Mike's Oud Forums

Palmrami

mdk - 5-6-2008 at 02:02 PM

Has anyone dealt with the ebay seller Palmrami? I was looking at their ouds - sukari- but have no idea if their prices are fair or if they deliver as promised. Thanks!

sawafeery - 5-8-2008 at 04:23 PM

I just recieved one that i bought from them. it's terrible as far as i could tell. i'm a begginer so i wasn't expecting a professional quality oud but this one was really bad. they say they sell khalife ouds, now i think these are supposed to be good Syrian ouds (can anyone confirm?) but i think they're fakes.
the experts on this site, please check this seller on ebay and tell the rest of us wheather Palmarami ouds are any good.

sawafeery.

SamirCanada - 5-8-2008 at 08:34 PM

khalifeh ouds are known to be the worst ouds out there.
he may say what he wants about them etc...
thats why anyone who wants advice on ouds should ask here first.
sorry to hear about this sawafeery.

Orahim1 - 5-9-2008 at 08:49 PM

While I cannot speak upon his ouds, I did buy an oud case from him and it took months, and many, many emails before it arrived. I would look elsewhere for an oud.

MatthewW - 5-10-2008 at 07:20 AM

MDK check out this thread:
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7406#pid464...


NOTE- UPDATE AUG 2008- Palmrami has changed their name to epalmra, still on ebay.

Lamma Anakhu - 5-15-2008 at 09:52 PM

I can tell you that things haven't changed much with his practices as covered by the linked thread that MatthewW posted.

I recently ordered a Sukkar hard shell case and had to wait about 10 days to receive, which isn't so bad, but it would be nice to have something in writing, like a tracking number.

I've order Iraqi Khashshaba drums from him in the past, and it is the same story.

Delivery basically happens, but don't expect anyone to tell when the item has shipped or when it will arrive. It is a bit nerve racking, but for some things...he's the only guy around.

Palmrami also sells the same model items at varying prices, so if you wait and watch, you can save yourself a lot of money.

francis - 5-29-2008 at 02:52 PM

Another comment, but in the same way.
I ordered a hard case. I had to wait more than a month untill i receive.
The case was broken ( middle of the bowl, broken like an egg shell ). I send a mail.
They promise to post in the time material to repair..........a month ago...
I don't like to write negative opinion about someone, and I don't use to do this..
But this man doesn't respect himself and others....we are just money purveyors....
So.....here is a real address to lost time and money.....
It must be said.

Amer - 6-2-2008 at 11:57 AM

I've dealt with palmyrami before and honestly, I do not recommend anyone to buy from him..

I ordered a hard case shell from him for my oud.. The case was terribley damaged, fragmented (there are actually some holes in the outer shell, you can see the material inside), and it was also scratched all over!! two of the locks on the side were broken :s

My say: This guy sells garbage for money..

jaron - 7-4-2008 at 08:52 AM

so I decided what I really wanted to find was a Sukar oud that was better than the one I already had, which has deep problems
i bought a new model 14 from the only source I am aware of in the USA, palmyrami on ebay
after I sent him money, ebay sent me a note saying, wait, don't pay him, he is engaging in a fraud, but we cannot tell you what it is, because we need to protect his privacy
but it was too late, i had already sent money
all of palmyrami's listings were suddenly removed from ebay- a shame because he just got a new batch of instruments in
so i tried to reach paypal to ask for a refund, but they put me on hold on a non-free number for 20 minutes- i presume that at some point i'll get a refund somehow, since ebay owns paypal
i realize a lot of people have had bad experiences with this guy, but others, even on this forum, have had good experiences- i want to give him the benefit of the doubt
i have a bunch of emails for the guy, but haven't been able to reach him since this happened
anyone know him personally?

