Tips For Purchasing A Good Oud - Oud Instrument - Where To buy An Oud

 

Oud is a fretless instrument allowing the creation of any intervals or microtones particular to Middle Eastern, Turkish, Greek and North African music. It has a striped bowl pattern, a result of bending very thin staves of wood over a mold. The number of the strings varies between 10 to 13 depending on the type of oud depending on the region.

When you buy an oud, it will be molded in your hands and you will create your own authentic voice. So, if you want to buy one, we recommend you to explore the characteristics of its variant types and find your preferred sound.

 

About Oud making

It has an elongated shape, as in a string instrument. Before making, it is necessary to choose the material. oud boat; walnut, mahogany, plum, apricot, maple, cherry, imported woods such as magase, wenge, rosewood. The most important is the top plate, as in the violin. In order to be successful in sound, the table, the chest, must be made of high quality and very dry spruce wood. However, the plate should not be thick to get a nice and soft sound. Because the sound waves reflect on the oud boat and reflect on the table and provide vibration. The oud soundboard is %75 important, if it is followed, it will be possible to get a good sound.

 

 

Oud Care and Storage

Care and storage conditions are very important for your oud musical instrument to remain of the same quality for many years. First of all, you need to keep your oud musical instrument at room temperature. Polishing should be done once a year in order not to deteriorate the quality of the wood used in making oud. It is not correct to keep the oud in humid, humid environments, excessive sunlight or indoor and hot environments. If you're in a damp environment, it's a good practice to keep it in a light-filled cabinet in as little dampness as possible.

Changing the strings every six months will contribute to keeping the sound quality at a high level. If you are not going to play for a long time, it is better to leave the strings loose.

Since the front board (chest) of the ud is light in color, it can get dirty very quickly. Oud should never be cleaned with chemicals such as wet cloth, soap, alcohol. Any dust or stains on the boat should be wiped with a dry cloth. If stains appear on the chest board, they can be cleaned with sandpaper, in consultation with the manufacturer.

The care of the augers is done with medication, it is very important for a comfortable turn. In cases where the auger gets stuck, substances such as soap and oil should not be used.

 

A Good-Quality Oud

If you want to buy a high-quality oud, you should absolutely buy a hand-made one like the ouds we have in our collection. High-quality ouds' faces are made from spruce, tuning pegs and fingerboards are constructed from ebony. The bowl back is made of maple, walnut, palisander and mahogany. If the strings are closer to the fingerboard, it would be easier for you to play the instrument.

Picking The Right Oud

Istanbul is regarded as the capital of oud construction and musicians from all over the world visit specialized music stores in Istanbul including ours, to purchase tailored, good-quality traditional instruments. Make sure to not to buy a decorative oud from touristic areas.

Prior to buying an oud, you need to define your budget and also find out which one is suitable for you. When you take an oud into your hands and pluck the strings, if you hear the vibrations and the sound of the oud inside your chest, it means that you have found the right instrument. 

 

 

Find Your Oud in Our Store

Once you decide, you can physically visit our stores and try the ouds to find the best fitting instrument for you. If not possible, you can visit our website to look at the various oud models in our catalogue. The details such as the dimensions of the oud, the materials it is made of and the price are given alongside each oud model. 
Our ouds are classified depending on their quality. The high-quality ouds are classified under HSO series while the middle-quality ouds are arranged under AO, AAO and ASO series.

 

Types Of Oud

• Arabic Oud

The Arabic oud is used in North Africa, the Arabian Peninsula, Iraq, Syria, and in Levant. This type of oud is the most popular and most selected oud due to its rich sound and deep timbre. It is heavier and bigger comparing to Turkish oud given that the soundboard is thicker.  Its sustain is short.

• Syrian Oud

Syrian oud may be considered under the Arabic oud family. This type of oud generates lots of overtones. 

• Iraqi Oud

Smaller and lighter than Syrian ouds, they are classified under Arabic ouds. Iraqi oud has a floating bridge, meaning its strings are tied to the bottom of the instrument. Its timbre is full and clean due to its oval sound holes without rosettas. This kind of oud does not have as many overtones as the Syrian oud.

• Turkish Oud

Turkish oud is used in Turkey and Greece. Its timbre differs  from an Arabic oud; its sound is more treble and brighter because of tenser strings and thinner soundboard. In addition, its sustain is longer.

