HAND
MADE MUSICAL INSTRUMENTS |
| | | | | | | OUD | VIOLIN | TANBUR | KANUN | LAVTA | AHENK | | | | | | | | | | | | | CLASSICAL
KEMENCE | KEMENCE | BAGLAMA | NEVUD | BUZUKI | PIANOLIN | | | | | | | |
|
 | OUD |
Oud
is one of the instruments commonly used in Turkey and Arabic countries.
It has a very short neck and this allows player to perform very
fast. Many books have been written about lute which attracted the
interest of many musicians since the 7th century Lute which was
played in the Central Asia, old Egypt, China, Mezopotamia, Iran,
Arabia and finally in Anatolia was in the shape of a pear with silk
wound strings on the fretted handle up to the 9th century but in
the later periods, frets were removed.
The body of lute is made by bringing together the slicer fine woods
(like the watermelon slices) which are obtained from valuable trees
such as Walnut, plum, plane-tree, juniper mahogany, balsam-tree
and rosewood. The front table is made of a ladin-tree (white-pine)
which has got three round latticework, one big and two small. There
are lutes also with one latticework. The latticework are cut from
trees, bones, ivories, animal horns and mother-of-pearls. There
is also a bridge on the front table where strings are tied up. The
bridge is made of walnut, horn beam, balsam- trees and stuck to
the panel with a strong glue.
Under the front table were the supporting narrow stripes of ladin
wood to avoid any possible collapse. The middle part of the handle
is made of a tekne wood again in thin slices. The part of the handle where fingers are applied on, is made of resistible trees such as
abanese and balsam-tree.
|
|
|
|
|
| 1992 |
2005 |
2005 |
2005 |
Ayhan Asan |
| Turkish Oud Artist Ayhan Asan's
oud. |
The wood is stored in warehouse for at least seven years, sometimes
the wood stays in the
warehouse for 13 years before it is used for oud manufacturing,
its quality improves because the variations of temperature and humidity
renders it dryer and more stable.
The production of oud is quite hand made,we also manufacture on
custom made. Each oud is unique in its serial number, tone, appearance,
color. The production of one oud lasts one month sometimes lasts
more, that depends to its model, design, decoration and to the delicate
care doing by Dr. Cengiz Sarıkuş in each step of manufacturing to
get an excellent oud He has the assistance of his Italian old friend, Dr.Davido
Rebuffa to develop his own production technique.
 36 years
for oud making..
Dr. Cengiz Sarıkuş uses Ebony wood for pegs and fingerboards. He has been
producing ouds for 36 years His oud construction begins by the choice
of the best kinds of "seasoned" or "kiln-dried" wood such
as rosewood, walnut, mahogany, ebony, erable. they are used for the back,
whereas other kinds of wood like pine, or spruce, or cedar wood are used for
the top (soundboard). He makes maximum 20 ouds in a year in order to preserve
the quality.
 |
NEW PRODUCTS |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
 | HOW TO IDENTIFY A GOOD
OUD |
THE
ACTION The action is the height of the strings from the fingerboard
where the neck meets the
body. At first, the action may appear proper; however, when the strings
are stretched for proper tuning, it may surprise you to see that the
neck is tilting and the action is increasing in height. If the setting
of the junction of the neck with the body is good, then the action
should not exceed 3mm.
THE
TUNING PEGS
These are the biggest headache that an oudist will confront, often
slipping or getting stuck. The pegs are conical in shape and the holes
in the peg box should match that shape for a secure fit. If the holes
in the peg box are improperly cut or are cylindrical in shape, the
pegs will not fit well, resulting in sticking and/or slipping, usually
at the worst possible moments.
THE BRIDGE
Often the bridge will detach from the body under normal pressure.
This is because
the underside of the bridge where it is joined to the body is not
flush with the body, resulting in a weak connection. Look for spaces
around the bridge where it is glued to the body. If you can see any
spaces where the bridge is not in contact with the body, then it is
poorly joined. Also, look at the holes for the strings—they should
be even in height and spacing. The strings should be 9-12mm from the
body.
THE
SOUNDBOARD
Often you will find buckling in the middle or sinking of the soundboard
where
it joins the body. This is due to bad internal bracing. The internal
bracing consists of a series of beams that reinforce the soundboard
and join it to the body. Try tapping the sound board gently with your
knuckles around the edges and in the middle to check for loose beams—they
will rattle or buzz a little bit Be warned that this method is not
always revealing with a new instrument, as weak Joints may not be
apparent until the instrument has been played for some time. Further,
some slight sagging or warping of the soundboard in front of the bridge
is not harmful.
THE
NUT The strings should be 1mm from the soundboard; the space between
strings should be 1mm within a course and 3-4mm from one course to
the next.
BUZZING OF
THE STRINGS
Buzzing of the strings is the result of the following 1- old/bad strings 2- warping of the fingerboard 3- loose beams 4- buckling/warping of the sound board between the
neck and the large rosette
CLARITY OF
TONE/ISSUES OF SOUND
Good sound is the result of: 1- use of proper wood for the sound board and beams 2- thickness of wood, both for the sound board and
for the beams/internal bracing 3- spacing of the beams 4- the back of the oud is not so much of an issue
for sound
|