SV_T_oud
Oud Maniac
Posts: 83
Registered: 8-27-2014
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Turkish tanbur string action (height)
Hello. This is a little bit off topic in respect to oud but it's the oud's close friend so I hope you don't mind.
My question is to the people in the know regarding the tanbur general set-up. This is a normal, all wooden, picked tanbur. The scale length (bridge to
nut) is 1064 mm - the middle of the road tanbur.
What is the acceptable string action of the tanbur at the last fret, that is the fret set where the neck connects to the body? When I brought all
strings up to pitch and measured the action from the top of the last (56-th) fret to the bottom of the strings it's 11 mm. Yes, 11 mm!
To me it feels a bit too high compared to any other fretted instrument I know of. However the strings tension is quite low on tanbur (hope I've tuned
them not an octave lower than the norm) and even with that high action it's not hard to fret in terms of the force applied but on the other hand the
finger has to travel a long distance down to the fretboard from the unfretted string height until it's fretted.
So please I want to verify with you the string height: is 11 mm acceptable at the last fret down the neck?
If it's too high an action I can bring the bridge down but I don't want to mess with it until I know what is considered the norm.
Thanks!
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
Posts: 3485
Registered: 8-2-2006
Location: Ontario, Canada
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SV_T_oud have you been able to resolve your question about the 11mm action at the 56 fret position of your tanbur? When I look at some of the tanbur
images on the Internet the action does indeed appear to be 'high' at the last fret position so I also am curious to know if this is the normal 'set
up' for this instrument.
If so - given the relatively low fret heights of the instrument - could this be to allow an even greater range of 'microtones' if the finger stops a
string behind some of the wider spaced fret positions - so creating a fretless environment (the string then vibrating freely over the fret)? Not sure
if this is physically possible however without looking at the instrument geometry!
Even if the string remained in contact with a fret, stopping a string a little further behind a fret might alter string tension sufficient to slightly
change the pitch?
I have no first hand knowledge about the set up of the Turkish tanbur or how it is played so would be interested to know if this scenario might be
part of the wonderful complexity of this instrument.
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alchemy
Oud Maniac
Posts: 57
Registered: 11-30-2014
Location: Buenos Aires, Argentina
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Hey, just my 2 cents since I don't play Tanbur (yet, I'm interested actually). But on the Indian Sitar, the ideal action at the last fret is around
10mm, and string tension is higher than other plucked instruments, so I don't think that 11mm sounds crazy at first. Obviously that since I don't know
the instrument and it may still be crazy for Tanbur (it is for Oud), but probably not.
What is the maker of the Tanbur? Have you been able to ask him?
Do you know other Tanbur players? What do they say?
Best wishes with that wonderful instrument.
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1373
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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A bit off topic on an off topic….but…..String tension would have to necessarily be considerably looser on sitar than on most other string
instruments. Try to imagine pulling a guitar string at one fret five whole steps higher. It can't be done, even if the fingerboard were wide enough to
accommodate that. Yet this is done regularly on sitar. It's true that the bridge type, fret type, and neck type and other factors all help the sitar
string to pull somewhat more easily but all the same the string cannot be at high tension.
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