Custom made Rishas for sale

Hello all,

I am selling some custom made cow horn rishas. I have one tortoise shell which you can see 6th from the left on the top row. The rows from the left on top are named accordingly..
Jumbo, Standard medium, Tapered, Slim small,
(Bottom left)
Standard small, Medium.

Different rishas work well with different ouds. For example, on the far right at the top "Slim small" rishas are amazing on ouds tuned low or have darker tones. People with large hands tend to enjoy the Jumbo sized rishas, and they work very well with rishas having very bright or powerful tone, such as floating Iraqi ouds.

You can choose a specific risha you see here, or I can make a custom one for you, with custom dimensions (lengths, widths and/or thicknesses)

*Thickness* Measurements vary from risha to risha. But I can tell you that a good average thickness is .70mm. Some can be .55mm, some .60mm, .65mm. And I have even had a request to make one at .93mm, which is very thick.

Please note each risha has its own price based on the quality of the risha itself. These are of cow horn, and I discard blanks in which crack easily.

If you want other services performed on the rishas, such as silk smooth polishing, or even a coat of polyurethane, I can also do this at an extra charge. Please PM me for details. Thank you!

I've made rishas in the past for many individuals, including my teacher in Lebanon, Charbel Rouhana, and Najib Shaheen in NY. With the diversity of rishas I keep on hand, I'm sure we can find the right one(s) for you.

If you are in NY you may visit me at my home or in NYC if you'd like to try them out, or I can ship them to you via mail for free (if you live in US. Outside of US pays for shipping) I accept payments via paypal.

I already saw these risha-s somewhere

I'm intersting by the one in turtle shell!

Quote: Originally posted by bulerias1981

These are of cow horn, and I discard blanks in which crack easily.

I didn't take a photo yet with a ruler, but this is rough idea about the size (the penny as a reference)

A lot of these risha I have sold already, so only use this as a reference.

I got mine too ! Im impressed first of all how quick i received the rishas and of course with the quality of them..im very satisfied highly recommended..

Thanks John one more time

Nikos Rondelis

hand made risha

This is my latest stock. A few of them might be accounted for. If you are interested in a particular one, please tell me the number counting from the left. Email me at bulerias81@gmail.com and refrain from U2U, my box gets full fast and its hard to get things done.
Prices vary based on the quality of the material itself. They range from $8, $10, $12, to $15 or $17 for the best with polishing.
Customizing available.
Thank you very much!

Thanks to all who have purchased my rishas and made nice feedback here on the forum.
My work continues, I received a bunch of blanks and have recently completed them. Here they are..







Please reply to me at bulerias81@gmail.com if interested. Thanks.

John, here it is my feeling about your risha-s, I use a Sukar oud (mod.8) with Daniel Mari strings.

1-> The best one, perfect overall sizes, perfect flexibility, perfect timbre, just one unusual thing for me: The friction on wound strings which is really noisy, but it can be seen as a plus like the noise made by fingers on wound strings...

2-> This one is a bit small and too flexible for me, it hits the pickguard and I'm not so found of that.

3-> Thanks for the bonus! Maybe I don't know how to handle it because it's really difficult to keep it in my hand while I'm playing.

John, thanks for this new one! The shape on the right is really interesting to mitigate attacks, it gives a more uniform playing.
PS. you've found a way to memorize risha-s recipients

For readers of Mike's oud -> John has mixed up the Risha-s and sent me a free equivalent model shortly after, really pro

Quote: Originally posted by Sazi

At the rate I wear out the horn rishas I really need to learn how to make them myself, could anyone please help out with how to make a horn risha from scratch? Ronny was going to post a how to article but that was last year sometime and it hasn't happened yet. Any help appreciated, there's no way I can afford ready made horn rishas. Also I read somewhere that Buffalo horn is preferable to cow, maybe it lasts longer or something, does anyone know about this?

rishas

Any more rishas?

Great rishas

I have ordered some rishas and they are really good, great performance.
The best rishas in the market! (in my opinion)

Abusaid

Hello all

I got my 2 rishas last friday, so the whole weekend was playing,playing,playing.........and wonder- with open mouth -how big the difference in sound and playability can be just by using another risha.

Amazing sound from very smooth to very hard picking!! Excellent!!

Thanx John for your superb work!!

Hi all. All new stock in. Spent most of the day yesterday making this large bunch. Order them soon cause they go fast. I have a nice amount of stubby ones on the bottom right. Usually I dont use these for concerts myself, but I keep one in my wallet for when I lose mine or when I dont have my oud, and a few times it came in handy. I also have a few really long ones 150mm + as some people prefer this. And I have everything in between. Dont forget I also make saz/baglama/buzuq picks as well.

**Penny, cheap rosette and luthier tools sold seperately**

Got my risha today, was just the size and shape I asked for.
thanks John!

I was enjoying using the horn risha I recently received from John (see post above), the tone and feel they have is very different from plastic rishas, and though there are some nice plastic ones available, I think it's useful to have both at hand.
So I went to play my oud not far from my home, and decided to walk there. I put the horn risha that was my new favorite in my back pocket, something I never do; I usually put the risha in the pocket of my Jameel gig-bag case. Well upon arriving at my destination I went into my back pocket and lo and behold the risha was not there, it must have somehow fallen out! I nearly cried.
I went ahead and ordered another horn risha from John, which I just received, and it's very nice.
If you're looking for a well made horn risha, made to your specs, then John's the man. regards, MW

MatthewW and I were discussing rishi tip profiles. People have different preferences. Please see diagram. Note: I can provide players with any profile they'd like.



