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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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oud #1-1/2: practice piece
As my last oud was a rehab, keeping the bowl, I figured I'd better build a bowl from scratch so I might know more what I was talking about. I have
some nice wood that I didn't want to (possibly) waste exploring, and had a pile of alder waiting for a use - nice, plain wood - and I could look for
gopher holes and banana peels in the process without a lot of anxiety. It turned out well, I think, and I solved some problems, as well as came up
with some questions.
Here is the finished pegbox; maple sides, ebony endcap, boxwood pegs. The pegs came stained and finished. I had hopes that it was only skin deep,
which it was, and I got a nice red-and-white kind of thing going on. The back panel is slightly-curly madrone; the neck is alder with a beech spline.
I've had a heck of a time in the past with that peg shaver chattering some, but I thought a little harder, and put the tiniest bevel on the flat side
of the edge - nice and silky now, with a great fit. I clamp a small machinist's clamp on the adjustable part each time I change the setting, which
also helps. I made the shafts of each of the pegs a wee bit smaller, from the neck to the end - might be hard to see, but it adds a little visual
lightness somehow. I like it. Additionally, I made sure the spline was the thickness of my table saw's blade kerf - that saved a bunch of fuss later.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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I should mention - if you're going to post a photo, and are using Photoshop, the "Save for Web" option is well worth looking at. The photo of the
pegbox was initially 677k; using the Save for Web feature at "40 quality" .jpg knocked it down to 56k; quicker loading, and I sure can't tell any
difference in quality. If everybody knew that already, sorry.
Here's the partially-assembled bowl. So far, so good; noteworthy is the little block on the tailblock. It's right there where the rib points meet.
There's enough going on attention-wise gluing up the ribs, one less alignment to think about was a good thing. Worked well. I used tape to hold it in
place, but a little dot of hide glue with a piece of paper would be easy enough to pop off later, as well as being a bit more firm.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Having the pointy end of the ribs taken care of, I lost patience at the other end. Push pins, tacks, tape, and make-do clamping schemes just weren't
making it. I came up with this idea late in the process, but it seems to work fine; next oud (yes!) should go a lot smoother. I basically made another
neck block, with the radius centers lining up along the top of the fixture. I laminated the lower block from some 1x scraps for a nice tight fit with
the beam. A couple of drywall screws hold it in place, but once I finalize the placement, I'll glue it also. Inset shows a clamp on the job; I used a
shaped, leather-lined caul on the ribs, with a little strip of sticky-back sandpaper on the clamp pads. (Could be everybody has already figured this
out by now, too, but I got to feel clever for a couple of minutes. Priceless!)
Having a solid foundation, real plumb-and-square blocks, accurate centerlines, all go a long way. My only real problem building the bowl was
correcting accumulated or repeated error - looking back, the first rib must've had a mm. or two twist or kink in it, no matter how good it looked.
While I probably won't subscribe to the full bulkhead mold treatment, I'll definitely do one form at the widest point of the bowl, just to make sure
that first, the initial middle is where it's supposed to be, and second, for a check on the last two ribs.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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When it came time to figure out the top two ribs, I clamped and glued a piece of flexible, transparent plastic to the next-to-last ribs and bowl and
drew the line onto the plastic with a Sharpie marker (comes off with alcohol), transferred to paper, transferred to the rib wood. Pretty slick, even
if the long way around - although I now had a line on the outside of the top ribs-to-be. Grr. I came up with this bandsaw jig, tall enough so the rib
curve clears the table. Again, probably common knowledge.
The clamps here are KantTwist, just the handiest, nicest clamps ... your local machine shop supply should have them, from 1" opening on up, swiveling
notched jaws. I don't even know where my iron C clamps are any more, these are so much better. I use them mainly for holding jigs and fixtures on the
drill press and bandsaw, wherever things absolutely can't move. Lots of crushing potential for wood, a little care there is good.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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I had the rose laser-cut. $35 or three days with a jeweler's saw was an easy choice. 3/32" beech. I put the drawing alongside here - they told me the
laser would cut away the black; it looks to me like it cut right on the edge, taking a little white; some of those points are getting mighty thin
compared to the original. Next time I'll adjust accordingly.
