ludamoon
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Oud strings
I am inquiring to all and anyone of what I should understand when taking my Irish Bouzouki, taking the frets off, somehow changing the tailpiece to
accept Nylon strings and basically converting it to Fretless, 7 string?
Is this smart? I would like a more gutteral sound and just a change of design. what should I worry about though when I try and do this? moon
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Dr. Oud
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| Quote: | Originally posted by ludamoon
I am inquiring to all and anyone of what I should understand when taking my Irish Bouzouki, taking the frets off, somehow changing the tailpiece to
accept Nylon strings and basically converting it to Fretless, 7 string?
Is this smart? I would like a more gutteral sound and just a change of design. what should I worry about though when I try and do this? moon
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Your bouzouki was built for steel strings, and changing to nylon will certainly compromise the sound with unpredictable results..If you want an oud, I
suggest you sell the bouzouki and buy an oud.
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adamgood
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Dr. Oud
Your bouzouki was built for steel strings, and changing to nylon will certainly compromise the sound with unpredictable results..
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I disagree, and I'm not really knowledgeable about wooden instruments so why should i chime in, but hey, i love experimenting! i don't think it will
be the worst thing in the world for the instrument.
putting steel strings on an instrument that is used to having nylon, well that i would freak out a bit more on.
but it seems if you have a good tension nylon string, then why should it make such strange results? I've put ud strings on cümbüs and that's pretty
cool, different strory i know.
before stripping off the frets i'd say pop some nylon strings on there and see how much sound you get. if you like it, start yanking frets. then you
have to think about what you want for a fingerboard cuz maybe the current one doesn't work well with the strings?
cool experiment. if you go through with it, let us know what happens.
adam
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Peyman
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Actually if you take out the frets, it won't destroy the sound. You don't need a new fingerboard. You can play on the same fingerboard. You can use
crayons to fill in the fret spaces if they look bad. Otherwise, it will give you a lot more sustain and you can play quarter notes. A lot of people
have done this to guitars, not bouzoukis, including the Turkish genius musician, Erkan Ogur.
But putting in nylon may not produce a good sound. I have used nylon strings on steel string guitar and the sound became much mellower and softer. It
didn't sound like a classical guitar which was my goal. Also the nylon string didn't last very long.
But I should say I wouldn't ruin a good bouzouki for this kind of an experiment.
Good luck
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bcearthtones
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It may be an interesting experiment, but I don't think you will be happy with the sound. Nylon strings have less energy than steel. The steel string
instrument is heavier to accomodate tension, but that weight will make it harder for the nylon strings resonate the body, it will sound mute and will
not have the lovely dynamics of the oud.
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adamgood
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could also be interesting to get a hold of a cümbüs and refit it with a bouzouki neck.
the standard neck is attached with a screw...bouzouki neck is much smaller/thinner.
or there's cümbüs saz that is already using a thin sort of neck around the size of a bouzouki. there are frets already on there made of fishing
line. snip away! and try putting nylong strings on. this would be a fairly inexpensive deal, check ebay, there's always cümbüs instruments for sale
there.
sure you could always just get an ud but then you're really having to change your right hand bouzouki picking technique.
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Dr. Oud
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| Quote: | Originally posted by adamgood...I disagree, and I'm not really knowledgeable about wooden instruments so why should i chime in, but hey, i
love experimenting! i don't think it will be the worst thing in the world for the instrument.
putting steel strings on an instrument that is used to having nylon, well that i would freak out a bit more on.
but it seems if you have a good tension nylon string, then why should it make such strange results? I've put ud strings on cümbüs and that's pretty
cool, different strory i know....
adam |
I guess I misunderstood the experimental aspect of this project. My point was that the structure of a steel strung wooden soundboard instrument is
much stouter to withstand the higher tension of metal strings. Nylon strung wooden soundboards are built much lighter. So putting nylon strings on a
steel string face will produce a muted sound at best. Putting steel strings on a nylon string soundboard is flirting with disaster. Switching strings
on a skin faced instrument like a cumbus is a whole different anumal, as the skin just reacts to whatever pressure is applied, while a wooden
soundboard has very specific characteristics to produce sound for it's intended string type.
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ludamoon
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Thanks for all the input! I will let you know what happens. da
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