Yes, for me as well 2.5 - 4.5 mm is the ideal range, with a touch of buzz at 2.5. Now the question is what to do in your case.
I'm assuming you have the nut height right for the open strings, strings need 1/2 mm or so clearance, no more. The nut has no effect on fingered
strings. Most nuts are barely glued in, a little hot water should undo the hide glue. Then, as Philip says, sand the bottom.
If you have the little adjustment wheels on the neck, i forget the maker who uses those, obviously you can adjust those. If you have a Sukar, what you
need to do is finger-tighten the butterfly nut inside the bowl, against the neck block. This needs to be done gradually, giving the neck and block
time to settle.
If you have no adjustments available, it takes more work. Unlike guitars and basses, oud necks don't tend to warp and curve, the "scooping" of the
soundboard and the neck's angle to the body is the problem. Loosening and shimming the neck is the standard "neck job", and it's a task for a luthier,
because the neck is glued solid. If a modern aliphatic ("carpenter yellow") glue was used, it's a serious challenge. So alternatives need to be
explored.
If your strings are tied high, you can get maybe a half millimeter lower by tying them low, but not much more. I have not tried this on a whole set,
but another 1/2 mm or more is achievable by not tying a normal loop, just making a knot at the end of the string, maybe around a little bead
if the hole is big, and simply threading through the hole in the bridge. I have had to do this on short bass strings where there's not enough
string to do a proper loop, and it quite lowers the action (where I don't WANT it to). Altogether this might get you down to 4.5 mm, maybe 4 mm.
It also might affect the timbre, compared to loops. Please advise, Old Timers: Is there a reason to not do this?
If your bridge has a vertical face towards the nut AND the strings are high enough above the soundboard, you can indeed drill new holes. If the bridge
has a sloped face you are changing the scale a little, and if the strings are already not very high, you may find them uncomfortably low with the new
holes, so you slap the soundboard with the risha. But it's not a dead end, if you don't like it, it's easy to fill the holes with wood dust + glue (or
toothpick + sawdust + glue) and do something else, until your bridge looks like swiss cheese. Lower holes in the bridge is by far the easiest solution
if you don't have an adjustable neck and threading with no loop is not enough.
The worst case: I have an oud where the bridge is sloped and the strings are already low, so I have to raise the fingerboard, i.e. add a layer of
hardwood on the fingerboard. A 1/16 to 1/8 " piece of ebony or rosewood or brazilian cherry can sometimes be found and cut to trace the existing
fingerboard. Of course this also means raising the nut. And finishing the edges and side of the neck. It's not THAT difficult, but it has taken me
months to gather the tools, materials and the courage. |
