mohamed maghrabi
Oud Admirer
Posts: 3
Registered: 9-1-2022
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sensible tuning for OU80 Oud strings
Hi All ,
just picked up a oud, got a la bella OU80 Oud string set
how do you properly tune it ? the labella website says it starts with a bottom G .. but that's just too low and doesn't make sense
It says its a Turkish string set,but then i am not really sure how to do a Turkish tuning , for example following the below website i cant tell which
tuning to use , because there are several Turkish turnings , and all are wildly differnet
https://www.arabinstruments.com/oud/oud-resources/oud-tuner
My oud is a floating bridge, i think its 58 Cm nut to bridge now, thats how i bought it.
honestly , i bought this set thinking it was an Arabic set, which is what i wanted , to tune down to C .. but now that i got the Turkish one and
strung it , how do i tune it properly  ?
One more thing , the labella website says the OU80 can do Arabic tuning down to C on certain Arabic ouds , any ideas what "certain Arabic ouds "
mean , longer scale length ouds?
If its the case, would it then make sense to push the bridge back to extend the scale length ,to allow for better tension on a C tuning ?
thanks in advance for all your help
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1373
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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In Turkish music "G" means what the rest of the world calls "D". A set of strings designed for all Turkish tunings are meant to be tuned a step higher
than Arabic C tunings. Floating bridge Arabic ouds are usually tuned to F tuning but you can safely use this LaBella set on your oud and tune it to C
tuning. Moving the bridge is likely to cause problems.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2939
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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Exactly as Jody says, "G" means D in this case, everything is a 4th down from the written tuning.
I've found the OU80 a little unbalanced in Arabic tuning - the nylon strings are a bit too light for the rest of the set. But it really depends on the
oud. You could use the set in C-c' tuning or up a step (at 58cm you are essentially at Turkish scale anyway).
Floating bridges typically respond better with a little higher tension. If you tune to Arabic tuning, you may want slightly heavier strings for the
nylon - probably something like .025in and .030in (I think OU80 has .022 and .028 if I recall correctly).
But it's been a long time since I tried that set.
The bridge position should be such that the vibrating string length (i.e., the part that you play on) is 3 times the length from the nut to the
neck-body joint. It is not advisable to move the bridge around, as the bracing is designed for the correct position and the intonation will be
inaccurate if you move it.
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mohamed maghrabi
Oud Admirer
Posts: 3
Registered: 9-1-2022
Member Is Offline
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Thanks a lot guys for your responses, would have never guessed G is D
i ended up tuning it to C , and just swapped the first 2 strings from another set that has a bit more tension , sounds great
thanks again
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