The edges of the cut are somewhat scorched, brown, not black. I don't mind it; it gives a paper-thin illusion that I kind of like. The edges of the
cut are nice and smooth. I definitely enjoyed doing the drawing - more than sawing.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Gluing the neck, and the improved oud stand. I made a fitted pine block for the pegbox end, and used rice paper for the paper strips - strong stuff. I
put the paper through our wastebasket-top paper shredder and got a lifetime supply of 1/4" strips, although at 58, "lifetime supply" doesn't have the
same glow it did at 28.
Fitting the braces went as well as can be expected; I used the Dr Oud book arched style. I've seen pictures here of "scooped out" braces, and I'm
curious if they have been discussed anywhere on the Forum, theory or practice. I can't find anything.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Six coats of good old Tru Oil on, ten coats total.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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The completed oud, 1 lb 14 3/4 oz/874 g; weighs less than my mandolin! Alder back, neck and pickguard, fir top, Port Orford cedar braces, Brazilian
cherry fingerboard, beech neck spline and rose, mahogany and maple edge binding and soundhole purfling, maple pegbox sides, madrone pegbox back,
walnut bridge, Pyramid strings. Sounds pretty good to me, and I can hear some improvement in just a month. I had a couple of friends who can play give
it a try, and they liked it. Plus I got to hear it from the front. It sure won't fill a concert hall, but should be a decent parlor instrument.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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The pegbox completed. I like the boxwood pegs a lot, they're smooth-running in the maple. The nut is an ebony place holder/spacing pattern for now;
bone nut to come.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Completed rose and purfling.
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LeeVaris
Oud Junkie
Posts: 379
Registered: 12-16-2003
Location: Los Angeles
Member Is Offline
Mood: oud lover
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Beautiful
Lovely oud – very elegant in its simplicity. I like the very simple little stand as well. Keep going – I'm sure we'd all like to see more of your
ceations! 
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Thanks so much, Lee, appreciate the feedback. I definitely have to thank Mike foremost for having the Forums - I wouldn't have got this far without
them. More stuff is at artcarpstudio.com, bring your spare time.
I have to include one good idea I had - holding the neck for shaping. I had the neck blank sawn to dimension and taper, sawed it in half, then clamped
it up with the spline. Then I struck the appropriate arc, A, on each end with a compass, and drew 45-degree tangents, B, and connected those lines
along the length of the block. Removed the clamps and spline, sawed the pegbox notch, glued the blank halves up with the spline - the arc disappears
on the pegbox end, so it's good to have those lines along the length first. The neck blank is attached to the hi-tech stand (shown in the inset) with
a couple of drywall screws, just short enough to hold the neck securely; the stand is tall enough to keep from bonking the plane on the vise. Planed
away the shaded portion to the arc, leaving me with an octagon. kept planing away the points - sixteen-agon, thirtytwo-agon, etc., down to a cylinder
(I guess it's really a cone). So I got a nice, even-tapered, even-profiled neck ready for minimal sanding. Sure, there's two little screw holes in the
neck, but they're hidden under the fingerboard - small price to pay for the ease of the process. The whole planing surface is out in the open, and
with raking light, it's easy to check for lumps and flat areas.
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Jonathan
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1582
Registered: 7-27-2004
Location: Los Angeles
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Wow. Stunningly beautiful.
You mentioned that you had ten coats of sealer on the bowl, 6 of which were truoil. What were the other 4? Did you use a sealer, or just finish?
Alder may be a plain wood, but you really brought out the beauty in it.
Can you give any more info on the laser cutting of the rosette? Who did you use? What format was the file that you submitted it in? I would like to
try this as well for an oud, but would rather use a different material--like bone, mircata, or similar. Not sure how that would work. What kind of
wood did you use for the rosette? Was it a plywood?
Thanks for sharing the photos, and info. I hope we can hear a sound sample down the road.
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Marina
Oud Junkie
Posts: 615
Registered: 9-1-2005
Location: Bosnia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Enthusiastic
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beautiful
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Thanks, Jonathan. The finish is all Tru Oil; I just took the photo part way through, is all. Just the Tru Oil, no primer or sealer. I 'sanded' between
coats with fine sponge-backed abrasives and white Scotch-Brite; 0000 steel wool cut a little too much for my taste. That alder turned into solidified
honey - I like the look a lot.
