Zulu
Oud Junkie
Posts: 149
Registered: 6-21-2004
Location: Austin, Texas
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Mood: I'm in the m'Oud for Love!
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Purchasing the right strings
I am a bass player fairly new to Oud.
This is the oud I own http://larkinthemorning.com/products/oud001
I will be tuning my oud EADGCF.
Can anyone advise me what strings to buy that would be best for this tuning?
Thank You!
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Mehran
Oud Junkie
Posts: 210
Registered: 4-27-2006
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From what ive gathered from the link you gave me, you bought the turkish model right?
In that case, i wouldnt advise tuning to EADGCF. Turkish ouds are designed for turkish tuning such as:
- E A B e a d
- C# F# B e a d
- B F# B e a d
- D A B e a d
- D G B e a d
Basically the the highest 4 courses are tuned in 4ths and the lowest 2 can vary.
F A D g c f / E A D g c f is the Iraqi tuning system and is commonly used on floating bridge ouds.
I dont know what would happen if you tuned your particular oud to the Iraqi tuning, however its generally considered that damage may be caused to an
oud if it is tuned to an inappropriate tuning system.
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Mehran
Oud Junkie
Posts: 210
Registered: 4-27-2006
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Oh and for strings!
I like labella sets - they have an arabic set (Ou80a) and a turkish set (Ou80). Make sure you get the right one as they have different gauges. Pyramid
also make good strings.
Look here for strings. http://www.khalafoud.com/strings.htm
If your new, search around this forum for basic advice..Theres lots out here.
Have a look on this website, has lots of information for tuning and stringing. http://www.oudcafe.com/stringing_and_tuning.htm
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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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Thanks Mehran, I appreciate the valuable information!
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DoggerelPundit
Oud Junkie
Posts: 141
Registered: 7-28-2010
Location: Pacific Northwest
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John Bilezikjian, who lives out your way sells LaBella sets (OU80) which are overall a millimeter thinner than the standard OU80 set. They exert a
little less tension than the 135 pounds of bridge pull averaged on a Turkish oud. He uses this thinner set on his Karibyan, and swears by it.
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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 Zulu, you have a typical 585 mm scale Turkish oud. You can tune it to either Arabic or Turkish standard tunings, because your scale is shorter
than on an Arabic oud, so a given string tuned to a given note will be more slack on the shorter scale. If you are familiar with short scale electric
bass, it's the same principle. And that's also why Turkish tuning is customarily a whole note higher.
That means you can get any STANDARD oud set and tune it to standard Turkish or Arabic tunings, the latter will be a little flappy. There are a variety
of Turkish tunings, and they offer string sets specifically designed for each. The most standard Arabic tuning is CFFAADDggcc. Lower case letters
indicate a plain nylon course, and the low C is a wound single.
I understand why you would want to tune as you first indicated. If you want to tune it to an Arabic High Tuning, which is FAADDggccff, or (if you
prefer) EAADDggccff, you CANNOT use a standard oud set, you must use a set designed for high tuning, which adds a thin course for the top (and
discards the fat bass), or you will be tuning a whole 4th higher than intended, and seriously stressing the instrument. Even allowing for the slacker
tensions on a short scale, this would do damage.
The simplest and cheapest way is to order a Daniel Mari set (either Turkish or Arabic, they are identical) for $7.99, PLUS a "mumtaz" high ff course
for $0.75. You will set aside the fattest 6th course string, use the "mumtaz" course 0 for your first course, the original 1st course as your 2nd
course, and so on. You will use one of the 5th course strings as your bass string. You can get them from:
http://www.ostriemusicsupplies.com/marioud-ar.htm
There is one other set readily available that can be used for high Arabic tuning, and that is the LaBella O80A.
I would seriously suggest you become familiar with the gauges of the strings used in the various sets, and to buy a cheap digital caliper, or a
micrometer. If you try to go by the labeling without checking the gauges, you will find things very confusing. For instance the LaBella O80 is in fact
OK for use as an Arabic set on an Arabic oud or a Turkish set on a Turkish oud (and Doggerel is right that a custom slightly lighter O80 could be nice
for Turkish), but the O80A "Arabic" set is only for HIGH Arabic tuning, OR for a 5 course Arabic if you discard the top course. That's not obvious. If
you tried it as a standard 6 course Arabic set, you would find it much too slack. If you venture as far as believing the printing on a D'Addario J95
oud set, instead of going by the gauges, you risk losing your mind.
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Zulu
Oud Junkie
Posts: 149
Registered: 6-21-2004
Location: Austin, Texas
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Mood: I'm in the m'Oud for Love!
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WOW! Thanks fernandraynaud; that's a great deal of important info!
I'll take your advise on getting a digital caliper, I'd like to remove any guess work!
Thanks to everyone helping me with this otherwise I'd be lost...what an awesome group here!!!!
Now I'm considering adding an Arabic oud to my collection!
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