SamirCanada - 7-4-2008 at 09:13 AM

it happened to me when I ordered from him that all his listings dissapeared from ebay.
he had been locked out on fraud suspicions.
well I bombarded his email account. no awnser.
I eventualy found out where his warehouse is which is in royaloak michigan. After I informed him of this he eventualy replied and told me that the oud was on its way and that he had been temporarely baned from ebay.
I got the oud in one peice and in a fast enough delivery time.
just keep on him.
all the best.

jaron - 7-4-2008 at 11:57 AM

Thanks much, Samir. I also tracked down the physical address of his business. He is Ed at this place:

Royal Oak Storage
313 East Hudson Avenue
RoyalOak, MI 48067
Diane White , Manager
Phone Number:
(248) 591-6580
ed@royaloakrecycling.com
http://www.royaloakstorage.com

What would be nice is to know if anyone knows him in person. I think it's great that he's importing Sukar ouds at his own risk. I want to support him in doing that. My sense is that he isn't a bad guy- maybe just someone who is in over his head in dealing with the realities of online business.

francis - 7-4-2008 at 05:10 PM

I ordered a hard case a few month ago .....
I received it broken....
I asked for some materiel to repair ( read up next message ).....
I'm waiting......since two months.....
Today, I can't put my oud in a hard case....
I'm not sure he isn't a bad guy.....and if he isn't able to deal with the realities of online business, he doesn't deal....There is no excuse for such a attitude!

rambam - 7-5-2008 at 11:47 AM

Hi all, If needed here is the link to his site:

http://www.palmyrami.com/

I have purchased a Sukar from him in the past and it was
not exactly a pleasant transaction.

I don't want to slander his reputation...just telling it like
it is.

Butrous - 7-6-2008 at 11:30 AM

I have been trying to do business with these people for about a year. It has been very frustrating and at times very confusing.

It is not clear who is in charge. The first time I asked them they said their names were: Samer and Mahmoud Suker.

When I addressed an email to: Samer and Mahmoud, they wanted to know how I got their names.

Later I was given another name: Ed H. Mamou.

I do not know who is in charge. Sometimes they act as if they do not know either. The Royal Oak paper recycling company is next to but separate from the storage company. A phone call was pleasant but produced no results. Apparently Palmyrami is an ebay business. They might be just using space at the storage company.

They know nothing about their products. If they do they are doing a great job of concealing any knowledge they have.

It is my understanding that the items are packed in Syria. They are not opened in Michigan. This is confirmed by the fact that the shipping boxes have Syrian stamps. They use generic or previously used photos for the musical instruments.

They often misstate the discription or use a photo that partially matches the description or does not match the description at all. They do not know whether an oud has ebony pegs or not. The transhipper, Royal Oak, has never seen the oud and probably would not know a painted black peg from an ebony peg.

They do not know who makes their percussion instruments. Some are complete junk especially the ones with a white rim. The white rim is plastic. These drums are unplayable. I tried to settle for credit but instead just shipped them back just to get them out of the house. They never acknowledged receipt.

Bought an "old" oud. It arrived damaged. They said I could get credit or get another "old" oud in exchange. I opted for an exchange. They said they would receive more old ouds in a month. After getting the same answer 5 times over 5 months. I asked for credit. Received a Suker case in partial exchange without incident. The next week 3 "old" ouds appear on ebay at inflated starting prices. The so-called "old", "antique" ouds I think are fake or as they say in the trade "antiqued"; junk that has been glued together or stuff made to look like it shows signs of use, wear, or age.

I have tried to give whoever I have been trying to deal with the benefit of the doubt but it has tried by patience. I agree that they are making a effort but are overwhelmed or just do not understand accepted business practices. I have not spent much money with them but wanted to try them out a few times before a bought a more expensive Suker.

I know Ibrahim Suker and visited him in his office and shop in Aleppo years ago and have previously owned Suker ouds. He is a very nice person he has been very helpful to me on my visits to Aleppo.

It is a shame he does not have a more straight forward knowledgeable "agent" in the America since Mr. Suker is definately a "straight arrow" in my book but he could be overwhelmed as well.

Jeff Bazos was right, book selling is the best internet business model. Just make sure you ship out the correct ISBN number, everything else requires knowledge.

Cooper - 7-7-2008 at 06:19 AM

I am currently going back and forth with this guy right now. I bought a Sukar qanun a month ago from him and it came damaged (it also was not packed very well). I sent it back to him and he promised to give me a new one, only to send the same one back (in the new box I packed it in). I shipped it back to him yet again and he claimed to have already sent another one only for it to be the same tracking number of what I had just sent back to him (WTF?).

