Veysel Music House Musical Instruments Manufacturer Dr. Cengiz Sarikus -

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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

Veysel Müzik Evi
Millet Cd. Sefai Efendi Sk. No:21
(Sunay Oteli Yani) Haseki / ISTANBUL

email: info@veyselmuzik.com
Tel : 0212 631 86 86