Lysander
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Registered: 7-26-2013
Location: London, UK
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Fingerboard worn
Nice to see the forums back. While I was practising a couple of days ago I noticed I kept getting a small amount of buzzing whenever I hit a B on the
second string. I thought maybe my nails had gotten too long so temporarily ignored it till I cut them. But looking at the neck in the light it seems
that there is wear in quite a bit of it now.
Now while I am aware that fingerboard wear is common, I haven't had this oud for a year yet and I didn't think it happened this early. My technique
can't be that bad can it? I always assumed that the fingerboard to this oud was ebony and that it would be a lot longer till I got to this point.
Anyway, here is a relatively clear picture of the wear.
Picture:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/Lysander666/oudfi1_zps6f82d2...
So what do I do to repair this? Is it possible that I could do it myself? For starters it would be cheaper that going to a luthier and I don't want to
miss out on practise time waiting for repairs... I don't know where I'm going to find a luthier with oud experience in London either.
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bulerias1981
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The grade of wood, orientation of the grain are also factors of fingerboard wear (pitting in this case), but mostly the corrosion of the strings will
"etch" material away rapidly. This is a chemical reaction to the oils and sweat from your fingers with the strings and even fingerboard surface. Some
people tend to wear fingerboards much faster than others. I have a friend that I'm always replacing fingerboards for, because he drinks tons of coffee
and doesn't do a good job of cleaning the fingerboard when hes done playing. Wiping the fingerboard when you're done playing will not only give more
longevity to the strings, but to the fingerboard as well.
What to do? Depending the angle of the neck, it can be planed down, but that may or may not be an option. A violin maker MIGHT be able to do it. I
don't really recommend you do that yourself unless you've had some training, because you could make it worse. I'm not away of any makers or repair
persons in the U.K. A lute maker might be able to help you, I'm sure there are a few lute makers out there, but their instrument is a bit different
when it comes to the fingerboard, because they have frets.
Good luck and let us know how it goes.
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Lysander
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Thanks for the advice, John. I've seen on this forum that sometimes you can use some cyanocrilite, fill the pits and then sand it down. That sounds
like a relatively easy job to do. However, there is a luthier down the road from me who is used to working with lutes. I may get in contact with him
because he sounds like a useful contact to have more than anything else due to his connections in the academic world. Still, I'd like to give it a go
myself with the cyanocrilite if people think it's doable.
It seems I used that B note a lot for orientation, especially since it's the start of the second tetra for a lot of makams I play. This gives me the
chance to practise other makams like sedaraban, suznak, neveser and nihavend that don't use that note, until I get this sorted out.
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DoggerelPundit
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From the picture it appears that the wear is between the courses, rather than underneath them. It is certainly possible that this wear could
be accounted for by acidic fluids from your fingertips breaking down the "sides" wood fibers more quickly than the wood directly under the strings.
My guess for a prime cause, though, is fingernails. Using your nails on the strings is acceptable technique and perfectly harmless as long as you
keep them filed flat across. Pressing strings with your nail will wear grooves in the nails of the first and second fingers. In short order you
will then have raised portions of the nail on either side of the groove. When this groove wear is great enough, the "ears" on either side will begin
to touch the fingerboard on either side of the string pairs. The constant rubbing (vibrato and slides) and increased contact pressure from a deepening
nail-groove will do the rest—particularly on softer fingerboard woods, or on woods compromised by acids. Pressing too hard from tension in playing
contributes as well.
Also, from close inspection of the picture, this wood does not appear to be ebony. At least not the almost grainless ebony seen on higher end
instruments.
If it were my instrument, I would have a luthier replace or re-cover the present fingerboard with the best, tightest ebony I could find.
My 2 cents.
-Stephen
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Brian Prunka
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The picture didn't work for me before but it's working now. Wow, that is some serious wear, I doubt that that is ebony. I'm not an expert, but the
grain looks more like rosewood; I would suspect that has just been dyed darker.
