kasos
Oud Junkie
Posts: 148
Registered: 4-21-2005
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Tunisian Oud - Turkish Laouta - Strings info
I've recently acquired both a Turkish made Laouta (Laut?), off E-bay, as well as an oud that a friend initially picked up on a trip to Tunisia.
From my somewhat limited research so far, the oud seems to be Egyptian style - would this be accurate? Or is there another North African oud design
distinct from the Egyptian and Turkish types that seem to get mentioned most of the time? Is there a meaningful distinction, when buying strings,
between the different types of oud?
I have a second line of inquiry, this time about the Laouta. It is pretty obvious that the Laouta and Oud are closely related instruments, the Laouta
distinguishing itself at first glance by the longer neck, smaller resonating chamber and presence of frets. While I'm enjoying both instruments
(they are similar enough to blend but different enough to sound distinct in an ensemble) my problem is that the laouta's US drop-ship seller (Mideast
Manufacturing, located in Florida) does not sell replacement string sets, and (since virtually everyone who sells the Turkish made Laoutas gets them
from Mideast) no one else in North America seems to either. By way of further complication, there seems to be an important distinction between the
Cretan Laouta, which is somewhat larger, tuned lower, and uses steel strings, as compared to the Turkish made variety, which uses a combination of
nylon and steel wound. Mideast suggested DioDinos (a Luthier in NYC who specializes in Greek instruments), but previous contact with Diodinos had
already indicated that he made the Cretan style instrument (no surprise there), and only stocked the strings for that variety.
There seems to be some similarity between the strings on my oud and the laouta's strings, but, since both instruments are rather new to me, I feel
insecure about jumping to the conclusion that the strings are fully interchangeable, particularly since the number of strings, and tunings, are quite
different when comparing the oud to the Laouta. For the benefit of those who may read this who only have experience with the oud, my version of the
laouta (apparently also known as laoutto, or laut, or even lavt, in Turkish references) has 7 strings, with the upper six coursed. My information
was that it is tuned in fifths, lowest to highest C G D A - like a viola, and this is how I have been tuning and playing it.
No strings have actually broken yet, so no crisis at this stage, however, it's only a matter of time, isn't it? I'm hoping that someone out there
might be familiar with enough with both instruments to give me some reliable advice.
Thanks - Kasos in Northern Canada
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Orahim1
Oud Maniac
Posts: 98
Registered: 2-7-2004
Location: California, USA
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You may want to contact this ebay seller. He/she looks as if they sell instruments on a regular basis, including the laouta. I don't know if they sell
strings for it but it's worth a chance.
http://cgi.ebay.com/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&category=623&...
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1674
Registered: 6-5-2003
Location: NJ/NYC
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Hi,
Lavta and Laouto are two very different instruments. The Laouto (singular Laouto, plural Laouta) is a Greek mandocello, with Cretan, Island, and
Mainland Greece varieties. They have almost nothing to do with the Lavta, which is used in classical Ottoman music. Lavta is tuned D A D A and is
basically a fretted ud, with microtonal frets, not just tempered frets. You use nylon strings for lavta, while the Greek laouto uses wound and
unwound steel strings, and has only tempered frets.
You should contact Greek and Turkish dealers/makers of Lavtas (try some of the Turks on Ebay) for Lavta strings. The pick used is just like the
Tanbur pick, and is held sideways like with tanbur.
Hope this was helpful.
Take care,
mavrothis
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