So, my advice now is do not deal with this guy. We may have to file action against this guy on e-bay if he does not refund our money (qanuns are not cheep).

Just a warning (someone warned me not too long ago, but we had already purchased this by then).

Cooper - 7-8-2008 at 05:56 AM

WOW! I am kind of impressed. I just got my Sukar qanun yesterday and it was not the same damaged qanun that was sent to me twice!!! Maybe this guy was not messing with me. Now if he gives me the refund he promised me, I might be happy with this transaction!

Alan-TX - 7-8-2008 at 08:25 PM

I just got my Sukar oud yesterday from palmyrami.

http://www.palmyrami.com/index.php?productID=528

My transaction went without incident and I am satisfied. I had to ask for a tracking number but they did give me one. I ordered it on 7-1 and it arrived 7-7.

The Oud appears to be a great beginner oud. Granted this is the first Oud I have ever seen in the flesh but based off my guitar playing experience it has decent action and no string buzzing. I am sure many beginners have had much worse to start with.

It seems as the oud was packaged in Syria and never opened state side. There was sawdust in the case and inside the oud...

The case is not that great. It’s functional but the padding seems too thin as is the shell. But for around town travel it will do. Much better than no case at all.

I got this model off of ebay for a better price than quoted in the link even with shipping added in. So if you do order from palmyrami keep your eye out for a good deal on eBay as their prices fluctuate.

I sent email to palmyrami@gmail.com and let them know to come and read this thread. Over 1k hits so this will impact their oud business.

And BTW thanks to all who post on the forums. It was here where I learned how to shop for an oud , what was good and what was bad. I will be using these forums to learn how to play along with following OudProff’s Dvd.

Cooper - 7-8-2008 at 08:40 PM

I am glad you had a good experience with him. Sukar ouds are really good and it excited me to see someone selling Sukar's instruments here in America.

Unfortunately my experience is not going to well with Mr. Palmrami. I had asked for my money back after he sent the same damaged qanun twice. He said that he was sending another qanun and if I liked it he would reimburse me $400 for the shipping costs.

Now it is looking like he is backing out on his deal and now that I have read all of these posts I realized I did not do enough research on this seller before buying from him. This whole thing has been a headache and I feel he has not been honest with me this whole time. In fact the newer qanun he sent me has some damage to it, but he does not seem to care.

With that being said, it is sad that such a great opportunity is ruined by this guy's bad busyness practices.

charlie oud - 7-8-2008 at 09:14 PM

Welcome to the Sukar club Alan. Mine is a fantastic. Enjoy yours. http://www.arabicouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7633#pid4... and http://www.arabicouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=7631#pid4... She sounds and plays very well, loud ,deep & warm with a classic arabic tone.I bought mine privately so cannot comment on models supplied by Palmrami but Sukar makes a wide range of models from cheap to expensive. Regards. C

Melbourne - 7-9-2008 at 03:57 AM

Christ ! - what in the world is this??

Apparently a professional Lebanese "out" :rolleyes:

http://www.palmyrami.com/index.php?productID=547

francis - 7-11-2008 at 03:43 PM

Happy for you guys to have good deals.....
I'm going on waiting material to repair my "hardbrockencase"....not even an answer by mail....

Cooper - 7-11-2008 at 04:52 PM

Well, this guy promised to pay for the shipping of the damaged instrument I sent back to him (twice, in fact) and he has not yet. Well, at least I have the new one.:shrug:

jaron - 7-11-2008 at 11:25 PM

The Sukar 14 arrived on time, perfectly packed, and undamaged. The eBay listing promised an extra set of pegs and there is only one set, and it isn't the same set shown in the photos, but other than that, palmyrami came through this time.

Meanwhile, an astounding Nahat/Merjanian oud came into my life while I was waiting for the Sukar, so I'm afraid the Sukar might be neglected for a while.

The Sukar is very well made - perfect low action, incredibly long sustain, good pegs (whether they are the original ones or not), lovely finger board, etc. but not much tone or resonance as yet. Either I got a dud or it will take a while to wake up. I haven't dealt with a brand new oud before. Maybe this is normal.

