Paul Anderson
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 2-17-2010
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Shehata Special Order Oud
Hello - I'm looking for help in picking out a Shehata Oud. Any opinions on bird's eye maple or ebony mix bowl? Sound differences? The maple is
about $1,000. more but I'd be willing to pay it if the sound was better. Does anyone know the characteristics of the sound of the different woods.
Is maple brighter than ebony? The ebony - or Shehata calls it mix ebony with the lighter wood mixed in - goes better with the top that I'm looking
at (I'll try to attach a picture of it), so I really would like to go with the ebony but I'm ultimately wanting the best sound. Something full bodied
with volume. I'm used to playing the Turkish oud but my string length (58cm) isn't very good for the tuning I'm in DGADGC so I'm going with the 61cm
string length Arabic oud. Besides, I'm playing mostly Arabic music now anyway. I'd also be open to opinions for other Arabic ouds. I've read the
Shehata vs Sukar forums and that was helpful. Any other makers out there who make a primo oud and you don't have to wait a year or two to get one?
Anyway, thanks for your time and opinions.
Paul
P.S. I think I was able to get the top and both bowls for the viewer to look at!
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Danielo
Oud Junkie
Posts: 365
Registered: 7-17-2008
Location: Paris
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Hello Paul and welcome!
JT told me that among the Shehata ouds he tends to prefer the rosewood ones (which are the cheapest), over the ebony models (ebony is quite heavy). I
had a rosewood Shehata myself and I really liked it, the sound was deep and rich.
Why bird's eye maple ? It sounds the same as 'regular' maple but is more expensive; this is just a question of looks.
According to the soundboard on your picture (very nice btw!) this is a Nahat style model. So why not go with the traditional and trusty walnut bowl ?
It is quite lightweight, sounds good and is pretty cheap too.... and personally I like its color too. Not to mention that it is more environment
friendly than ebony or other exotic woods.
Dan
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spyblaster
Oud Junkie
Posts: 285
Registered: 2-17-2010
Location: Iran - Karaj
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hey ive used, rose wood-ebony bowls n its really great. its light n makes a great sound. plus its really beautiful. in those models, i recommend the
ebony one.
The Oud is my life, n my life is the Oud
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Paul Anderson
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 2-17-2010
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Thanks Guys! Yes, now that you mention walnut, that's not a bad idea. The ebony/rosewood mix looks great too, but they hadn't sent that to me as an
option although I'm sure they'd make it up for me. I was just thinking maple because of the sound quality - if it was better or not (hard to define
better!) My first pick was rosewood but they steered me away from it because it was constructed differently from the other ouds - more ribs - and
they said it didn't sound as good...hmmm? That might of been before I started to customize my oud - I wanted a different width of fingerboard - so
maybe rosewood is still an option? They are slow to correspond, but I have been asking a lot of questions. Maybe a trip to Eygypt is in order?
yeah, I wish. Also, has anyone had experience with the Jameel Khalaf's double soundboard oud? That might be an option on getting a used one but I'm
unfamiliar with the general opinion of his ouds. It's hard to listen to soundbites because they all sound great because they always have top knotch
players ! Anyway, thanks for all the help and I'll do some more thinking. Sounds like a whole new round of questions for Shehata!
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