hartun - 6-24-2017 at 12:57 PM
Hi guys, I have a technical question about tuning.
I have a Turkish oud and it came with Turkish strings. I had it tuned to EABead.
The problem was there was zero action in the sense that the nut was flush with the fingerboard. This affected the sound negatively. So I had a
woodworker friend remove the nut, and add a tiny strip underneath to raise it so now there is some action, might be too high for some but I liked the
way it sounded. It's only a couple millimeters.
The problem was, when I put the strings back (to be honest I think I had not taken them off but only loosened them a LOT.) I could not turn the pegs
enough to get it back up to Turkish tuning. So I tuned it a whole step down (Arabic tuning) and played it like that for a while. Now, after a few
months, i noticed the strings have loosened up enough that I can get it back to Turkish tuning. Can I do that, or will it damage the oud? Thank
you.
Harry
mham - 6-27-2017 at 07:57 AM
I am no expert, but did you put back the same strings after your friend raised the nut ?
If so, you could try with new strings.
Also, I think there are people here who are way more skilled when it comes to building and maintaining ouds. Maybe you should wait for their answer.
More precisely, it is not trivial to me that raising the nut doesn't affect the maximum tension that your oud can withstand. Let's see what the
experts say ...
Good luck !
Sarki - 6-29-2017 at 02:25 AM
hello!
This thing use to happen with new ouds. Normally you have to wait about a year or few months until the fretboard gets into its good position. Then you
can try to adjust the nut only if necessary.
Alan
hartun - 6-29-2017 at 12:42 PM
I'm not sure i understood your answer Alan. So should I get new strings, or what?
You must understand that I already adjusted the nut....