youka - 3-19-2014 at 08:22 PM
Hello everyone,
I am a computer engineer and I do not know much about lute making.
I just bought a few pieces of wood, can you help me and suggest me the best way of operating to build a lute?
Here are the dimensions:
mahogany
53mm * 430mm * 54mm
750mm * 75mm * 75mm
Ebene
65mm * 10mm * 500mm
[file]30902[/file] [file]30903[/file]
Lysander - 3-20-2014 at 03:13 AM
I don't get it, do you want people to tell you how to build an oud from scratch? That might take more than a few forum posts.
SamirCanada - 3-20-2014 at 04:56 AM
I think you are ok for the wood of the body but you have limited options. For the top and braces for sure you need to buy more wood.
Keeping in mind that sawing the ribs kills at least 2mm per cut... thats if you are a very good bandsaw user. Your long 75cm mahogany. You will need
to cut in half first, you will be left with 3.5cm width ribs 3mm per rib + 2mm cuting waste planning etc... Thats 14 ribs of 3.5cm width x 2 peices so
you could try to make about 28 ribs at 3.5 width.
That said 3.5 width means you will need to make your oud with 21 ribs (standard for turkish ouds) to be comfortable, you may squeeze 19 ribs but
anything lower like 17 ribs or less I think is impossible. Of course this is depending how big your bowl is.
To calculate the width of the ribs we use formulas for the circumference of the circle we multiply 2*(∏
R so example a 36cm widest point of the face *that means 18cm bowl height. 2*(∏18 = 113.1
113.1 circumference divided by 2 = circumference of bowl = 56.55
divide by number of ribs = 15 ribs (3.76 *impossible for your piece) 17 ribs (3.32 ouch thats really close, I doubt it will work) 19 ribs (2.97
feasable) 21 ribs (2.65cm thats comfortable and I would sugest you go with that)
you have enought for a neck but make sure your neck block is thiner so that the width is 5.4 cm at the most since your neck peice is only 5.4 cm.
Usually I make mine 6cm but you can make 5.5 work I guess.
ebony needs to be resawn in half 0.4cm thick pieces.
you also need more wood for the pegbox, pegs, bridge, binding, inlays if you want.
Dr. Oud - 3-20-2014 at 06:54 AM
"Oud Construction and Re[air"
http://www.cafepress.com/droudpress
Dr. Oud - 3-20-2014 at 07:13 AM
"Oud Construction and Repair"
http://www.cafepress.com/droudpress
I suggest using the mahogany for the back. Other suitable woods for the ribs are walnut, beech, & maple; reasonably priced and plentiful
everywhere. You can alternate colors for a more interesting appearance. Ebony is difficult to bend and may be too daunting for a novice, it is
suitable for the fingerboard because it is very hard, but because it is also very stiff, so very difficult to bend. Mahogany, walnut or maple are good
for the neck, the pegbox needs to be walnut, beech or maple, but not harder than the pegs. Mahogany is not suitable for the pegbox at the dimensions
for an oud. It is used for guitars, but much thicker as a head plate than the pegbox walls of an oud. No need to try to make pegs, it takes skill with
a lathe to turn pegs and they are plentiful and cheap. The face should be spruce, cedar or redwood. 2, 3, 4 or more pieces edge glued together, it
really doesn't matter. Most of the Arabic ouds are 4 pieces, I've made 5 pieces with success. The determining feature of the soundboard is its
stiffness. The book explains how to test the flexibility of the soundboard.
youka - 4-5-2014 at 01:24 PM
Hello,
Thank you very much for your explanations.
I start to make neck 
47mm*37mm
23mm16
21,2cm
youka - 4-5-2014 at 01:41 PM
Some pictures
[file]31133[/file]