Many makers dye their fingerboards. Most ebony is not the really uniform dark black that you are used to seeing. Ebony and other woods are routinely
dyed to make them darker. When ebony is a uniform black, it has usually been dyed.
I agree that fingernails are the likely cause. Caustic sweat and skin oils may have contributed. Fingerboard wear can happen fairly quickly with
fingernails, though it is much less likely with ebony than with rosewood or other softer woods.
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Lysander
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Stephen and Brian you are both completely right in what you say about fingernails, and I totally understand what you mean about the 'ears' Stephen,
this is something that I have experienced, so yes, fingernails are most likely the problem.
Now I have taken a look at the fingerboard in more detail and this is what I noticed:
http://i101.photobucket.com/albums/m74/Lysander666/ros_zps8b01af9c....
You see how the fingerboard has indeed been stained so this is not ebony after all, most likely. What could it be, rosewood? I will be seeing a
luthier shortly and we will make a decision about what to do...
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Lysander
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Thought I would give an update about this. Having made the last post I took the oud to a luthier.... now I was worried that there wouldn't be many
would could help me in London, let alone one who could restore or improve an oud. Very luckily I came across a luthier, Chris Egerton, who lives about
two miles down the road from me who was willing to help. He has experience of many older instruments, including the 14th century British Museum citole
which he helped restore.
After a talk I took the oud in on Tuesday and after a very quick turnaround of 72 hours I have it back already fixed this Friday! We were originally
thinking of infilling the fingerboard but resolved to just replace the whole fingerboard with ebony, because sooner or later it would have to be done.
Chris couldn't work out exactly what wood the original luthier had used to build the fingerboard for the oud but he thought it was most likely a very
poor grade type of ebony. It appears the original luthier had used some permanent glue to stick the fingerboard rather than protein glue, and Chris
had to plane the fingerboard down rather than just take the old one off. He also replaced the rather weird soft-wood nut with a new ebony one and
drilled new holes in the pegs, which will doubtless come in handy tomorrow because I'll need to restring the thing!
Because the stringing is out though, I haven't had a chance to play it properly, but I had a fiddle around on the first and second courses today.
Sufficed to say, apart from the obvious fact that the surface is clean, the smoothness of this new high-grade ebony makes a big difference to the
smoothness of playability. It should be a slightly different experience now playing this oud with a high-grade fingerboard, rather than the slightly
rough one affixed before.
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bulerias1981
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You did the right thing by taking it to someone. It was smart to replace the fingerboard with ebony. The previous fingerboard (judging from experience
repairing many ouds and from your photo) is either jawz (walnut) or sometimes rosewood. Obviously walnut isn't a good choice of material for a
fingerboard. Also a good idea by changing the nut out. I prefer bone for the oud because of the wound strings. Ebony is suitable for violin, because
the strings do not have notches that can get stuck when turning the peg. Even so, ebony is okay, certainly better than walnut for a nut! With the nut,
fingerboard, and strings replaced you should notice an improvement in sound.
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Lysander
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Location: London, UK
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Quote: Originally posted by bulerias1981  | | The grade of wood, orientation of the grain are also factors of fingerboard wear (pitting in this case), but mostly the corrosion of the strings will
"etch" material away rapidly. This is a chemical reaction to the oils and sweat from your fingers with the strings and even fingerboard surface. Some
people tend to wear fingerboards much faster than others. I have a friend that I'm always replacing fingerboards for, because he drinks tons of coffee
and doesn't do a good job of cleaning the fingerboard when hes done playing. Wiping the fingerboard when you're done playing will not only give more
longevity to the strings, but to the fingerboard as well. |
I did this for the first time today with some kitchen towel and some water. Quite amazing, the amount of dirt that came off. Is there something better
to use than water?
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SamirCanada
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you can use pure lemon oil, just make sure not to get any on the face.
@samiroud Instagram
samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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