Let The Machines Do The Work! For the laser cutting, I used a Eugene company - Pacific Engraving, (541) 988-3599, or (541) 221-9937,
pacificengraving.com. Kathy Burton is the woman's name there; I asked, and she said she'd be interested in doing more rose work, found the instrument
most interesting, and could deal with mail, phone, or e-orders (at least phone and e-inquiries). What a champ!
I'm so old-school, I gave her a very clean paper copy, which was just fine. She scanned it, and turned it into some flavor of Corel Draw file (I don't
recall just what format, something vector-based) to drive the laser. She had samples in the shop, including stone, so 'd imagine bone, etc., wouldn't
be that much of a problem. You'd have to ask. She did want a small sample of the material to test the cut first.
You could probably find somebody local to you, also. That'd be my choice, just so I could talk with them, see what their requirements are - plus check
out the shop and samples.
The quality of the drawing (or file) appears to be the most important thing. I did the final drawing on coated paper, made it as clean as (I thought)
possible at 200%, then reduced it to full-size, and she still cleaned up some eeny-weeny spots on the scan. If the drawing's really dirty, the price
goes up for cleaning, as the laser will cut wherever there's a distinct black. It's a pretty cool process; the leftovers are fun little puzzle pieces,
not like it burns up the black areas.
Let me know what happens. I'd like to hear a sound sample, myself, but I don't have any recording capability - you'll have to take my word for it for
now (heh).
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Sorry - thanks, Marina. Must've got that while I was replying to Jonathan.
Jonathan - the wood for the rose is flat-sawn Euro beech, 3/32" thick; possibly a small mistake there - it wanted to warp from the humidity changes; a
little problem holding it flat on the laser outfit. They gave it a little squirt of water mist, all's well. I'd go for quartersawn next time.
Also, my error - the soundhole purfling is alder and mahogany, not maple. Got in a hurry.
Speaking of plywood, I got a friend's business card a while back - he works in the recycled wood products industry - and it was walnut! I asked; he
said it was 3-ply, 1/64". Whew. Guess anything's possible. Pretty cool-looking card, a real attention-getter.
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oudplayer
Oud Junkie
Posts: 849
Registered: 5-9-2004
Location: new jersey/ Israel
Member Is Offline
Mood: ouds up
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Very nice it looks great and simple, if you ask me the simpaler it is the beter it looks .
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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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: راحة الأرواح
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wow its beautiful. It's the albino oud 
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Of course, I prefer "golden," but I'll take "albino." Thanks.
I also agree with the "simpler is better" outlook (obviously).
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
Member Is Offline
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looks nice my friend
what's the scale lenght?
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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60.5 cm/23 7/8"
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
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thanks 
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Microber
Oud Junkie
Posts: 853
Registered: 1-20-2006
Location: Belgium - Liège
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Wonderful oud.
I like the colour of pickgard.
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carpenter
Oud Junkie
Posts: 248
Registered: 8-30-2005
Location: Eugene OR
Member Is Offline
Mood: brimming with hope
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Thanks; that's also alder, but from a different stick. I was expecting more of the amber color, like the bowl, but you never know; alder's kinda
funny. Like most people, I think of it as a rather plain-figured wood, but here's a picture of some curly alder I used as an inlay on a hurdy-gurdy
keybox lid. An okay photo - right where the figure's most visible, that's where the most glare happens. Dang. A friend of mine saved the wood from his
mill's burn pile 15 or so years ago. There's a goodly amount of it left, anybody's interested, we could talk.
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Mike
Super Administrator
Posts: 1568
Registered: 12-3-2002
Location: California, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: Happy
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Very very lovely work Jim. I loved reading about your progress and some of your innovative building techniques. I agree, this oud is simple, yet very
elegant and the attention to detail is awesome. End result: a beautiful instrument no doubt. Way to go my friend! By the way, to me loud doesn't
necessarily mean good. I'm sure this oud sounds beautiful and in time will attain the tarab that we have come to know and love about this instrument.
Thanks again for sharing your project with us.
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