I was thinking it might be worth writing a nice note to the palmyrami guys suggesting that they should become engaged on this board in order to learn a little more about what they are selling and avoid conflicts or mistakes before they can happen- but maybe it's a fool's game to try to suggest improvements to someone else's business.

If they could resolve the problems of the five or six people they've left hanging here, they could start on a new leaf, perhaps.

jaron - 7-11-2008 at 11:50 PM

Update on the Sukar 14- I played it for a while and the sound and resonance opened up as if by magic, so this instrument is no dud.

Cooper - 7-12-2008 at 04:17 AM

That is really cool about the Sukar oud, I can not wait to see the pictures! I got sold on Sukar recently when a friend of mine bought one that had been refurbished (it had three cracks on the face board). I am not sure what model is was, but the action was smooth (unlike my refurbished Turkish oud that has too high of action).

That would be nice if Palmrami could be more reliable. It has been a bit frustrating dealing with him, but in the end, I am really happy with this Sukar qanun. I do not think a professional player would be satisfied completely with this model (since those professional models are a few thousand), but for someone like me who's main instrument is not the qanun, I like it a lot. :xtreme:

jaron - 7-12-2008 at 05:56 PM

so here's an bizarre thing
one of the strings on the Sukar oud wasn't so great- not a big problem- just needed to replace the string
an oddity with the way the oud was set up was that the high courses were attached to the most distant pegs, while the lower, wound courses were attached to the closest pegs- the reverse of the usual way
I decided re-assign strings to pegs to be more conventional- and I discovered that the string lengths were measured precisely - the wound strings aren't long enough to reach the far pegs!
that would explain the weird stringing arrangement
someone decided to make the more expensive strings shorter to save a few fractions of pennies
or at least that's the only explanation i can come up with
it seems unlikely that anyone at Sukar would do this, so maybe palmyrami did it?

jaron - 7-13-2008 at 09:31 AM

i put new strings on the sukar- from hank levin/musicaravan - they aren't quite a match for the tuning, but WOW, the sukar is now 100 times better- it is actually amazing- what a fantastic oud builder, and what a bargain price for such an instrument-

Samer - 7-14-2008 at 05:39 AM

Dear All,

We are very glad to be here and read your comments about our business.

It seems like few of you, did not have a pleasant experience with our business.

We are really not a bad people, we were just new to this business and we had some difficulties running an online business, it's not easy as you may think for many reasons:

1- As you know, all ouds that we sell are fully handmade and subject to Human being's errors. They are not machine made and can't be identical nor perfect.

Neither Kalifa nor Sukkar is a factory, it's just a small workshop, therefore the quality and finishing of the ouds are various.

We work hard to select the best of their ouds, and we wait for nearly 6 months to get our orders. Ouds production is slow and limited and cannot be % 100 accurate.

2- Another reason that is really effecting us is the lead time of shipping, it takes nearly 3 to 4 months for these ouds to get to MI. It is a long distance trip with many stops on the way and especially the final stop at customs.

3- We do our best in answering emails within 24 hours, even though, we had some problems in our email in the past and many emails got deleleted by mistake. It was hard luck that we hired a wrong guy that was handling emails in the past and causing all problems.

4- Some buyers decide to buy low price ouds or drums such as Kalifa ouds or Sheep drums that sell for $20 ! , and they expect to get pro concert oud or drum. Let's be reasonable, when you buy an oud for $150, you should not expect too much !!, we do sell low price ouds for those players who are looking to have some fun or just get started learning playing ouds.

5- It seems like most of the problems are coming from Sukkar case. I ,somehow, agree that the case is not the best quality nor finishing. But it's the best case in the Syrian market, I personally had a meeting with Mr. Sukkar and complained about the cases, Now he is working on making new cases with much higher quality. We should be selling them within the next 6 months. Anyhow, cases that we have in stock now are much better quality and finishing.

Lately, we have made major changes in our system to improve customers service and ensure great satisfaction. We hired a new team to answer emails properlly and to effectivelly deal with customers requests. We are doing a much better packing and handlling, and try to do shipping in the same day that we receive the payment.

