cato504
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 3-4-2011
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wanted quality oud under $300
I am a beginning player I wouldn't want to spend more than $300 on an oud, but I want one of decent quality.
Please advise.
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
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Mood: m'Oudy
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Welcome, Cato, to the forum!
It's not impossible to find a decent oud for under $300, but it's unusual. Read up on the forum. It's going to require either a super deal opportunity
or a lot of luck. The difficulty is that it takes a fair bit of experience to recognize what is a super deal opportunity, and what is useless
and a waste of money. Ouds are hand made and each one is different. Most of us here have purchased that first oud inexpensively and played it just
long enough to get our bearings, and buy another. The best thing you can do is to try out as many ouds as you can, and read a lot on this forum and
elsewhere.
I feel like a recording telling people this, but there's one "brand" of oud a person can buy at a moderate price with a good chance of getting a
pretty good instrument, and that's Sukar. Sukar makes a wide range of models, but they all share the same good design. They are not very ornamented, a
lot like a Saab: clean and solid. But buying any instrument without hands-on is always risky; people do sell rejects.
A Sukar can be found under $500, especially the basic Model 1, but most often between $500 and $900. Other than freak opportunities, like the
grandmother who thinks it's a ukulele, not often under $300. Anything other than a Sukar and you pretty much have to spend over $1500 to be able to
expect a good enough construction to buy it "sight unseen'.
Most of the ouds you see online under $400 require a fair amount of work, by someone who's handy with tools and has some know-how, to make them
decent, it can be done, but most of them never make it. Nothing like wasting $399. I know it's not what you want to hear, but it's the truth. By the
time you know enough to spot that golden opportunity, you probably won't be fishing in under $300 waters.
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paulO
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 9-8-2004
Location: California
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Hi Cato,
I have to agree with fernandraynaud, his explanation tells the story. Back in the 1975 I saw a decent oud selling for $350; but that was then. Good
luck in your search Cato.
Regards..Paul
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Alan-TX
Oud Junkie
Posts: 118
Registered: 2-18-2008
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Another factor to consider is if you buy a decent oud from a maker with a good reputation it will retain its resale value. If you keep it in good
shape you can re-sell if it if you decide to stop playing.
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
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Mood: m'Oudy
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Another factor to consider is RESPECT. Cheap is cheap. Better to get a nicer oud.
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Franck
Oud Junkie
Posts: 145
Registered: 8-21-2007
Location: Montréal, Québec
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I also agree with fernandraynaud. If you want quality, you'll have to put more money. To find a ''decent'' oud under 300$ you would have to be very
lucky...
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cato504
Oud Admirer
Posts: 2
Registered: 3-4-2011
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That is basically what I expected to hear. Where can you actually buy Sukar ouds?
Also the problem with trying out ouds is I have yet to be able to identify anyone in my area who sells ouds, so I am basically forced to buy online.
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