Here is a link to the discussion, please join in and share some feedback you may have about your experience.
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=12081

Hi all. After returning from the Arabic Music Retreat and selling nearly 70 rishis, I finally got around to make some more yesterday. Devoted nearly the entire day. Here is some new stock. Please e-mail me at bulerias81@gmail.com if you want to place an order. Thanks!

Not to detract from the beauties here, for the budget-tied, the horn blanks from MidEast Manufacturing that a lot of US on-line shops sell at about $10 for 6 are maybe a little thin at 0.030", but very usable. They are soaked in oil and just need to be shaped. Now here comes something like the antithesis of the most elegant risha, my favorite:



Backed with a delrin blank, it's fat in the hand. I'll have to make a prettier one with shrink-tubing instead of the pathetic electrical tape, but this one plays very nicely.

Thicker pieces of horn for knife handles are called "horn scales" on e-bay. There are tons of different varieties.

I prefer cutting the horn myself. Its cheaper for me, and I can choose which part of the horn to use and what not to use. A lot of the horn cannot be used as the material is prone to breaking in certain places. So I discard those pieces. I also soak my rishis in oil once its been shaped and thicknessed.

People don't usually have the tools necessary to turn out a good rishi. I try to provide the highest quality rishis for people. Most folks wouldn't want to have a delrin piece taped to their rishi (I personally wouldn't) I'm not insulting your rishi, I know we get attached to our rishi
But there is nothing like a very finely made rishi with the right balance and characteristics to enhance the tone and their own playing potential.

As you say, we get attached to our rishi. Here's a (slightly) prettier version of the same concept. The horn (about 0.032", 0.8 mm) is sandwiched between two delrin blanks. I'm just looking for a way to have a slightly thicker grip, but retain a flexible risha. If the horn was that thick, it would be quite rigid. But probably we can all agree, there's nothing like horn. My lovely taped wonder has delrin at one end (for quiet practice) and horn at the other for real playing. Maybe horn in a thin leather "sandwich" would work.



These (on e-bay) look thicker, I wonder how flexible they are:

dont know still waiting for mine i ordered one from bubbitrade or as we know them arabinstruments ill tell you all when it arrives.
If it arrives

still waiting for my risha from them !!!!
I should have bought it from bulerias1981

rishi

Hi all. New batch made today.

While other sites are charging $20 for "superior quality" cow horn rishas, (I won't mention any names here)
I still charge $15 for my best, and less for smaller rishas. I also customize the shape of customer's rishas for that price. My customers also enjoy the cheapest shipping rate at $1 dollar for U.S., and $2 to most international shipments.

With 100% positive feedback as you can see from this thread from beginner to established members, you can trust to get a risha that works for you.

All my rishas are handmade and cut from horn and refined myself. Its a messy, smelly process, with some specialty tools involved making the job easier. My service works great for those who haven't any interest in making them themselves.

E-mail me at bulerias81@gmail.com to place an order via paypal.

Quote: Originally posted by bulerias1981

dkhoury, I'm sure there is actually nothing wrong with your rishi. It can be thinned out. And some people really like thicker rishis. Simon Shaheen for example uses thick rishis like that. And hes one of the best players in my opinion. I personally use 1.6mm thick risha, on a traditional style Arabic ouds.. with Labella basses and D'Addario plain nylons. It seems to be a good combination.

Great! I'm OK for a couple of the longest ones, I'm going to buy a caliper tomorrow and contact you by e-mail

The surface is perfectly smooth and flawless.

145.96 mm length. Long enough for a good grip and to compensate for wear.

The width is irregular, thinner on the white part. I guess it's a manufacturing defect, but it is hand made with natural material ...
I think the width is a compromise between the way you hold the risha (very prone, or not) and the space you need between the risha and the string below. To me, 10.34 mm is width enough for a gook grip, and short enough to take advantage of the string below.

Square edge side. I play until knife like edge, then I file it until square edge.

Bullet shaped tip.To me, it gives different attacks and more nuances.

0.71 mm thick, this is the part I like (black part). Nervous way of playing, but not too much, just enough flexibility. Lot of response, with little effort.

0.66 mm thick. Smooth way of playing. This gives a kind of nonchalance, difficult to control when the pace is accelerating. The risha noisily hits the pickguard.

These are my feelings, with my way of playing. It might be different than yours, with the same risha. But this can give an idea of ​​the correlation between sensations and dimensions.

Thanks John, good job!

11/19/11 Edit -> About the irregular width: I'm not sure, but I think the white tip of the Risha was shaped like a bottleneck in order to make it more flexible.

Hi Bulerias,

What do have in stock ? want tow of your rishas. I've made 4 rishas for myself, with the same horn block, but still not satisfied by the result. So I want to find out your secrets (chuuuut )
minimum length : 130 mm
minimum width : 12 mm
For the thickness it's hard to decide, I guess that each horn block (do you work with blocks or an entire horn, not compressed ?) have its density.... I consider my playing (if i can say that) as smooth, I rarely hurt the soundboard with my risha. I'll decide when I'll send you the order form by mail, just tell if you have material in the length and width I desire.
Thanks

Quote: Originally posted by BaniYazid

Thank you John, got it, good work.