Onglon
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doubling the bass C string?
Greetings to this wonderful forum,
i noticed that my sukar oud has an additional unused peg as well as a corresponding hole in the bridge, juxtaposed to the C bass string hole.
Therefore, in principle, one could double the C bass string.
I was wondering if any of the forum members has attempted this in the past and if the sound is pleasing to the ears?
Best regards
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Microber
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The luthier Huosain Sabsaby often makes his fixed bridge oud like that. See the picture. Ans a lot of other picture on his FB.
https://www.facebook.com/huosain/photos?lst=1035023207%3A1521400902%...
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alaaraj
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I think the double bass on Sabsaby's are FF or GG. His C-cc ouds usually have single C ..
I suppose one can add double C but it might not sound great as both strings are thicker and have low tension which would result in sound that's less
pure!
Onwards and upwards
HazRaj
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Onglon
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Thank you for the feedback gentlemen, i am due to restring the oud soon, so will try it out (and report back).
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Brian Prunka
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The oud is actually already quite small to have the low C string. Some people have doubled it, but the results are debatable. If the oud has a
longish scale (61-62cm) you'll have a better shot. Using a heavier string would help.
On thing that you could do is double it up an octave, something like .025-.026in wound string would likely work.
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Jack_Campin
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You'd need very heavy strings under high tension to stop them slamming into each other (not an attractive sound). And a specially constructed oud to
stand up to that tension.
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Onglon
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Brian, i am not familiar with string girth, does it mean that i could put together (1) a regular bass C string and (2) a D string but tuned a tone
lower to C, in such a way that (1) and (2) ring a C note but one octave apart?
I have the impression that the bouzouk (apologies, this is actually outside my comfort zone as i know very little about this instrument, i hear it
sometime in old Lebanese songs) also has an octave apart double string and the sound is interesting, so i may try that 
Best
Onglon
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Brian Prunka
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Quote: Originally posted by Onglon  |
Brian, i am not familiar with string girth, does it mean that i could put together (1) a regular bass C string and (2) a D string but tuned a tone
lower to C, in such a way that (1) and (2) ring a C note but one octave apart?
I have the impression that the bouzouk (apologies, this is actually outside my comfort zone as i know very little about this instrument, i hear it
sometime in old Lebanese songs) also has an octave apart double string and the sound is interesting, so i may try that
Best
Onglon |
Yes, more or less, that is the idea. The buzuq does indeed do something like this. There's also a Moroccan instrument (forget the name) that is
similar.
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Onglon
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hello again to all,
it did not work: during the restringing process, i noticed that while there is an extra peg and an extra hole in the bridge, there is no dedicated
path on the nut...
best
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Giorgioud
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Yep. Did it myself in the past out of curiosity but wasn't overly keen on the result. The C string vibrated better and was more sonorous when it was
single. I understood why it had remained single all throughout the years....apart from rare and notable exceptions....
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