oudlover2011
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 3-13-2011
Member Is Offline
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New member, new oud!
hello guys, this is a new a member here, been following this site and forum for sometime now. I can say thanks for the useful loads of information on
the forums...
Iv been thinking of buying an oud lately and still doing research here and there, and from what I have been looking for, I kinda feel comfortable
towards buying this oud on the link below.
http://www.instrumentalsavings.com/ProductDetails.asp?ProductCode=O...
I wonder if anyone have any first hand experience dealing with this site or the oud as well, is it worth it for the price, how can you make sure that
the oud is what they say it is, I mean how can you make sure of the certification process?
love to hear from you guys and thanks
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bibo10
Oud Junkie
Posts: 300
Registered: 11-10-2008
Location: New Jersey, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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not a good idea. check your u2u
+++++++++++
Michael-GOD BLESS EGYPT
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Alnoud85
Oud Addict
Posts: 28
Registered: 1-31-2010
Location: UK (sheffield)
Member Is Offline
Mood: سماء الانغام
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I got to agree with bibo10 not a good idea at all as you can never predict what these kind of ouds sound like. Give or take $100 you could get a
Sukar, cheaper fathi ameen model or something along those lines. Where are you based?
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oudlover2011
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 3-13-2011
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I live in Oklahoma, and I know there isnt a place nearby where they do stuff like that here where you can get a first hand experience about the
products cos I know how important this process is. The closest place might be Dallas wher It wont take me long to get to IF there are any stores out
there anybody might know of...
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Alan-TX
Oud Junkie
Posts: 118
Registered: 2-18-2008
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I live in the DFW area and there are no Ouds for sale locally. You can find Sukars on line and there is contact info here for many trusted builders.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Member Is Online
Mood: Stringish
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Neal Clarke lives in Oklahoma (Oklahoma City, I think).
Maybe he can help you find something.
youtube - Neal Callen Clarke
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Sam
Oud Junkie
Posts: 375
Registered: 3-23-2009
Location: Cairo - Egypt
Member Is Offline
Mood: Selling Ouds
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You can get a decent turkish or syrian oud for 600$ but stay away from tourist ouds like Sukar's . contact Samir Azar , Zaher khalifeh or Samer Al
kebah from Syria and get yourself a custom made Oud. 
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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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The oud you were looking at is way overpriced, It's apparently a MidEastManufacturing distributed oud. Sam may be right about the benefits of having a
custom oud made, in principle, but I doubt it's practical in your case. Sam is wrong about Sukars being "tourist ouds". They are in fact Syrian, and
predictable. Read up on the forum before you leap.
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oudlover2011
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 3-13-2011
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Thank you guys for all your input, has anyone here on the forum actually bought an oud online and worked out alright for them?which oud would they
recomment from which online store? from my research I heard good things about sukars oud as well as fathi amins as well.
Im aware of arabinstruments website, and the different oud styles that they have, but the thing that is diferent about them from the website I linked
up there is their contact info.
You dont know where they are located at, whether in the U.S or somewhere overseas, no 800 cust service number as well, which kinda make me cautious,
whereas in that website it says where they at and theres an 800 number, with that they are in away trackable.. so i just wonder if someone actually
dealt with them or if there are any repeat customer here in the forum
thanks to you all
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bibo10
Oud Junkie
Posts: 300
Registered: 11-10-2008
Location: New Jersey, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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hey mate,
check your u2u
to me arab instruments oud seem like commercial ouds, i wouldnt compare them to fathi amins
+++++++++++
Michael-GOD BLESS EGYPT
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Alnoud85
Oud Addict
Posts: 28
Registered: 1-31-2010
Location: UK (sheffield)
Member Is Offline
Mood: سماء الانغام
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I have only ever tried a sukar oud once I wasn't blown away but it was nice far
from a tourist oud as suggested by Sam. I would say the model 1 is probably one of the most recomended beginner ouds because the price is good for a
oud with nice playability and decent sound quality...
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Zulu
Oud Junkie
Posts: 149
Registered: 6-21-2004
Location: Austin, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'm in the m'Oud for Love!
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Sam is very wrong about Sukar ouds. Sukars are very reliable, have a sweet timbre, are built solid as a rock, reasonably priced and have a feature you
won't find on most ouds...an adjustable neck.
