djs259
Oud Lover
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Opinions on this OUD please?
Hi,
I'm pretty new to OUDs.
What can you guys tell me about the quality of this OUD I've been considering based on the following photos?
Also, what is an approximate fair price for this instrument, in your opinion?
[file]37646[/file] [file]37648[/file] [file]37650[/file]
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djs259
Oud Lover
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More photos:
[file]37652[/file] [file]37656[/file]
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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It appears quite playable, and well built. Turkish no doubt. I wonder what material they used for the fingerboard.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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Anyone else with an opinion before I pull the trigger on this OUD?
It's from a Turkish shop from whom I've purchased a few sazes in the past.
The fingerboards is mother of pearl, I'm guessing artificial. He build me a Kisa sap saz with the same material and it seems to look and feel good.
I don't see many Turkish OUDS with finished fingerboards for some reason.
Anyway, this seller is giving me a special price on it, but since I am not yet savvy when it comes to OUDS I wanted to know if there was anything that
stood out that would militate against this being a quality instrument.
Thanks!
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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Find out what material the bridge is made of.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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I contacted the maker/seller to ask him about the materials that went into this oud.
This was his reply:
Bowl: mahogany
Fınger board: atificial mother of peal
Nut: bone
Bridge: burner wood hornbeam
Pegs: rosewood
So what do you guys think? Is it a go?
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
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"Hornbeam" is a hard wood. Might make a good bridge though I don't really know. "Burner Wood" is wood that is good for nothing but burning for heat or
cooking fuel. AKA "firewood". So the bridge seems to have been made from a piece of wood thought to be suitable for long burning, like Oak. Perhaps
there has been a translation error.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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Well at least the bridge is carved out of some kind of real wood rather than molded from plastic or some kind of resin, right? Any other opinions
before its too late to change my mind?
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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The value of an oud - or any other musical plucked stringed instrument for that matter - depends upon its perceived acoustic performance and
playability - factors that can only be established by the purchaser by hands on testing of the instrument. Appearances from images or types of wood
used in the construction are otherwise irrelevant.
If you are considering purchasing the oud 'sight unseen' then the choice and risk is yours as no forum member or other third party can possibly or
realistically assist.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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Jdowning, I get that. This isn't my first string instrument I just wanted to run the photos across a few people here to get a sense of whether there
is anything obvious about the appearance of this particular oud that would constitute a red flag to someone with extensive experience buying and
playing ouds. Since I am not yet savvy regarding ouds, I would have hoped to at least be reassured that it is not an obviously low end or tourist
oud; a wall-hanger, if you will.
Unfortunately, buying "sight unseen" is pretty much the only option for me, since I live in Long Island, NY rather than Turkey or the Middle East. I
can't exactly walk around the corner and buy one like I could a chicken parm on a roll with a side of fries.
I want to learn how to play the oud in the Greek and Turkish styles but I don't want to spend a fortune right now for a top-tier instrument until I
know for sure that it's right for me. The only other fretless instruments I have ever tried are the violin and the cello, and both were an
unmitigated disaster. Then again, I was twelve years old at the time. Sorry if you find my questions annoying. 
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Greg
Administrator
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Hi djs259,
Your questions are not annoying and I don't think anyone has suggested they were.
The fact that you have purchased instruments from the same seller should give you some indication as to the quality of the instrument to expect. It is
difficult from some small photos to assert that this is a good or bad instrument. In your initial enquiry you asked what would be a fair price. I
think it may be helpful for you to say what price is being asked for this instrument. If it's around US$400 or less you could probably expect a basic
student quality oud. That seems to be the going price for Turkish ouds in that quality category. If you are being asked for considerably more, I think
you need several more and better detailed photographs, including close ups of critical areas like the peg box and the height of the action where the
neck joins the bowl.
You may also give details of the supplier as many of us have "done" the Istanbul music shops and may have had experience with this same seller.
Greg
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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Actually, if you are in Long Island, it is entirely feasible for you to purchase an oud in person, as there are many oud players in and around New
York City.
I mostly know about Arabic ouds, but if you send me an email at info (at) oudstrings (dot) com I will put you in touch with several players in the
area who may be able to help you find a good instrument for Turkish/Greek/Armenian style.
That said, the oud looks okay. It's very hard to tell much from pictures. It doesn't look to me like an oud in the 1000+ range. I'd expect it to be
around 400, like Greg said. I played a lot of student ouds while I was in Istanbul and the one thing I noticed is that they all looked pretty nice
and it was no indicator of the quality of the instrument. Bone nut, rosewood pegs and wooden bridge are good indicators that this is probably a
halfway decent instrument, as most of the bad ones will not bother with one or more of those, using plastic or cheap wood instead.
The plastic fingerboard would be a deal breaker for me, as I find that on a fretless instrument it is not a good sound.
As Greg said, if we knew the name of the seller, someone might have knowledge of their instruments.
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Jason
Oud Junkie
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Agreed with Brian on the plastic fingerboard... I would always buy a wood fingerboard. On the plus side, cheaper Turkish ouds can actually be pretty
good. It is easier to buy a cheap Turkish oud than a cheap Arabic oud IMO.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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I'm actually pretty friendly with this seller, so I was able to get it at a special price, quite a bit less than $400. At that price, I figure I'm
not out much if it turns out to be less than concert quality sound. As I said, I've purchased a few instruments from this seller already, and he
seems to do a very good job; sound and overall quality is, at any rate, excellent on his sazes. He gave me a few options for this recent oud
purchase, one of which had ebony fingerboard and pegs, but the bowl on that one was unvarnished and I'm a sucker for the aesthetics of mother o' pearl
fingerboards. Go ahead and call me an oud philistine. 
Anyhow thanks to everyone who took the time to reply. I don't care to mention the name of the seller because I've already gotten myself in trouble on
another forum where a particular luthier took strong exception to me talking about him and mentioning prices.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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unvarnished bowl? Strange.
Real MOP sounds decent, but in my experience the fake stuff doesn't sound so great on oud. I like the way it looks too.
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djs259
Oud Lover
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Quote: Originally posted by Brian Prunka  | unvarnished bowl? Strange.]
Yeah, I thought so too. Here are some photos:
[file]37696[/file] [file]37698[/file] [file]37700[/file] [file]37702[/file]
Ever seen that before? |
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Jason
Oud Junkie
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The unvarnished bowl looks very cool. I imagine it has something like tung oil or another non-glossy finish? Nazih Ghadban now does flat finishes on
bowls and they look great.
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