Whisteul
Oud Admirer
Posts: 1
Registered: 2-12-2025
Member Is Offline
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Oud setup
Hello everyone from Tahiti,
This is my first message on this forum and I have a few questions about the oud. A customer of mine (I am a professional luthier in violins) brought
me a oud with a floating bridge. I have to check the pegs (I know how to do it and I also have the proper tools for this), but I have some questions
about the set-up of this instrument : how is it tuned ? What is the common scale length and how high should be the action of the strings ? Is there
any intonation on the bridge ?
I also wonder if I have to make a new nut, but it will depends on your answers.
Thank you and have a nice day !
Jordan
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2940
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
Member Is Offline
Mood: Stringish
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Bridge should be positioned so that the neck/body joint is a P5; i.e., 1/3 the scale length.
So if the fingerboard from nut to body is 19.5cm then the bridge is positioned at 58.5cm.
The instrument is tuned various ways to the preferences of the musician. Primarily P4ths, with the lowest few courses being variable. The first
course is usually either middle C (C4 or c') or the F above that (F4 or f').
Being fretless, intonation is adjusted by the player, there are not usually any additional adjustments at the bridge or nut. Players are capable of
compensating for the minor variations based on string composition/diameter/tuning.
Action is typically close to zero at the nut (around 0.3-0.5 mm) and ideally around 2.0-2.5mm at the neck-body joint.
Typical nut issues:
• made out of wood instead of bone (synthetic bone substitutes can be fine)
• unevenly spaced slots (especially within the pair, but also between pairs)
• slots too deep, causing strings to bind (especially the wound strings)
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