naddad
Oud Maniac
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bought oud plectrum - sticky coat on it?
Bought a risha that the vendor said was made out of buffalo horn (maybe bull horn), and it comes with some sort of sticky coat on it to better
preserve it. He told me I should wipe it with oil to remove the sticky substance. Does anyone know more about this? What should I do?
Thanks
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luan
Oud Junkie
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Maybe it's kebab dressing
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naddad
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I did some research on this forum and some recommended it be soaked in olive oil for a week or so to soften it up a bit, but it seems there was no
consensus.
Also, the risha makes a very loud "swoosh" sound that really sticks out on tremolos when I'm attacking the strings. It actually takes over the sound
of the note, it's very unpleasant. It's a hard risha so I suppose this is why, but is there a way to remove the swoosh sound?
thanks
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Jody Stecher
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There are two operations involving oil here. Vegetable oil, including olive oil, is good for removing sticky stuff from surfaces. The awful gunk that
remains on the surface of an item that had a price sticker on it, for instance, comes off with oil and friction, where friction alone won't do the
job. That's operation number one. But also 5 or more days in olive oil will make the horn risha flexible instead of brittle. That's operation two.
I used to know a friendly zoo keeper at the San Francisco zoo who would give me feathers that had fallen on the floor of the eagle cage. I 'd soak
the dark part of the shafts of eagle feathers in olive oil for 2 weeks and they would transform; they'd be like leather. They'd bring out good tone on
the oud.
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naddad
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Thanks oudistcamp and Jody.
Well I dipped the risha in oil yesterday, will wait a week or so. But it seems that it will need sanding because its texture is quite grainy and I'm
assuming this is what's causing that friction sound when attacking strings. I read on one thread that a 600 grit sandpaper is best.
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
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Neddad, did you get one or more? How thick is it?
There are many materials that people use for rishas, and they each have their special charm. What have you used to date?
I find that horn is the loudest material (which isn't always what you want) and probably the most expressive, with a huge dynamic range. But
Oudistcamp is right, the shape and thickness, and smoothness, need to be tailored to your preference, and if you like a given shape/thickness e.g in
nylon or delrin, it won't necessarily transfer directly to horn. In the absence of several units to experiment with, you at least do have TWO ends,
and hopefully enough length to trim back and start over a few times.
You're going to need to start with way rougher than 600 sandpaper, maybe even a 180, to begin shaping, then work down until you are at the point of
setting the final edge smoothness that determines indeed how much bite you get. An ordinary two sided disposable nail file usually works perfectly: it
offers two levels of coarseness, and then you might use a buffing stick for the final passes. The horn, after all, is exactly somebody's "nail".
As to this oiling business, my MidEast Manufacturing 6 packs come oily, and I rub a little forehead oil on horn rishas sometimes to keep them from
drying out -- believe it or not that's what harpsichordists have used for centuries on bird quill plectra (if they're crazy authenticist enough to use
that fragile stuff) -- but I don't see much change in the material.
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naddad
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fernandraynaud -- thanks for your advice.
I only bought one risha (comes in units, not packs). I don't have a precision tool to measure its thickness, it's less than 1 mm thick though (not
sure if this helps...).
So far I've only tried the two plastic rishas that came with my Shehata. The first one is made of translucent gelatinous material but it's way too
flexible so I'm not using it. The harder one is also translucent, probably 1mm thick but thins out at the point. It's okay but still a bit too
flexible when I compared it to the new horn risha I bought. I get so much more plucking precision from the harder horn risha, but at the expense of a
very rough attack. Maybe sanding down the edge will smooth the attack.
I'll let you know what the result of my work is soon, but thanks for the contribution.
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