monitort
Oud Admirer
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Registered: 5-27-2015
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Life of a double top?
Here are two quotes from Ross Gutmeier, a classical guitar maker, regarding double-top guitars. Do you think the same applies to double-top ouds?
Ross Gutmeier: "I have to jump in here. I've handled a bunch of Dammanns, some owned by some of the best players in the world, and they all
experienced the same thing, within five years or so they started to die. It really had nothing to do with the honeycomb core, or the candle burning
twice as bright, the root of the problem is simply in the WAY they are built. They have flat tops (no dome or arch like a traditional guitar) and they
are incredibly loose with extremely minimal bracing. They are designed to cave in."
"Some time ago, maybe back around 2005, I read something Gernot Wagner said about his double top guitars lasting ten years (paraphrasing here) "When
you divide the $8000 price (cost at the time) over ten years, that's only $800 a year for the musician's primary tool". "
You can read the whole discussion at: http://www.classicalguitardelcamp.com/viewtopic.php?t=85618&sta...
Will double-top ouds "cave in" a matter of years?
Thank you.
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hamed
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Hi Monitort,
I'm not an expert on this subject, but I find the topic interesting, so I can offer the following :
The discussion you referenced focused more on the bracing of the instruments, which differs from bracing for ouds. I do not know of any lattice or
fan braced ouds, and I can only assume that the current double top ouds in production are built with traditional ladder bracing, with minor
adjustments for sound optimization.
That being said, it does not necessarily mean that the double top ouds won't eventually suffer from warpage or de lamination , I guess time will tell.
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bulerias1981
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This raises a good question. We know how the traditional soundboard sounds and behaves over time, but we don't have a long history of researching
regarding the longevity of double top soundboard construction.
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suz_i_dil
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I've always been curious too about how one would repair a crack on a sandwich top. I know it's less usual than on a simple soudboard, but let's
imagine the oud take a bump for exemple.
Did you experienced this issue on this kind of construction ?
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bulerias1981
Oud Junkie
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Location: Beacon, NY
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Mood: John Vergara Luthier Lord of the Strings instrument making and repair
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I've never made a double top instrument. I'm not all that interested, unless someone requests it for a commission.
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