I have purchased a "tourist" oud in the past and know the difference. I now own a Sukar and could not be happier.
Do your research on Sukar, you won't be disappointed.
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Sam
Oud Junkie
Posts: 375
Registered: 3-23-2009
Location: Cairo - Egypt
Member Is Offline
Mood: Selling Ouds
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I don't know , Maybe you like his Ouds. I've tried two of his Ouds and they were TOO much buzzing! His ouds could be quite good for begginers but not
for proffesionals .beside that, His prices are extermly high compared to the quality.It is not worthy at all. Sukar is not making his Ouds by his own
hands . he hires people to build his Ouds . Sukar's vactory produced tens of Ouds everyday. Which makes his Ouds tourist ones. That's what I see about
his Ouds.
That's just an opinion.
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oudlover2011
Oud Admirer
Posts: 4
Registered: 3-13-2011
Member Is Offline
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interesting, Im not sure where to lean towards honestly.
I guess my main concern is the online process safe pr not. i guess maybe I can start from there, and listen to whoever went through the same process.
while I got personal u2u solicitations to buy an oud through them, but with all due respect, my knowlege knof you is as good as my knowlege of these
online stores, meaning I dont know you!
the way i see it, if i get screwed through an online store, and the product is not what they say it is, I might have a chance of getting my money back
through disputing it through my amex credit card, but through an unknown personal contact, Im sorry my friend but I dont know you, thanks for all your
input guys, and ill still keep on reseaching and looking
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Zulu
Oud Junkie
Posts: 149
Registered: 6-21-2004
Location: Austin, Texas
Member Is Offline
Mood: I'm in the m'Oud for Love!
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This will give you the details of my experience buying a Sukar oud from Palmyrami http://www.palmyrami.com/
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=11418
Buying a Sukar online can be tricky; or buying anything for that matter where cultural differences can cause miscommunication; My dealing with
Palmyrami started out rough because I was not truly aware of this, but all worked out well in the end.
If you buy from them they are very good about staying in contact with you which is reassuring.
Just make sure you ask what is in stock in their U.S.(Michigan) warehouse otherwise you will wait forever for overseas shipping.
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rudeog
Oud Addict
Posts: 33
Registered: 1-10-2010
Location: Raleigh, USA
Member Is Offline
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I've bought two sukar ouds (from Palmyrami) and am happy with both (1 electric, one regular). Both were bought through ebay, and were located in
Michigan so I got them quickly.
I've also bought a few other oud's online with mixed results. My first oud was a MidEast oud (a bit of a dice roll, but I got lucky and still play
this one live because I don't care if it gets banged around). I've bought a few other MidEast ouds and returned a few because they were crap. The good
thing about these is they are in the US, and so you get it quickly and if somethings wrong with it, you can return it easily. The down side,
obviously, is they are not as good quality. However that doesn't mean you can't play them and ENJOY them.
Of the oud's I've bought on ebay, one was from some seller in Israel. It was good only for firewood. I got them to refund my money and used the oud to
grow tomatoes in. My latest oud was ordered on ebay from Turkey, and I absolutely love it.
The good thing about ebay is that the sellers are on the hook to make you satisfied, otherwise they lose ratings, and have to pay more to ebay. Also,
if you can't resolve the issue, ebay can resolve it. The down side is you don't know what you are going to get. Do research carefully, see how many of
the same type of oud they have sold, and if the people were happy.
Buying online is no substitute for being able to try it out first, but the fact of the matter is, us USA folks don't have access to oud shops, so we
have to do what we can and hedge our bets.
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davidc
Oud Lover
Posts: 12
Registered: 8-3-2010
Member Is Offline
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Hi and welcome to the forum. I don't know how far down the road of ordering an oud you are but you could do a lot worse than check out Michael Moussa.
He's based in the UK but he sends abroad. He charges $1000 for his ouds and they are really nicely made and keep their tuning well. He can be reached
at mgmmoussa@yahoo.com Good luck and best wishes David
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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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Oudlover, Rudeog makes a lot of good points. Let me just add that ouds are handmade and each instrument is different. Sukar's are the most
predictable, as he sticks to his specific designs, and are the safest to buy sight-unseen.
