Mcazzdi - 1-14-2019 at 07:01 PM
Hi everyone, I’m Mehrdad Azadi, and I’m new to this forum. I have been making Kamanche (Persian spike fiddle) for the past few years and I’m
located in Seattle, Washington. Since I retired, I spend my days enjoying music by either playing, writing, recording or building instruments.
For past few months, I’ve been building Ouds and finally getting comfortable with the concept of it.
This forum has been a tremendous help and I would like to thank you all for your generosity in passing along information about this beautiful
instrument.
I have come a long way from building Kamanche without any resources, which helped me in the learning process. I’m very excited to share my
experiences with all of you.
Cheers,
Www.persianlutherie.com
Chris-Stephens - 1-15-2019 at 07:16 AM
Welcome! I love kamanche, I play Tar myself and am learning the radif and several tasnifs, always glad to meet someone else with knowledge and
experience with persian traditional music and isntruments 
Now i'm curious, how
does making kemanche ribs compare to making oud ribs?
bulerias1981 - 1-16-2019 at 09:31 PM
Mcazzdi,
Please share photos/videos of your work.
Mcazzdi - 1-17-2019 at 03:47 PM
Hi Chris,
great to hear that you are learning Radif, such a great repertoire. I have a very nice library of material on hand....
In regards to building Kamanche sounds box, first I went with gourd and did not sound good, than I tried to carve the bowl, very time consuming, heavy
and sounded ok and when I approached building out of ribs, challenges started. In Kamanche we are building a sphere from even numbers of staves,
12,24,.....
Staves are short and that creates a challenge bending for sharp curves. I had to make a special jig for heating and bending. Percussion is a must,
since I had to make the halves separately and match them afterwards....
To make story short, it is a very challenging but rewarding. I also find building oud much easier since there are plenty of information out there,
where there are hardly any info on how to build and specifications on Kamanche.
Cheers
Www.persianlutherie.com
Mcazzdi - 1-17-2019 at 03:49 PM
bulerias1981
I sure will.
Cheers