ALAMI
Oud Junkie
Posts: 645
Registered: 12-14-2006
Location: Beirut
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Abused Old oud
Two days ago I was contacted by an antiquarian I know telling me that there is "a more than 100 year old oud for sale".
I went to see the oud and here's what I found :
-There is no year of making on the label, but the maker's name is very interesting:
Futniture and Ouds
George Makastopoulos
Al Younani (=the Greek)
Jdeidet - Baalbeck (Baalbeck is in Lebanon, not far from Nazih)
The name could be Malastopoulos
Funny to find out that oud has crossed the Mediterranean both ways.
- The face bears the scar of a horrible accident, or a ripped off bridge that took a part of the soundboard. The bowl is in good condition but bears
the marks of a scotch tape.
- "We still have the old ivory rose" the seller said "But we preferred to replace it with a more beautiful one"
He's talking about the horrible plastic rose you see in the picture.
I took the oud for few hours, I tuned it, the strings are bad and old, the pegs have suffered many knife cuts. it is playable, the action is high but
the fingerboard looks nice with its fake frets no buzz not even when playing over the face.
The sound let me confused, the bass sound very nice but the highs very weak and no overall sustain, I was unable to judge what part is due to the bad
strings or what part is due to the damaged soundboard, an oud sounding half good half bad, confusing !
I don't think that this oud is as old as the seller claims, may be if someone knows the maker it would help.
I had to make up my mind. The asking price was high and the soundboard is probably definitely damaged, I decided not to take it. What do you think
?
Buying an old oud is not an easy task, I thought to make a thread of this for 2 reasons:
If someone knows the maker
and to hear your thoughts and advice on buying old ouds.
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Oud Freak
Oud Junkie
Posts: 292
Registered: 11-23-2007
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Mood: Oud Jerk 
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Nobody knows, but almost certainly there is a big lie behind the antiquarian story, especially that the label looks like printed on a dactylo and it
seems much less than 100 years old (although I am not at all an expert in antiquities, wish I was). Surely you did the right choice.
It reminds me of a story that happened with me a few years ago. I was asking about something in a music shop in beirut. The man said he has a nahat
oud which he wanted to sell for 1000$. I had never heard of nahat before. I remember that the oud sounded normal but not bad at all, and the rosette
and a part of the soundboard was deformed as if someone had sat on it and the whole thing had gone towards the inside. I find his proposal dishonest
because the oud needs restoration. I remember the label saying (in a french calligraphy!!!) "Atelier de menuiserie Nahat 1927". Is it possible that
they used to put labels in french? Could it be also a fake one? is the price reasonable and is the year of manufacture compatible with the Nahat
dynasty?
Regards
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ALAMI
Oud Junkie
Posts: 645
Registered: 12-14-2006
Location: Beirut
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Hi oud freak,
It is normal to see French on labels of that period, between 1916 and 1943 both Lebanon and Syria were under French mandate and French was even used
as an official state language. Add to this that the Nahats were christians and French was even more spread among christians since French Catholic
schools were established in Lebanon and Syria since the late 17th century.
There are many examples of Nahat labels in these forums with the french "Atelier de menuiserie......"
Of course this doesn't mean that it was an original Nahat, I've seen fakes in Beirut and some "half-fakes" the face was not original but the bowl
was.
I think that the oud in this thread is old, may be from the 1940s or 50s, may be Nazih knows about the maker.
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
Posts: 747
Registered: 12-9-2005
Location: Nîmes France
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Mood: still alive
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May be asilly question but isn't there a kind of archeological test like carbone 14 to know the date of woods ?
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Jason
Oud Junkie
Posts: 734
Registered: 9-17-2005
Location: Louisville, KY
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Mood: Loving my oud
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Not without taking a sizable portion of wood from the instrument that would be destroyed in the testing process. Still, you would only know the age
of the wood, not the instrument. Plenty of instrument makers of the past and today use very old wood.
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Nazih Ghadban
Oud Junkie
Posts: 167
Registered: 5-25-2004
Location: Lebanon
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The oud Maker is
Hi for all
The Maker is Georges Stifastopolos who was married
from Rass Baalbeck,he has about 90years old ,he doesn't
still manufacture ouds as he is a very old man.at Ras Baalbeck there were two ouds Makers since1940 in the same periode:
-Nicolas Hares(who is deed)
-Georges Stifastopolos(Greec)who deosn't still work.
their ouds were classic good with much ornament.
Nazih
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