There are a few general types of ouds, and everyone who's buying a first oud should probably listen to a lot of recordings on YouTube and understand
how a Turkish differs from an old-style Egyptian, a floating bridge Iraqi, and so on.
There are also some basic price points that we all work very hard to beat. It takes some luck and experience to get a playable oud under $500, but if
you are handy with tools, you can overcome some of the problems. Between $500 and $1000 is the safer hunting ground. Between $1000 and $1500 you can
score some gems made by luthiers with a reputation. Over $1500 you're into very serious, and largely Turkish-made, ouds. The ones priced under $100
(say in Egypt), that fill the eBay pages marked up as high as $400, are the riskiest, and seldom work out. MidEasternManufacturing imports and
distributes the generic ouds that all the US online music stores offer, after a while you can spot them a mile away, and they are medium quality, but
at least you will generally only lose the shipping costs if you return one. Vendors based in Israel present a specific problem for US buyers, as
shipping charges for returning an oud to Israel from the US costs more than many ouds.
Most of us here have several ouds, I would guess the average is 3. It helps to know that most of these "first ouds" are sitting in the closet, and not
to expect miracles on your virgin voyage. It's very useful to know what the most common problems are: 1) high action and 2) bad pegs. Unless the neck
is adjustable, a high action, above say 4.5 mm at the neck-body junction, is very hard to remedy, even with tools. Excellent pegs can be purchased at
about $1 a peg, but fitting them requires some specialized tools (reamer and shaver), know-how, and technique. Wood-on-wood pegs are always tricky as
the ambient humidity changes. These two issues curse most of the closet ouds, and are key in setting price boundaries. Other than the boutique ouds of
famous luthiers, ouds are seldom finished as perfectly as, say, violins or even guitars. To what degree you can tolerate squirrely pegs and a higher
than average action is also important. The Turkish sound is associated with a very low action, the percussive old style Egyptian sound requires a
higher action.
Blessed are those who can walk into an oud shop and try them out. The rest of us need all the help we can get. The frequent "what should i get" query
is unanswerable, and shows a lack of preparation. But don't hesitate to ask specific and pointed questions.
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aytayfun
Oud Junkie
Posts: 201
Registered: 1-28-2006
Location: Türkiye
Member Is Offline
Mood: luthier and player
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Never and ever think about this tourist oud.
Dr. Tayfun AYDIN
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Ararat66
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1025
Registered: 11-14-2005
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow yellow
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Hi Oudlover
From the heart ... get a decent instrument from the start ... at least a good 'student' model ... get the real thing as it is an amazing instrument
and that is what you fall in love with. You need to do a bit of research to see wether you want to go for Arabic, Turkish or Iraqi type oud so
youtube like mad then get back to the forum and say what you are after.
I bought both my ouds via websites and emails both worked out perfectly but they were directly with the maker and the makers were and are well known
on this forum. I didn't actually try an oud before I bought initially but if If I'd had the chance I would have done ... but I knew I wanted to play
the instrument.
My first oud is what you may call an intermediate model (Turkish) my second oud I had custom made for me to my spec (Greek - same as Turkish
essentially).
Good luck
Leon
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Sazi
Oud Junkie
Posts: 786
Registered: 9-17-2007
Location: Behind my oud
Member Is Offline
Mood: مبتهج ; ))
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My feelings exactly.
You don't say whether you already play a stringed instrument...
When I started out all I could get were Turkish "Student" models, 2 out of 2 lasted under a year with me, due to playability, timber quality, tuning
problems etc. I would suggest at least an amateur model if you already play a decent guitar.
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Ararat66
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1025
Registered: 11-14-2005
Location: Portsmouth, UK
Member Is Offline
Mood: mellow yellow
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Hi Sazi
My first oud is still going strong - Haluk Eraydin intermediate model (God bless him) but obviously I play my Tasos Theodorakis oud most of the time
as it is such a great instrument ... I have my Haluk tuned EABEAD which I like from time to time, my Tasos is C#F#BEAD.
I had played guitar for years before coming to oud so my fingers could move a fair bit already. I think I made the right choices but was looking for
a special oud after playing a couple of years.
The Haluk was enough to form a love affair with oud and make me want to go further.
Cheers
Leon
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