Mike's Oud Forums

looking for a cheap toursit oud to customize

palestine48 - 7-1-2004 at 09:10 PM

Hi im looking for a cheap touristy oud to play around with and design it to my tastes. im not at the school or financial level to afford a en expensive oud so i figure this would be fun to customize, anywaysone company i saw on ebay is payramid shop. are they descent toursit ouds. i bought one from nile shop and like it very much. what does everyone think?

david - 7-1-2004 at 10:08 PM

:wavey: Stick with Yehia from the Nile Shop. :cool:

billkilpatrick - 7-2-2004 at 09:05 AM

customize in what way?

there are times when i'd like to customize the cheapy i have with an axe but if you have something more beneficial and constructive in mind, i'd like to hear about it.

salute - bill

palestine48 - 7-2-2004 at 11:34 AM

well like my friend tarik who is known here as excentrikaz, hes taking his old khalife oud and sanding down the soundboard and possibly shilaking it. Hes also popping out the rosettes and designing his own to reflect his heritage. It inspired me to do something similar, he is working on getting me a khalife oud. Im skeptical about buying from pyramid shop but there is a oud on ebay from them that is pleasant looking but i know pleasant looking doesnt equate georgeous sound. I think even if I had a nice looking cheapy that doesnt play well, id still be proud to keep it as an ornament as it is a reflection of my culture so im willing to take the risk but with precation as i am not made of money.

billkilpatrick - 7-2-2004 at 12:33 PM

i removed the plastic rosettes on my cheapy oud and sanded the soundboard down (very carefully...) to get rid of the shellac - it looked a lot better but it did nothing for the warped neck.

ah-ha!...

cheap doesn't only mean cheap looking but also cheaply made and cheap sounding.

save the money you were going to spend on something cheap, repeat the process and then buy something worth while. there are good luthiers (look through the archives on mike's site) making good instruments for around $150.00 - much better than some piece of junk that will eventually end-up in the closet.

all the best - bill