Renato
Oud Addict
Posts: 42
Registered: 5-21-2005
Location: Santiago, Chile
Member Is Offline
Mood: No Mood
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Najarian, new strings, intonation is off
Hi there,
I'm writing for my friend who has a Najarian, 1998. It's very nice. He had the same old strings on it for about 200 years until I told him to change
them. He did, and now, when he plays higher up on the neck, and onto the body, the first string (doubled) (highest) strings; the intonation is
completely off, even tough when they are played individually, they are in tune with one another. This was never the case before. Someone told him
that it could be the strings, though I tend to not believe this. Is this a bowing of the neck or face due to a new tension?
What could be the problem. This oud, didn't have such a problem before.
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1674
Registered: 6-5-2003
Location: NJ/NYC
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Mood: big band envy
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Hi,
The first thing your friend should do is pick one of the strings and reverse it. This means take the end that's tied to the bridge and put to the
peg, and vice versa.
This usually fixes the problem, b/c strings are usually a little thicker on one end. When stringing an oud, you should always try and have both
string ends going into the bridge to be similar in thickness (this sounds weird, but it's true).
Another thing might be that the strings are defective. Believe me, this is not so hard to believe. Strings are factory made, it's only logical that
there will be some duds.
Finally, there might be a problem with the fingerboard at that point, but I really suspect it's the strings.
Experiment, and definitely contact Viken Najarian and get his advice. He's usually helpful about this sort of thing, especially with his own ouds.
Take care,
mavrothis
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spyrosc
Oud Junkie
Posts: 405
Registered: 9-18-2003
Location: Northern California, USA
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Mood: Grateful
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I agree with Mav. Reverse the strings.
Spyros C.
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Brian Prunka
Oud Junkie
Posts: 2918
Registered: 1-30-2004
Location: Brooklyn, NY
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Mood: Stringish
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Mav's right, bad strings are not that uncommon and can cause intonation problems. I've had this happen before and new strings solved it.
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spyros mesogeia
Oud Junkie
Posts: 896
Registered: 9-10-2003
Location: WASHINGTON DC
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Mood: play my ouds
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Dear friend,
Many times I had this problem with strings,especially with the nylon ones.....
Do as Mavroudis says.Viken is a very respectable oudmaker.But I can say for sure that 90% is the strings responsable.
Regards to all
Spyros
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paulO
Oud Junkie
Posts: 531
Registered: 9-8-2004
Location: California
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Mood: Utz
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One more vote for "It's the strings" -- I had a new Kyvelos oud right out of the case, with a bad top (D) string pair. I thought -- dammit, I've
waited all this time for this !! So I changed the top pair, and bingo -- all was well !! That was in 1975...over the years I've had nothing but
trouble with strings and have tried many different combinations. I always keep some extra D's around, just in case I run into some duds. Hank (who
posts frequently on this forum) can probably help you out. He sells strings under the MusiCaravan brand, and is very particualr about strings. Hey,
if you're L.A. call Viken and have him ship you some D's. Strings are a problem -- and for some reason, the top string seems to more prone to
intonation problems than the others. Good luck.
PaulO
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Alan
Oud Junkie
Posts: 118
Registered: 9-30-2003
Location: Tampa Bay Florida
Member Is Offline
Mood: Mellow Yellow
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I had the same problem the high C string on my Fadel oud. As I went up the neck the intonation was off. I figured it was the strings. From advice
on this post I tried reversing the abberent string and putting the tied end on the peg. Problem solved. Learn something new every day.
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