For overseas buyers it's a different case, postage is very slow and not trackable. We really have no control over it. We advise buyers that are in a rush to contact us and pay extra for faster shipping services.

We hope we can get to the point of having %100 customers satisfaction and Palmyrami will be the store for all ouds' players.We promiss all our customers that all of you will see a major improvement in our business. If you go over our feedback on ebay, you will notice that we are improoving quickly.

Furthuremore, We have being working with Mr. Sukkar for more than 2 years and we just became his Sole agent in North America and Europe. We are also working with other famous oud makers to be their sole agent in the US.


We appreciate Art and we enjoy selling ouds and drums for reasonable prices because our main goal is to help introducing the eastern art and music in the west and to the western people

Butrous - 7-14-2008 at 06:44 PM

Dear Samer,

Thank you for responding to all of our issues. It is important for us to know that you care about your customers and are trying to improve your business organization and systems.

I personally wish you the best of luck and and hope to be doing more business with you in the future.

Truly,

francis - 7-14-2008 at 10:39 PM

Samer.
I'm happy to read your answer to this topic.
I know I told hard words about Palmirani in this forum, and I specified why ( for memory: I ordered a hardcase, I received it broken, I ask you for materiel to repair ( because I thought it's easier than shipping back, even if I has work to do on a payed product) , you agreed with this and thank me for, and I never received materiel, and no answer to my mails ....)
Your answer, here, seems to tell you want to access to a respectable business, and I read this with pleasure and interest....
But , this day.......no case to bring my oud....I ordered you six or seven months ago.
I wish you have a good business....and I have a hardcase....
Good luck for each!
Francis

Samer - 7-15-2008 at 03:30 AM

Thanks for your wishes butrous, I was just wondering you ordered from us ? do you have any pending problem ? if so what is it ? I will solve it right away.


Also Francis, What are the materielsl needed ? Can you email me to palmyrami@gmail.com ? if you are in the US I will mail you a new case right away.

Please feel free to contact me if you have any problem with palmyrami

Thanks,

Samer.

Samer - 7-15-2008 at 03:42 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by jaron
so here's an bizarre thing
one of the strings on the Sukar oud wasn't so great- not a big problem- just needed to replace the string
an oddity with the way the oud was set up was that the high courses were attached to the most distant pegs, while the lower, wound courses were attached to the closest pegs- the reverse of the usual way
I decided re-assign strings to pegs to be more conventional- and I discovered that the string lengths were measured precisely - the wound strings aren't long enough to reach the far pegs!
that would explain the weird stringing arrangement
someone decided to make the more expensive strings shorter to save a few fractions of pennies
or at least that's the only explanation i can come up with
it seems unlikely that anyone at Sukar would do this, so maybe palmyrami did it?


Dear Jaron ? Why do you think I changed your string ? this is not a fair comment at all ? I would never change the strings. You can contact M.R Sukar to ask him.

Thanks,

Melbourne - 7-15-2008 at 04:33 AM

Samer

I have had no time to read any of your comments or responses to them - I will eventually, but I am glad that there is at least now some correspondence with "palmyrami". There is a great demand for sukar ouds, and the fact that there is now a "western" contact for these instruments is a positive thing. Buy contributing to these forums, you are really dealing with high critique, becuase here amongst the finest luthiers and oud virtuosos exchange and share knowledge. I hope you cant realise what this means and am sure many would look forward to purchaisng "fine" skuar instruments.

regards;

jaron - 7-15-2008 at 06:45 AM

Hi Samer,

I think you'll be very happy that you've made contact with the oud community on these forums.

As for the strings- there are a number of explanations, and as I said, I have no idea. Maybe some kid working in the Sukar shop was told to put strings on it before it shipped and thought he was being innovative.

What is great is that now that you are responding to questions here, I can talk to you about something like this, and it can be friendly.

When I wrote the speculation about why the strings were short, you hadn't yet posted. I'm afraid that it's a little to easy to say something about someone when they aren't in the room.

So, my apologies for that.

