ifred2000
Oud Admirer
Posts: 8
Registered: 5-6-2004
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Sukkar Oud model 8
Hello everyboyd,
what is a fair price for a Sukkar oud model 8?
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
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Mood: m'Oudy
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There are a few basic Sukar types with variations, including fingerboard length, sound hole shape and ornamentation. And there are special cases,
including fully ornamented, custom and floating bridge instruments. But the basic design, bracing and sound is very consistent. The important
distinction to most players is between the ones with softer wood fingerboards and stained (olive?)wood pegs, and the ones with ebony fingerboards and
ebony pegs.
There are specific timbral advantages to both, but in practice the softer wood fingerboards benefit from coating with something like Tru-Oil or Tung
Oil varnishes, to slow down the wear (grooving) from wound strings. As to the pegs, most people prefer the smoother hard ebony pegs, that are like
commercial viola pegs, with a flatter taper than the old fashioned stained wood oud pegs.
The Model 8 is like the Model 1 in that it uses the softer woods on both fingerboard and pegs. Other soft wood models include the 4, 6, 7 and 10. The
ebony fingerboard/peg models include the 13, 14, 16, 211, 212, 214. It's easy to tell the two groups apart by looking for the darkness of the ebony
fingerboard and the more elaborate "western" shaping of the ebony peg heads.
At the present time, given the war in Syria, it is impossible to assign a "correct" price to Sukar ouds. They are rather plain, moderately priced,
loud, excellent cost/performance ratio instruments, with the somewhat-adjustable neck/action that some people love while others condemn, but they
could become rarissimo and priceless at any time, say if Sukar's workshop in Aleppo is seriously damaged. And the price always increases as the number
of middlemen goes up, so price variations are customary. But in the recent past the softer fingerboard/peg ouds have often sold new in the West
between $500 and $700 and the hard fingerboard/peg ouds between $700 and $900. Sukars usually come in a crude but rigid fiberglass hardcase.
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