In my last post I mentioned a fear of splitting. This has happened. There is a split between the wood strips on the back of the body. My ear us not
good enough to know how much this has affected the sound. Does anyone know if this can be repaired?
Thanks again for the help.
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hussamd
Oud Junkie
Posts: 117
Registered: 12-18-2013
Location: Bartlett, IL
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Raise the humidity and the crack may fill in as the wood expands. Lack of humidity or too much of it are both bad for this instrument. My guess of
the ideal range would be 35%-55%. Outside that you are asking for trouble. Keep the oud stored in a hardshell case too to protect it.
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Lysander
Oud Junkie
Posts: 410
Registered: 7-26-2013
Location: London, UK
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I always thought that, on the humid side, 70%+ was the danger area. My oud has been kept in 60%-70% humidity here in London since I got it and there
are no noticeable issues.
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danieletarab
Oud Junkie
Posts: 213
Registered: 1-18-2009
Location: Palermo (Italy)
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Mood: No Mood
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Hello Waterglass, and welcome in our family 
Many oud makers I met in my life agree that the most difficult thing in building ouds, is Pegbox. of course, there's no chanche to get a cheap oud
that from one hand is easy to tune, and from the other hand keeps the tuning. I don't know how cheap is your oud, but according to my experience, if
you don't want to spend 50% of your time with the oud tuning it, you better go for an intermediate oud. I have never played a factory oud that doesn't
drive you crazy when you try to tune it. If you won't manage to solve the problem of your oud, you can find very good deals also on this forum (on the
buy and sell section), spending around 400 or 500 dollars I think.
Good luck!
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