Nice playing! Are you studying with Nizar Rohana? Great musician.
The oud sounds good to me, classic Arabic sound. I don't think this is something that can be "improved" through any intervention. It's not going to
sould anything like a Turkish oud no matter what, and it shouldn't. Metin Kesici makes very nice ouds but for classic Arabic repertoire I'd probably
prefer the sound you have here (from what I can tell from a video, which isn't really that much).
The nut and bridge spacing look good - you got lucky there!
A bone nut might improve the resonance of the open strings and make it easier to tune but otherwise no reason to change it.
The pegs appear to be a bit questionable - they have around a 1:15 or 1:20 taper rather than the standard 1:30 taper of professional pegs. If they
work okay I wouldn't worry about it, but better pegs might be smoother and more stable.
It looks like you have some wear on the fingerboard. I don't hear any buzzing yet, but it's probably in your future, at which point you will probably
need to replace the fingerboard with something harder - either ebony, MOP or bone.
Regarding strings, if you really want to improve the sound, you probably don't want to use any set of strings for an Arabic oud. While Turkish ouds
are very standardized and consequently can be strung somewhat predictably with off-the-shelf sets, there is far too much variability in Arabic oud
designs and tuning for string manufacturers to do more than make a guess as to what is 'average.'
Measure the vibrating string length (scale) of the oud. Zeryab are usually between 58.5 and 60 cm. If you are in the US I'd recommend getting
LaBella for the wound strings and Aquila lute for the treble strings. For 58.5 try this:
c' - .60mm
g - .76mm
d - .024 in (wound)
A - .028 in
F - .034 in (G -.033 in)
C - .044 in (D - .042 in)
for 60cm try this:
c' - .58mm
g - .73mm
d -.023 in (wound)
A - .027in
F - .033in (G - .032in)
C - .043in (D - .041in)
The Aquila strings are great for a classic Arabic sound, but if you want to do more Turkish-type ornaments, you might be better off with carbon
strings on the treble courses as they speak a little differently.
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