Maraguzzi
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Registered: 9-10-2010
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How to put on gloss/finish on an oud?
Hi, i have bought a turkish oud handmade, but the complete front bit has no gloss/finish whatever it's called, but the back of hte bowl and
fingerboard does, how do i do it myself? what kind of gloss finish do i use? brand? thanks 4 ur help
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Franck
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 8-21-2007
Location: Montréal, Québec
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Traditionally Turkish uds don't have any finish on the soundboard. But if you wish to put one, I suggest french polishing, check these out:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=lsGTJlLACYg&feature=related
http://www.guitarsint.com/article.cfm/ArticleContentId/6
Good luck
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Maraguzzi
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the finish on that looks thin, i want my finish to be really thick like my arabic one. Know any techniques?
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Brian Prunka
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If you put a thick finish on the oud's face, you will destroy the sound.
There is a reason it has no finish.
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paulO
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Totally agree with Brian -- if the face isn't finished, don't apply any finish to it. Not thin, not thick, none.
If you want a turkish oud with a finished top, buy one that's been made that way to begin with.
Regards...PaulO
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
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There's debate on whether only a raw wood face is optimal, but surely the thicker and/or gummier the finish, the less live the soundboard will be.
This is why oil or oil-based finishes should never be used, unless you like the "soundboard make of bologna" sound. French Polishing with shellac you
mix yourself (from shellac flakes and alcohol) is the only recognized technique. The problem with most ready-mixed shellac in the can, is that it
tends to dry a bit gummy. If you apply shellac sparingly with a brush and steel-wool it down to a thin satin layer, that's workable. But if you goop
the soundboard with a thick polyurethane type varnish, like on a Chinese guitar, you are killing the resonance, which on the oud works differently and
requires a very light and live soundboard.
There's some reason to believe that egg white might work, but tests are underway, look it up on the forum. I found that plain egg white can make a
nice finish that does not harm the sound, but it's not protection enough against drools and spills to be worth doing. Member jdowning is experimenting
with a liquid isolated from beaten egg whites, and that looks more promising.
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Maraguzzi
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But my arabic one has a thick finish, is that being ruined???
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
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Past tense. It would likely have sounded better without that gunk. Varnish is very commonly used on inexpensive Egyptian ouds. It's used in lieu of a
higher quality spruce face, as a cosmetic, as the wood is not of a quality that stands scrutiny. A varnished face may look better than a
rough wood.
But look at the high-end ouds, they either have a French Polish, or finely smoothed natural wood. Thickly varnishing the face in addition
unquestionably drops the value of the instrument, as it shouts "beginner's instrument". There's no accounting for taste. That said, some varnished
instruments do sound very good. But you don't know how they would have sounded without it, nor do you know how exactly they finished a specific oud. A
friend who spent time as an apprentice in Turkey said some expensive Turkish ouds from his teacher have faces varnished with a very carefully selected
automotive-type clear-coat that's not even legally available in Western countries because of toxicity and environmental regulations, but that the
luthier had discovered has minimal impact on timbre. Of what is available to us only shellac is known to be safe.
I can't say it's true in all cases, but on my MOP Egyptian, when I took the varnish down to a thin satiny layer with fine steel wool, it
seemed the timbre improved and the oud got louder. If your Turkish was designed with a natural wood face, and sounds good, please only do
what we know does no harm. If you want to protect the wood from dirt, or if you like a gloss, a thin layer of shellac will look very nice and won't
hurt it. You'd feel pretty bad if you decreased its resale value AND it lost a lot of its sound.
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