Mike's Oud Forums

Iraqi oud body shape

Edward Powell - 8-16-2012 at 03:36 AM

Calling all experts on Iraqi ouds.

Is it true that Iraqi ouds are tuned to:
F C D g c f ??? Is this the most common, or are there other variation commonly used?

What about body size and shape - can anyone suggest what is the BEST body size-shape for the above tuning?

Also, for those of you who have Iraqi ouds, can you tell me what is the AIR TONE, meaning what tone do you get when you sing into the soundhole?

Thanks!

Ahmed - 8-16-2012 at 04:06 AM

Hello Edward,

My teacher is Iraqi and the tuning we play with is FADGCF. I understand that Naseer Shamma tunes his oud to FCDGCF.
Sorry I can't help you with the rest as my oud is not a typical Iraqi oud design and I wouldn't know the air tone anyway! :)

Ahmed

Edward Powell - 8-16-2012 at 04:16 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Ahmed  
Hello Edward,

My teacher is Iraqi and the tuning we play with is FADGCF. I understand that Naseer Shamma tunes his oud to FCDGCF.
Sorry I can't help you with the rest as my oud is not a typical Iraqi oud design and I wouldn't know the air tone anyway! :)

Ahmed

interesting, thanks!

fernandraynaud - 8-16-2012 at 04:33 AM

Sukars are Iraqi, though not of the floating bridge variety. Mine came strung for C ...cc tuning, but it's seemingly a matter of preference, whether it's tuned FF ... ff with thinner strings and a double bass string, or C... cc with a single bam string. Scale is 600 mm, but Sukar used to use 615. Full-sized, you can see pictures of Sukars everywhere. His site is still up!?

http://www.oudsukar.com/New/en/products_en.php?cat=oud

I am not sure about "air tone", but the strongest resonance by far is around G#-A above Neva. If you play loud in that area on the D course, the spines of arthritic listeners crack, the windows break, and the instrument practically self-destructs. That's been true on all 3 Sukars I've owned.

Marcus - 8-16-2012 at 04:55 AM
Quote:

Also, for those of you who have Iraqi ouds, can you tell me what is the AIR TONE, meaning what tone do you get when you sing into the soundhole?



When I sing wich tone in the soundhole? Any?

suz_i_dil - 8-16-2012 at 06:46 AM

Hello Edward,

I think I send you this link by the past, but I would recommend you to find someone who read arabic to read this:
http://www.zeryab.org/zeryab/showthread.php?t=43619

This man, Ali Abrahim, made some research on iraki ouds and share his works in this thread. I don't think he still makes ouds, but the ones he made were well appreciated (for exemple played by Naseer Shamma and Hazem Shaheen).

Regards

fernandraynaud - 8-16-2012 at 04:34 PM

And there's always the Bashir tuning with the bass string on top.