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Jonathan
Oud Junkie
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Cool. Thanks. I'll try that.
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mavrothis
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Great work Jonathan! Looking forward to hearing this oud. 
Keep it up my friend,
mavrothis
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Jonathan
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Dang! Coming up with a rosette design was tougher than I thought. But, here's what I came up with, just drawn on paper. Seems like it ought to be
easy to come up with a design, but it was not.
On my first oud I stole a pattern off of another oud's rosette. Actually, it was an oud that my grandfather made, so in my mind it was rationalized
as being a "tribute." But, this time around, I wanted my own pattern.
Now I am going to just glue the paper onto the rosette material (mircada this time), and start using the scroll saw. Then, I will remove the paper at
the end.
That bird at 11 o'clock on the central rosette might be a bit much--I might end up deleting that.
Was there a computer program that would have made this all a bit easier? The central portion is geometric, although the scrolling vine on the
perimeter is all free-form, so I am guessing that it would not lend itself all that well to a computer program.
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ALAMI
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Jonathan
Check this old thread, I'll be adding some stuff tonight
http://www.arabicouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=5157&...
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Jonathan
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Thanks for the link.
I just realized how much I hate this part of the project. I've decided to give the laser cut method a try this time around. If anybody happens to
know anybody in the Los Angeles area that does this type of thing, please let me know. Thanks!
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Jonathan
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This is the third bowl that I have applied a finish to. The first was to the oud that I made, then to one that I restored, and now to this one. Each
time, I used something different for the finish.
With the first, I used Tru Oil Sealer and Tru Oil Finish. For the second, I used Tru Oil Sealer and Polyurethane. For this one, I used Pore-O-Pac
grain sealer and shellac, and I am happiest so far with the results this time around. I used pre-mixed shellac, both the brush on stuff and the
shellac in an aerosol can. Incredibly easy to use, and it gives the wood a richness that I did not see before with the other finishes--although,
admittedly, that probably has a lot to do with technique (or, more accurately, lack of technique).
So, not nearly done, but there's two coats of sealer on here, and 3 coats of shellac. The shellac is dry, but not yet rubbed down.
I wish I got a better shot of the quilting on the maple--you can sort of see it on the far ribs.
The shellac gave it all a very slight golden color, which I like a lot.
I am tempted to put a coat or two of polyurethane on at the very end, just for protection. Is this ok? Polyurethane over shellac?
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Jonathan
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.
Still haven't put the finish on the neck or pegbox. Not really happy with the pegbox, and I am tempted to knock it off and do it over.
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Jameel
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Pretty wood. So is it done? Let's hear it.
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Jonathan
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Nope. Not done yet. Hopefully, by the end of the year.
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Jonathan
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OK. I have one week that I can devote to completing this oud. I hope to have it done before the first of the year.
I did this in an unorthodox manner, I suppose. I put the finish on the oud before putting on the face, or fingerboard.
On my last oud, I had a tough time adequately masking the oud, and I got a spot of tru-oil on the face that I could not get off--small enough that
most people won't notice it, but enough to bug me.
This time around, I figured I would do all the finish work first, then put on the face.
So, if it looks different than the last time around, it is because, after 2 coats of grain sealer, and 8 coats of shellac, I put on 5 coats of
polyurethane. I sanded between each coat, then let the whole thing sit for a couple of weeks before I used pumice and rottenstone. Finally, I used
some paste wax. It got a really nice, rich finish. I'm sold on shellac--I love the slight warmth that it imparts to the wood. I like the look a
lot better than what I achieved with tru-oil on my first oud, and much better than what I got using only polyurethane on that refinish I did a while
ago.
In the background, the face--I hope to put her on in the morning. And, finally, bowl number 3 (no need to critique the finish on that one--it's just
got a little bit of shellac on it).
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mavrothis
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Looks beautiful Jonathan, great work!
mavrothis
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Jonathan
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Thanks, Mav.
Not done, but the face and fingerboard are on. I have a single string on there to hold the nut in place while it glues. A lot of volume. Can't wait
to play it.
Still have to do some touch ups--some sanding of the edge banding, some little re-touches to the finish. There's a bunch of blue tape on the bowl,
just protecting the finish a bit until I am done.
I hope to have it strung up in a couple of days.
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Mike
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Looks beautiful JV. Old school looking oud. Very nice. The rosettes came out killer too. You should be proud buddy!
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Multi Kulti
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Jonathan Congratulations...i cant wait to hear the sound of your creation. Mike has right rosettes are very nice and authentic too..
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Jonathan
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Thanks, guys. Very much.
New Years Eve, and she's all done. Sounds very good to my ears--very full, tons of volume. I guess I attribute that primarily to making the face a
whole lot thinner this time around. I'll post a sound sample next week when the strings settle in a bit.
If you take a look at the very bottom of the face, you will see a very thin band of tiled-edge purfling just inside the edge banding. I trimmed a bit
too much of the face when I was fitting it, and this band made up the difference. I sort of like it, though. It contains pink ivory, mulberry, and
ebony--the woods I am using on the next oud (sort of a foreshadowing). For my next oud, I'm toying with the idea of going a little further with
this--a thin band of tile edge purfling all around the face, then the solid black band on the outside.