• Persian Oud

Persian oud (also called Barbat) is different than the abovementioned types. Its body is smaller, you can reach the higher ranges of the neck. However, its bowl back is deeper and the face is narrower. This shape helps the oud generating a distinct deep, Persian sound.

If you have considered all of the above aspects, you are now ready to decide which oud to buy.

As with any musical instrument, there are certain points to be considered in the selection of ouds. Paying attention to these points will ensure that the person has the ideal ideal for him. Let's look at the tips for getting a good oud together.

 

 

 

One of the instruments of Turkish music, oud is a fretless instrument. This musical instrument, which is in the category of stringed and plucked instruments, has a sound range of 3 octaves and is used as 11 or 12 strings. Its body is reminiscent of a pear and hardwoods such as mahogany and hornbeam are generally preferred. The back side, called the leaf, consists of 20 or 21 equal parts.

There are some things to consider when purchasing an oud. These elements are as follows.

• Size: It is very important to pay attention to the size of the oud when choosing. In addition to the ouds that are considered normal size, there are smaller ouds made for women called "Zenne Oud". The so-called "Arabic Oud" are larger than normal sizes. Also, ouds made specifically for children are produced in smaller sizes. The important thing is to discover the size that suits you.
• Shape: There are some factors that determine the shape of the oud. Changes may occur depending on the width, depth, length of the boat, the shape of the cover board and the molds of different masters. The important thing here is the will of the person.
• Workmanship: One of the most important details in the long-term use of oud is the workmanship applied. An instrument with very good material and workmanship may have a weak sound, so what is important is that everything is balanced.
• Material: The importance of the elements such as cover board, keyboard and augers made of quality material is not as important as the material of the decorations added on the oud.
• Weight: In general, instruments that are thrown away most of the water and are lighter are preferred, but they are also very successful.
• Durability: The important thing in choosing a good oud is the number of years the oud to be purchased can be used. In order to understand this, it is very important to observe the durability of oud.
• Beautiful Voice: Although each oud has a voice for itself, it is a noteworthy factor to have a sound that generally sounds good. But the important thing is what kind of sound the oud holder likes.
• Sound Power: When playing music in large volumes, without microphones or in groups, it is desired that the sound of the oud is sufficient. It is one of the audio related features.
• Sound Elongation: One of the sound related features is sound elongation. The process of vibration of the wire with the beat of the spear and the gradual decrease of sound is called sound elongation. The vibration of sounds, also known as resonance, is definitely a point to be considered.
• Balance: Balancing the sound balance between the wires is called balance. The better the sound balance between the wires is established, the better the result will be.
• Tuning: Tuning, which allows correct sound to be produced thanks to the function of the augers, is a step that should not be skipped. It is important to be able to prevent situations such as the augers slipping or the wire loose.
• Straightness of the Keyboard: If the left hand makes a smooth sound when the fingers press on the wires, this indicates the smoothness of the keyboard. In situations such as pitting or swelling, it may be difficult to get the right sound as the keyboard flatness is impaired. Therefore, the smoothness of the keyboard should be checked at the purchase stage.
• Balance of Wire Height: The pulling force of the wires comes forward and the distance of the keyboard increases to the hand, causing the wire height to lose its balance. This may create difficulty in pressing. A scratchy sound may occur, especially in printed sounds. This means that the oud needs to be repaired. For this reason, this point should be paid attention while taking oud.
• Balance of Wire Height: The pulling force of the wires comes forward and the distance of the keyboard increases to the hand, causing the wire height to lose its balance. This may create difficulty in pressing. A scratchy sound may occur, especially in printed sounds. This means that the oud needs to be repaired. For this reason, this point should be paid attention while taking oud.
• Thickness and Width of Handle: The thickness and width of the handle is very important in order to ensure proper wire handling. The narrowness of the handle means that the wires are close to each other than necessary. The width of the keyboard will provide comfort. Therefore, the keyboard width should be checked.
• Plump Rift: If the strings are close to the chest in the area where the plunger strikes, the plectrum can strike the chest or plectrum while playing and make a non-musical sound. In that respect, it is desirable that the chest is collapsed in the plectrum.

 You can also like: https://salamuzik.com/collections/arabic-oud/products/arabic-handmade-walnut-oud-aao-108m