-jaron

Cooper - 7-15-2008 at 06:58 AM

Well, I have my Sukar qanun that I bought from you. You reimbursed me for the shipping of the damaged qanun I had to send back to you, so I am happy (thank you!).

I am also happy that you are taking the time to join this forum and address these issues.

Cheers,

Dustin

francis - 7-15-2008 at 07:14 AM

Well, I just sent you a mail .
I wish the fact you join this great forum brings good issues to problems...It would be nice for each one...
Waiting for your answer.....and a being of use hardcase.
francis

Butrous - 7-16-2008 at 06:09 AM

Jaron,

In Aleppo the high, most treble string, is F. It is strung to the furtherist pegs. Why?

Before the high F was introduced, C was the highest treble string. Inorder not to disrupt the previously common string arrangement of the pegs the stringing location of the C, G, D, A, and F stayed the same, the bass C was eliminated so the only vacant pegs for the treble F were the furtherist pegs where the bass C was located even though the location of the treble F on the bridge and nut was next to the treble C. (Note Bene: Before the single course bass C was used the bass C was a double course hence 12 pegs on some ouds.)

nouphar - 7-16-2008 at 06:23 AM

Hi Boutrous, I like your explanation.

What is the sense of having ouds being tuned GADGCF or DGADGC? In the first case one might miss the great sounding low D string, and in the second case the high F course is really useful. Does any of those patterns fit better any maqam or repertoire? I wonder the same for ouds having a very low A or G string (below 6th E guitar string).

In my opinion (I guess this issue is just a matter of preference), a superb string arrangement would be, from low to high, A D GG AA DD GG CC FF (14 strings)...

Regards.

jaron - 7-16-2008 at 07:23 AM

Thanks so much for this information.

The Sukar ouds seem to excel in the bass, so I am currently tuned to CFADGC because of that amazing low C. How could anyone give it up?

(I should say that in the case of my oud, it wasn't just the one high course that was attached to the farthest pegs- all the wound strings went to the nearest pegs, and all the un-wound strings went to the farthest. There were three unwound courses.)

There have been some other threads about the best choices for strings for a Sukar oud- and I would suggest that Sukar players try the Musicaravan strings from Hank Levin.

If I could make one request of Mr, Sukar, it would be for a better nut, maybe made of bone.

Christian1095 - 7-17-2008 at 06:36 AM

I ordered an Oud from Palmyrami today. I'll post my experiance.

Christian1095 - 7-18-2008 at 09:31 AM

Received it from DHL this morning... I asked them to overnight it because I believe it increases the chances of the instrument arriving safely. Also, the time lag of a waiting for something I really want in the mail causes enough anxiety that I prefer to pay more in shipping than to spend three day worrying abuot it... Of course your milage may vary... Also, I'm playing this weekend and I wanted to have a backup in case I broke a string or something.

Communication was not a problem. They were quick to get back to me and answered my questions. The central one being... If this gets broken in the mail, will you refund my money or replace the instrument? They assured me they would and I figured that in a worse case senario, it would allow me to initiate a chargeback with my CC company if they didn't live up to thier promise... But, obviously it wasn't a problem.

Shipping was same day. I read above they try to do this anyway, but I asked them to overnight it so I could have it today. So they may have expedited things. I asked for a tracking number and it was provided... To give a timeline, I paid for it around 10:30 and had a DHL tracking number before 4:00...

Packaging was very well done. Just like when I bought my other Sukar from SamirCanada, it looked like a mummy in all it's foam wrap and strapping tape. They did a really good job padding the neck of the Oud in it's case (for those of you who have a case by Mr Sukar, it sort of looks like a duck.... and there is a big open space between the body and the neck) The box was of thick cardboard.... Not SUPER thick, but also not flimsy either... The box was very well taped.

My oud was also strung kind of funky... but no worries because the first thing I did was to change the strings so it wasn't an issue for me.

