Mike's Oud Forums

Bashir Oud tunings , F-C-D-G-C-F tuning and strings

Monosynapsis - 11-6-2003 at 04:16 AM

Hi folks, nice to see that this forum is up and running again !

I have had the luck to be able to buy an excellent Bashir Oud from my teacher last week (he needs to go to Baghdad to see his family and needs the money, this sad fact is the reason for him selling his very own instrument which he uses in all his concerts and on his 2 recordings! A truly professional instrument! In comparison to my Moroccan beginners oud it feels like changing from a tricycle to a Ferrari :D ).

Of course I would like to try out the (supposedly) standard Iraqi tuning F CC DD GG CC FF (for the moment its tuned to C GG AA DD GG CC) and experiment in general with tunings, now that i don't have to be afraid anymore that the bridge pops out due to too much tension. But, as I'm still very afraid of doing any harm to this wonderful instrument (I'm still carrying it around like a basket of eggs, hehe, need yet to get used to it...) I come to you for some advice:

1) What would be the highest tension a good Bashir Oud could support ?

2) I've read that th FCDGCF tuning "is better for chords", but its essentially the CDGADGC tuning 2.5 tone higher (on all strings), or am I missing something here ?

3) the strings sold for GG AA DD GG CC ("Arabic tuning " ), are they good for this tunig or for experimentation ? To what extent could i "overstretch" them ?


Thank you very much for your help !

Monosynapsis

Ronny Andersson - 11-6-2003 at 12:08 PM

I suppose the mensur is around 57cm and that leads me to ask what brand of strings you teacher used and to which tuning?