The action is really low--intentionally. It took me forever to sand the fingerboard down to get rid of all the buzzing, but I finally got there. The
bowl itself has a really nice dip in it--I was a lot more aggressive with the dip this time than I was the last time. I wish I could get a picture of
it, but I haven't really been able to capture it.
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Jonathan
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I wish I had more of this maple.
So that's that. My second oud. Finally done.
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Jesse Frank
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Looks great! I really like the rose!
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Jameel
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Congratulations Jonathan! Looks fantastic. The bowl woods are, again, beautiful. The finish looks very nice too. Can't wait to hear it.
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Jonathan
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Thanks!!
OK--now for the disaster follow up.
I finished the oud on 12/31. I had to travel by plane on 1/1, and I decided to take the oud with me.
You know where this story is going. . .
I have an incredible hard case that I like to use. It's just unbelievably strong. I think you could drop an oud in this case from several stories
and the oud would live through it without any problems at all.
So, when the airline told me that I could not take the oud on the plane with me, I was upset, but figured I would be OK.
But of course, that was not the case.
Security went through the case (the only thing in there was the oud, of course), and, apparently when they went to return the oud to the case, they
did not put it in properly.
This is one of those cases where the shape of the case is custom made to the shape of an oud, so the oud has to be tilted at a slight angle, and the
tip of the peg box has to be inserted first. Otherwise, it just won't go.
Somebody apparently could not figure that out.
And it arrived with the neck broken off.
To make matters worse, the back of the neck was broken for about 1 cm. I had two dowel rods joining the neck to the neck block, and the dowel rods
were more resistant than the mahogany neck. So the dowel rods stayed perfectly intact, but the back of the neck broke.
I can post pictures, but I think you get the idea.
So, I have spent the past couple of days doing repair work. I hope that the neck can be saved--I think it can. I glued it all back together, and
then reset the neck.
I had originally gotten an incredibly low action, but it rose slightly when I reset it. After waiting for 24 hours, I tuned it up, played a quick
song, and was worried that I might be stressing out the neck too much, so I took the strings out of tension for the time being. In a couple of days I
will tune it up again. I know the glue is dry by now, but there is no need to take any extra risk.
Fortunately, the bowl and soundboard escaped without any harm.
The sound is fairly great. My playing remains fairly miserable.
Hopefully, this post will contain a sound sample
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Jameel
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What a disappointment, Jonathan. Glad you got it fixed though.
I can't believe this has happened to both ouds now! I would be fuming. I mean, breaking something in your own shop (I broke Mike's soundboard just a
about an hour ago--and am still nauseated from it) is one thing, but when someone else does it? I would like to ring their necks. You should write
your Senator. These airlines get away with anything with no responsibility. I would sue them. Grrrrrr!
On the other hand, I hope you've learned. Take your oud in a soft case on board with you, and never let your oud out of your site. Sad to say, but
what a great example of how even the toughest case can be worthless, and even harmful.
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Jonathan
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The cool thing is, though, Jameel, that the sound on this thing is pretty wonderful. I haven't been that impressed with the sound I got on my first
oud, or on that restoration. But this puppy just rings out forever. As much volume as any oud I have ever heard, and really a brilliant sound. Very
full throughout. The high end is just super shiny bright, and the low end is really really full. Planing down the soundboard some more really helped
out a lot.
I can't seem to post the sound sample, but I am going to keep trying. I've got it down to 1 MB, but it just won't post.
The thing that bugs me, though, is that I spent forever when I was making the oud to get the action just right. The action was so low, but clear. It
rose just a bit this time, and I am not happy with it, so I will probably reset it. But, as you can understand, I am angry a bit, and I just can't do
the job decently when I feel like that. I'm probably going to let the oud stand for a month or so until I re-attempt it, if I do go ahead and reset
it. I am just hoping that the neck holds. We'll see.
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Jonathan
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OK, let's try this again. I just cut the sample off at the end, so there's now just a minute of playing here, but at least you will be able to hear
something from it.
There are no effects on here, just me and a recorder. Wish the playing was better.
I know I am biased on this one, but I really like the sound. My first one did not have anywhere near this volume, nor this tone. The result on that
one oud that I restored was slightly better than my first oud, but this one is much better. There's really no comparison.
I'm trying to figure out what I did differently this time around, but I can really only come up with the face being thinner. Also, I put a much more
pronounced dip in the face this time around. I've seen some of those old Karibians that have just a huge dip in the face--this isn't that pronounced,
but it is definitely noticeable.
Final weight, with the strings, is 2 lbs 6 oz. the first oud was 2 lbs 15 oz. A little better.
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Jameel
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Sounds great Jonathan. Definitely better than the last. I'm the same as you regarding fixing things. Let it rest for a while, and your enthusiasm will
return. I always do better work when I cool off for a while.
For example, there was one issue with Mike's oud that was giving me fits, I was at a point where I didn't know what to do. I let it go for a few days,
then when I went to take care of it, the solution took all of 5 minutes, and was quite easy. I know that if I'd worked on in an agitated state, I
would have just made it worse.
So yeah, let the oud live for a while and maybe you'll decide that the action is just right...
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