majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 7-22-2013
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Plastic Rishas - so far my favourite is...
Of the plastic risha's I use, my all-time favourite are the ones I have made myself shaved down from the thickest plastic cable ties I can find at my
local hardware shop.
I have used the same two that I originally made about 9 years ago after experimenting with various plastics.
Since then I have tried two plastics from oudstrings.com (mizrite, and talonite), and pyramid regular and thick versions, but I always get the best
attack, flexibility, and tone from my homemade cable tie ones.
The rishas on the left side are my handmade ones.
Anyone else have any similar experiences/results?
[file]37432[/file]
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bulerias1981
Oud Junkie
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Mood: John Vergara Luthier Lord of the Strings instrument making and repair
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I've used Ace hair combs with good effect. Cut off the comb part, then thickness the handle and the spine, shape it like a rishi, and that will be a
very nice pick to play with!
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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wow, I imagine the plastic is very rigid?
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juju
Oud Junkie
Posts: 125
Registered: 11-13-2011
Location: Paris - France
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Hi,
I also have exactly the same feedback... I spent a long time to compare many plastic risha... I found the best ones are those made with cable tie ...
I don't know what kind of plastic is used in those cable ties but the sound and the playbility are great...
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Jack_Campin
Oud Junkie
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Cable ties vary enormously in thickness, strength and elasticity - you can experiment.
I prefer the heavy-duty tape used to hold bundles of building materials together (timber, wall cladding, tiles, drainpipes, concrete blocks, paving
slabs). Again, there are many different kinds, but they are usually more elastic than cable ties. They are often reinforced with glass fibre. Takes
time to shape the tip, you need to work them over with sandpaper. Some types are prone to splitting, some aren't. Any time I go past a building site
I look to see if they're throwing out a kind I haven't tried before.
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Jody Stecher
Oud Junkie
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Forum member Brian Prunka sells through Oudstrings.com several synthetic materials from which oud plectrums can be fashioned. I have tried both
"Tortite" and "Mock Tortoise Shell" and had good results. The Tortite is supposed to have a very long life. I can't verify this because my Tortite
picks have vanished. I don't think I have ever taken them anywhere. Either they ran away or they spontaneously combusted while I was asleep.
Forum member oudistcamp makes good plectra from casein. This was discussed here in May of this year.
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
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Cable ties are can be made from nylon 6/6, nylon 12, and other blends of nylon; peek, polypropylene, or polyethylene . I doubt any use glass fibre as
this makes the plastic hard and stiff and you want the pick to be flexible. I like Sukar rishas (Teflon?), they have the least picking snap sound.
Next is horn for a brighter sound , but ultimately each oud will respond differently to the risha material so experiment to find your oud's favorite.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
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Quote: Originally posted by Jody Stecher  | Forum member Brian Prunka sells through Oudstrings.com several synthetic materials from which oud plectrums can be fashioned. I have tried both
"Tortite" and "Mock Tortoise Shell" and had good results. The Tortite is supposed to have a very long life. I can't verify this because my Tortite
picks have vanished. I don't think I have ever taken them anywhere. Either they ran away or they spontaneously combusted while I was asleep.
Forum member oudistcamp makes good plectra from casein. This was discussed here in May of this year. |
Some folks stick a noticeable piece of colored tape in the middle of the risha to help it be more visible . . . those translucent picks can certainly
seem to vanish!
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juju
Oud Junkie
Posts: 125
Registered: 11-13-2011
Location: Paris - France
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I also like Sukar oud risha... but I only have one at home.
Anyone knows what can of plastic is used in sukar risha and if it's easy to find in a supermarket an object made with this plastic ?
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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I've never seen or heard of this sukar risha... that's cool. Are they still available or are they becoming as endangered as his Ouds?
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hans
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 5-6-2014
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I have tried many things, tie wraps, cow horn risha's, and I have returned to the cheap plastic ones that came with turkish ouds. I don't know what
they are made of exactly, but I will stick with them
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Giorgioud
Oud Junkie
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Been experimenting with a wide variety of rishas of various materials throughout the years: apart from all the commercial version possible to find on
the market, I tried turkey's feathers, combs spines as mentioned above, but my favourite are always the ones I fashioned myself out of plastic cable
wrappers. I used to walk next to a building site or next to lampost (where they use cable wrappers to hang noticeboards and the likes), with a pair of
scissors, examining the material and snapping the ones more feasible to be used. The more worn out, the better. Then, work with scissors, file and/or
sandpaper. I have many soft ones which I use for practice and some top-notch hard (ish) ones which I perform with. I must say that on recording
sessions or important (televised or broadcast) gigs I revert to commercial rishas of the softish variety in order to minimise the "slapping" effect,
which I personally love and it is one of the features of the oud most appealing to me, but members of the audience who aren't that well-versed might
not appreciate it (and the resulting noise gets picked up by recording equipment, amplifying it tenfold). Having said that, for attack, flexibility,
durability and versatility, for my money I can't get better than the humble (and free) cable wrappers....
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Matthias
Oud Junkie
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Hello,
I found two new synthetic materials for rischa ( elf & macro ). Beside the standart ones you can find them here:
http://music-strings.de/index.php?k=307&lang=eng
Best regards
Matthias
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majnuunNavid
Oud Junkie
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This is interesting. I'm glad to see that I'm not the only one having the same results.
I am also finding the cable tie ones to provide a lot of slapping sounds unless I'm very careful.
The cable tie I sanded took a very long time. It seemed extraordinarily dense. Is nylon a very dense material?
Thanks for the resource Mattias.
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juju
Oud Junkie
Posts: 125
Registered: 11-13-2011
Location: Paris - France
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Sukar oud rishas are not made of nylon, they are softer... I never found it on the internet (I had my one from the shop)... but they should be still
avalaible in arab countries because many players still use them.
They are many kind of cable tie, it is necessary to try and shape different ones to find the one that fits to your playing. I also find my ones on
building construction sites... many cable ties are left on the ground or with the garbage. In france, the "white translucid" cable ties are little
denser than black ones. I prefer the white ones.
I like to shape them slimmer on the edges, I like to keep the "body" of the risha little thicker to help me to play strictly parallel to the strings.
I don't know if it's very academic but I like the sound that produce on my oud.
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SamirCanada
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I still like the pyramid celluloid the best. They do require some sanding to make perfect though.
@samiroud Instagram
samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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