So, that was my experiance. They were fast, did a good job with the packing, and thier communication with me was fast and positive. I realize that Trust is earned one transaction at a time... but you gotta start somewhere. Hopefully the experiances Jaron and I have had will be the first in many.

francis - 7-19-2008 at 07:45 AM

Christian, you must be one of those which stay in the good place at the good time....
I'm happy it's ok for you....
I paid 130 dollars a few month ago.....And I'm stiil waiting and bringing my oud under my arm!
After Samer's post in this forum, I thought a solution is possible.....
He answered me here by a question ( I described the problem 10 or15 times before by mails!!!! ) and nothing new......
But I can read I have a new case right away if I'm in the US....no problem, I'm in France: I didn't move out since I ordered and paid!!!
That's why, for me ,it's hard to take doubt away.......( my money is away, for sure!!!)
Nevertheless,for playing it's better to have the oud than the case....
:( .......:airguitar:.......:D

Melbourne - 7-20-2008 at 12:18 AM

Congrats Christian

Which model did you order? Do post some pics when yuo get the chance :). I'm beginning to think seriously about a sukar now for my next instrument, I guess thorugh Palmyramy as things seem to be shaping up for them...

Samer - 7-20-2008 at 02:02 AM

Dear All,

I’m glad things are improving, there should not be any problem with any of you from now on . We learned our lesson ( packing, choosing quality ouds, shipping with the right company,etc)


I just got some old ouds, very high quality and %100 Authentic. I hired an expert to test the ouds and make sure they are not fake !

makers are ( Nahat, Badrosian, Safi,etc)

We had such a hard time collecting these ouds since most ouds in the market are fake !

I will post pictures of the oud shortly.


Regards,

charlie oud - 7-20-2008 at 04:53 PM

Hey Chris, What about the oud itself, do you like it? . VERY happy with my Sukar. C

francis - 7-21-2008 at 01:14 AM

Bonjour.

I think we find a solution with Samer. He answered to my mail an propose me to send a new hardcase and materials to repair the broken one, for the shipping price.
I'm right with this.
Now I'm waiting for the case to come.....
Francis.

Christian1095 - 7-22-2008 at 07:12 AM

Yeah, the oud itself is really nice... If you're expecting a concert quality isntrument, then the Model 1 really isnt' for you... But it's solid and sounds nice.

The pegs are nice... not perfect, but with a little bit of peg dope, they don't have any problem staying in tune...

I raised the action slightly last night because I was getting a little string buzz... really just a minor adjustment....

I would recommend this oud to anyone starting out... it's only $400 and is light years beyond anything available within the US for that price. It will take a lot to outgrow the instrument... whereas I was looking to replace my Amazon.com oud within a week.

fernandraynaud - 11-6-2009 at 03:55 AM

I'm sorry, but you just showed up here, first posting, and you come up with such a generality, and with that spam "ordinateur pas cher" in your msg as well? Can you be more specific as to what you got? Even the mediocre oud I got from them matched the photo down to the grain of the soundboard. When did this happen to you?

If you got something you didn't like, did you ask them to take it back, and/or (it's the moment to push) give you a good deal on something else, like a Sukar? That's what I did and they sold me a model 1 for a price that made the Sukar and the mediocre oud come out to less than the best price I've ever heard of on a Sukar alone. They seem eager to please these days.

At this point I personally wouldn't buy anything but Sukars from them, as they don't really know what's in the sealed box. The Sukar I chose and that they sent me matched its photo down to the individual staves' wood grain too. I've heard that other Sukar buyers have also been given a chance to pick the one they wanted from several photos. It's like each box they get from Syria has a set of photos. Maybe when they have multiple units, the photo might sometimes get mixed up for a different one?

Anyway, it would help to be more specific as to what happened in your case, and when, rather than just post such generalities. We're trying to be fair and form an objective impression of whether it's safe to buy e.g. Sukars from them these days, as there are only two simple sources for Sukars, and they have the better prices. Everybody of late seems happy with their Palmyrami Sukar.

Christian1095 - 11-6-2009 at 09:04 AM

I think that's just a spammer....not a real person...

fernandraynaud - 11-6-2009 at 12:05 PM

Spammers are real people too. They have feelings and they have spamette wives and little baby spammers that they have to feed. And now and then you have to try to explain things to them. WHAT AM I TALKING ABOUT??? :applause: