Jameel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1672
Registered: 12-5-2002
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Finding brace locations
On the last oud I made, like a fool I forgot to document the bracing pattern I used. Pretty stupid mistake, eh? I thought up a great way to get a
pretty good idea of the locations. I used a stud finder. It's not super precise, but if you locate from both sides, and split the difference, you
should be able get a fairly accurate location. Of course this won't tell you the shape and dimension of the brace, just it's location, and assuming
its straight across the face. Mine's pretty old now, but I bet they have some more precise ones nowadays.
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oudplayer
Oud Junkie
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Location: new jersey/ Israel
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hey jameel
i was thinking about this for the braces is it better to use like great would like oak or cherry or mahaganay wood . or liek spruce or w/e
i was just wondering
thx sammy
we are lost camels in the desert and wanna find our way to water and the water is in aden
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sidjones
Oud Lover
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Registered: 11-1-2006
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Salam Jameel:
Say, that's a handsome oud you have built there! You might like to know that
so-called "stud finders", especially the inexpensive ones, don't actually locate the stud - they locate the sharp gradients of dielectric constant of
the (in this case) face. In other words, they locate the edges of the braces, not the centers. So, your assumption: "locate from both sides, and
split the difference" is right-on. This is geometrically correct. The double reading is not an indication of dysfunction. Another way to get the
braces to reveal themselves is to place a photographer's strobe (flash unit) on the face with the lens pointing into the large hole. Push the button
and the flash fills the inside with a thousand suns of light. The braces reveal the truth of their locations by casting shadows from the inside of
the face. These shadows can be seen quite clearly by observing the outside. Yet another way to discern the brace locations is to scan the face with
a vibrating tuning fork. When you place the fork over a brace, the sound will become quite a bit louder, again revealing the secret of the brace's
location. Either way, you must document what you have discerned. A useful technique for me is to place the oud down on a large sheet of paper and
trace the outline with a pencil. If the oud is symmetrical, this can be used as the outline of a map on which to draw the brace positions. If the
oud is not symmetrical, you can place the paper on a large window and trace the pattern onto the back side. This will provide a proper "view" of the
face of the instrument as seen from the outside (normal).
Regards,
Sid
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Hosam
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-6-2005
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From a previous discussion with Dr. Oud a while back, he told me about another possible and interesting way to locate braces location. By sprinkling
fine sand or powder on the face, then vibrating the face. The pattern of vibration will change over a brace and the fine sand or powder will be
rearranged on the top to reveal the brace location. There are many ways to vibrate the face; the simplest is by using the strings.
This is very similar to the method where Chladni patterns are generated for the plate of violin or guitar. This link shows Chladni Patterns of a
guitar top plate at different frequencies http://www.phys.unsw.edu.au/~jw/guitar/patterns_engl.html
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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Thanks Sid. Those are some other great methods that you've mentioned. I like the strobe idea. Ill have to try that. Great stuff. Thanks for posting.
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