majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
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Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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Beautiful maple Oud by Dimitris RAPAKOUSIOUS
https://youtu.be/C7UtVmAlKQY
This is a gorgeous Oud. Good sound too.
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1353
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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"Paddock" is an enclosure for keeping horses. It can also mean an enclosed field. "Padauk", generally pronounced pa-dook, is a fine tone wood with
sonic properties similar to Brazilian Rosewood. One of the best sounding new ouds I have heard has ribs of padauk. Its red color will not please all
tastes.
I have played only a few ouds with maple ribs. They all were outstanding instruments, very lightweight, with clear melodious voices. All the
instruments in the violin family have backs and sides of maple. This is true for the violins of Amati, Stradivarius, and all the makers of the
Guarneri family. These instruments are universally valued for their sound and responsiveness and for their visual beauty as well. They also fetch
very high prices, sometimes in the millions. Of course it is possible for something beautiful in one context to be ugly in another. I think maple oud
bowls can be very lovely. Light colored bowls will not please every taste.
Mahogany is of many types and many colors, ranging from a light reddish brown to very dark brown. The grain can vary as well. Mahogany tends to give
a quick response and can give forth lovely overtones that other woods give less readily. I have heard some Turkish and Armenian ouds with mahogany
bowls that are of the very highest quality. These bowls were of a dark color and had a simple appearance that was modest but not cheap and certainly
not ugly by any standard.
A poorly made oud will look cheap and ugly no matter what the wood. A good craftsman will take any wood and harmonize its particular beauty with the
form of the oud he crafts.
I have not seen anything cheap or ugly come from the workshop of Dimitris Rapakousios. Inexpensive, yes! Cheap, no.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2916
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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I prefer walnut myself, but in the end what matters is the skill of the luthier and the sound they can get.
Maple is certainly not a cheap wood and can be more challenging to work with—it's been used in the greatest instruments for centuries.
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hamed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 293
Registered: 1-18-2005
Location: Seattle, Washington
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Mood: Iss'al rouhak
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Hi Lute,
What if the oud's bowl was made of rosewood, but had maple strips between the ribs? Would that be acceptable to you?
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1353
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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Lute, taste is always personal and you are entitled to your tastes and opinions about what is attractive. These opinions cannot be argued with.
Ikea furniture is generally made from particle board. When solid wood is used (chair dowels for instance) beech, birch and pine are the most common
woods used by Ikea. The type of maple used in lutherie is much too difficult to work to be used in mass production. But even the straight grain
variety of maple is much more expensive than straight grain birch.
As for mahogany, the types of mahogany used in lutherie (instrument building) are not much like the cheap green (undried) wood from Indonesia that
is lately used for furniture. This will split in a dry climate. Tone wood mahogany is expensive tropical wood that has been carefully dried . It is
much too expensive to build furniture. "Mahogany furniture' usually is either inexpensive hardwood or particle board with a mahogany veneer. The
veneer of mahogany is used because it is a valued and lovely looking wood. It is used as a veneer because it considered to be attractive.
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hamed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 293
Registered: 1-18-2005
Location: Seattle, Washington
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Mood: Iss'al rouhak
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Hi Lute,
What if the oud's bowl was made of rosewood, but had maple strips between the ribs? Would that be acceptable to you?
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
Posts: 622
Registered: 7-22-2013
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Mood: Dude, where's my Oud?
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I would like to see an Oud made out of Koa. Just for fun.
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Mehran
Oud Junkie
Posts: 210
Registered: 4-27-2006
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What's your problem dude?
Fair enough you don't like something. We all feel that way at times.
However if you don't like something and want to criticise someone else's craft, I don't want to hear it unless it's constructive.
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1353
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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"cheap and ugly".
The context was a response to a comment about an oud made by a specific maker. The original poster found the oud beautiful. Although your comment was
made about 3 woods you disliked in general, no matter who the maker may be, the context was a specific maker. The implication is that an oud by this
maker is cheap and ugly when he uses maple. Surely you can understand that this will be read as a condemnation of the maker, at least of his good
taste. Surely you can understand that when you also condemn, by implication, the taste of Antonio Stradivarius as well, and condemn the taste of every
violinist, violist, and cellist that ever lived, that it is likely to meet with some objection.
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1353
Registered: 11-5-2011
Location: California
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I don't like certain foods and I don't think the cook who prepares them is a fool or a bad cook so I can see you don't mean to criticize the luthier.
But context did make it appear that you did. Sorry about the wrong assumption.
It is true that you did not actually mention the maker.
Quote: Originally posted by Lute  | Jody Stecher, you cannot just take the words out of context! The wrong assumptions and interpretations were made! I referred to the woods only!
Furthermore, If you quote all, you will notice that I have not said any words about the maker, and here it is; ''I dislike maple, mahogany and paddock
woods on ouds, cheap and ugly!''. Where did I mentioned the maker?? ''Cheap and ugly'' was referred to those woods only.
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hans
Oud Junkie
Posts: 184
Registered: 5-6-2014
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That's annoying, I ordered a bird's eye maple oud from Dimitris Rapakousios, but I am in Chengdu right now and Youtube won't work here :-{. I wonder
if it is my oud?
I ordered it because I love maple ouds, especially bird's eye maple. It is unfortunately more expensive than woods like walnut
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hans
Oud Junkie
Posts: 184
Registered: 5-6-2014
Member Is Offline
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