Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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From Syria to Iraq
Hello again guys....
Ok this is my project...I won't be actually doing this myself , but the guy
who's going to carry out this restoration/conversion is a professional luthier (European Lutes). I bought this Ali Khalifeh tourist oud a couple of
years ago from an Arabic nut shop for $190 Aussie. It had a thick nasty layer of lacquer on the face to increase the appeal to tourists, but it did
not help the sound. I had the face stripped right back and there was a little improvement but nothing too spectacular. But suprisingly, two years
down the track it was the same sturdy instrument with the perfectly straight neck as it was on day one - a fluke I'm sure!.
But to cut a long story short, I've been planning to invest into a new oud to add to my collection. Having discovered the work of Ian Watchorn (the
guy who restored my Foad Ud); I saw that he had sucessfully converted cheapie Syrian and Egyptian ouds into fine expensive European lutes. To build a
lute from scratch Ian would charge around A$6000, and this is quite normal for European lutes, however in one of his instruments he used an existing
bowl of a cheapie oud, which cut the price tag almost in half. This was of course considering that the oud bowl used was well built and of half
decent timber - which it was.
Based on these factors; I came up with the idea of converting my cheap Khalifeh oud into a decent oud, a Bashir type with a floating bridge. I had to
make sure first that the Khalifeh was going to be worth the trouble and the cost. And as it turned out....the bowl was well built, very sturdy, and
the neck was perfectly in place, with a nice low action. So I figured, if the nasty sound board was removed and replaced with a good qulaity spruce
top that is well braced and constructed, I could end up with a decent oud.
So I took the oud to Ian the luthier and got his opinion, and he agreed that the oud was quite well made, with the exception of the sound board of
course. Ian seemed quite confident, that with a new sound board, professionally made and mounted, a decent oud would emerge. Other touches would
include replacing the pegs, the nut, polishing the whole thing and the inlay work on the soundboard.
All in all, this project would cost around $A1700, and Ian did mention to me that this is easly the cost of a decent oud. However on the other hand,
this project would mean that I would be getting exactly what I want, and every step of the process would be done with my supervison. To me this is a
big advantage, as I had spent months designing what I had in mind. Using AutoCAD and photoshop, I produced many images of what the end instrument
would look like, and everything was detailed to the exact millimetre.
This was a hard decision to make, as I mentioned earlier, the money could easily purchase a decent oud. However considering that I am dealing with
the lutiher face to face, I think it would be worth it; not to mention that the high standards of European lute makers is a bonus. Some may argue
that the lute is very different from the oud, and that this would impact heavily on the results, but the fact remains; that we had an oud to start
with, and we're simply putting on a high quality sound board
So, it would be nice to see what people think! Please feel free to express! Images will follow as they become availabe.
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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Ok here are some images of the oud as it is.....
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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the bowl
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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this is a line drawing of what I have in mind. The oud will have the same vibrating string length, ie 61.5cm. 57cm would have been nice in the
bashir tradition, but considering the lenght of the neck (20.5cm), and based on the formula; twice the necklength fromt the neck/body joint = string
lenght; I stuck to 61.5
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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Oops that didn't work hopefully this one will...
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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Ok that image above is a photoshop job....this is what I hope the oud would look like in the end...
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Cyberquills
Oud Junkie
Posts: 182
Registered: 10-12-2006
Location: Western Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: resonant
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Hey Mel
I certainly hope it turns out the way you want it! All I can say if it works, why not!!
CQ (Perth)
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