halabi
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Arabic Tuning on Turkish oud
Hello,
I have bought a turkish oud. Very well made instruments. However I'm finding that the strings have very low tension as a result of the tunned down to
arabic scale. How do I solve this problem? is there a specific type of strings that I should be looking for? this is causing all the strings to buzz
and this is natural if the tension is low.
I appreciate you answers. thanks all. 
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SamirCanada
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well... since we heard many complaints that the Aquila arabic set is of too high tension you could try them on a turkish scale oud... It might work
well.
I wonder what others think..
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farukturunz
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Wrong design of soundboard may cause loose string
One having loose string problem when it is tuned one tone lower than Turkish tuning mode, may be a typical Turkish oudoid: An instrument
which has not been constructed in a proper way to gain a well balanced and equally scattered resonance areas, may probably produce a relatively
satisfactory sound when only tuned to comparatively high scale and its strings will be too loose when it is tuned to a lower scale. The feedback of
the total vibration data causes this effect. If a soundboard was constructed as containing well scattered and excitable susceptible but stiff areas
that are good for resonance at the frequencies of higher harmonics (produced by the strings), dominantly vibrating parts of the strings are
now those which match with higher harmonics and take place towards the both ends of the strings. This sort of vibration pattern is sensed as
stiffness of the strings. If the lower harmonics are dominant then, the middle section of the string will vibrate in bigger amplitude so we call it a
loose string. This must have been caused by thin soundboard and weak braces both attribute tendency to resonance by low frequency excitation. You can
find detailed information about the topic in my website, http://www.oudmaster.com
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DD
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My Dear Faruk, I found the breadth and depth of the insight that you offered here so valuable and such stimulating food for thought, that it was all
my wife heard about from me for the rest of the day!
In the context of the perspective that you illuminated regarding the resonance of the soundboard, I would like to ask a question regarding the
resonance of the air inside the bowl:
Is the equally scattered and balanced resonance also furthered to some extent by the oud's having three sound holes of two sizes instead of only one,
thus distributing or scattering the resonance of the air inside the bowl over a broader range of frequencies?
Thank you for your invaluable contributions to the understanding and experience of oud acoustics.
Best regards,
Don
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Elie Riachi
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Halabi,
Use denser (commonly associated with higher gauge) strings for Arabic tuning. What SamirCanada suggested might just be what you need. In fact if you
search the forums you should come up with a post of mine where I give quantitative measures of typical tensions resulting form the different Aquilla
sets on different on different ouds and different tunings.
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farukturunz
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Effect of the little soud holes on the oud's sound
Thanks a lot Don, for your considerable question regarding the effect of the air column’s resonance. As long as the air inside the bowl is a fixed
parameter, the only thing we can do to modify its motion is to modify the openings. You are right: two little sound holes function like the twitter
adjusting operator on a music box.
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halabi
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MR. Faruk gave excellent feedback and advice. Elie I ordered the Aquila Arabic Tunnig strings for C, G, D, A, F, C I believe what's on the oud right
now is Turkish tuning strings. I'm sorry guys that I forgot to mention the fact that this is an electric oud. I have a couple high quality syrian ouds
that sound excelent. But this is the first turkish instrument I buy. As you all know there is no soundboard to deal with here. I will let you know
how they sound when I recieve them. Also, does anyone know if the La-Bella Arabic tunning strings are better the Aquila? I've hear a great deal of
good stuff about Aquila strings so I'm ordering them for the first time here. I will need something durable becuase I perform every weekend with an
Arabic band containing all sorts of loud instruments.
peace..
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hakeem.ram
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I am using D'Adarrio strings for the turkish oud but on arabic tunigs CGDAFC. Works fine for me. You might wanna try it. the tension is not too loose
and honestly it is indeed okie except you might have to sacrifice a bit on the resonance. Then again if you got a good oud, that shouldn't be a prob I
guess ...
Salam
Hakeem
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ericzang
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Halabi and others, how have your results been? What strings have you tried?
I need to do the same thing - get higher tension strings to put on a Turkish ud at Arabic tuning. (The group I play with commonly plays in keys that
work well for this tuning).
Thanks,
Eric
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jshead
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For what it is worth, I have a nice turkish oud with labella strings tunned to CGADFC. Sounds good very little buzing.
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Microber
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Hi everybody,
I am a very beginner.
I have a Turkish oud from Cankaya bought in july 2005 in Istanbul.
My teacher comes from Irak. Then I play Arabic Music.
The original strings are LaBella OU-80.
Tuned as (from the big to the thin) :
G-A-B-E-A-D
But to play Arabic, I tune
D-A-B-E-A-D
And I play as it was tuned in Arabic.
To play C, I play D etc.
I tried yesterday to tune one tone lower : C-G-A-D-G-C
But the lower strings are loose and I find it is too much buzzing.
What kind of strings should I use for Arabic tuning (give precise references please)
Thank for your help and advice.
Robert
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Greg
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Consideration should be given to what Mr Türünz said in regard to the effect of soundboard design when using non standard tuning on Turkish
instruments.
However, many of us do use Turkish ouds tuned to Arabic and in many/most cases this proves to be successful. I would recommend Aquila nygut strings.
They have two Arabic sets, CFADGC and DGADGC. These strings are designed for a 60 cm vibrating stringlength and the standard Turkish instrument is
58.5 cm. In terms of tension, this equates with around a semi-tone difference. As the Aquila strings are fairly high in tension, I think you will find
they work very well at the shorter scale length.
Some slight buzzing can be experienced with new instruments, but this will normally disappear after a time.
If the fingerboard is unfinished wood, the buzzing may be minimised by burnishing it with VERY fine sandpapaer (like 1200 grit).
I hope this is helpful, but I caution you that my advice is based purely on personal experience and should not be considered expert opinion.
Regards,
Greg
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jshead
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as long as we are talking about strings, I wonder if someone explain the deal with lute strings.
I have been advised to use lute strings for my irag bashir style oud.
Who do you buy these from?
Apparently also, you need to designate the gauge?
thanks for your help.
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padawan101
Oud Admirer
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Hello,
Thanks to everyone for their valuable advice. I think I'm going to go with the Aquila nygut strings, CFADGC.
Can anyone tell me the number associated with these strings, please? Also, if you might recommend a retailer this would be greatly appreciated and I
will post my results.
Gratefully,
Jon Gottfried
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norumba
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The Aquila Arabic supernylgut set is 70O.
I personally play 58.5 scale Ouds at Arabic tuning:, one Turkish, one floating bridge. This is an increasingly common trend I'm seeing, and as the new
owner of oudstrings.com, I'm making sure I have some pre configured and custom sets options for this very situation. We're not up and running yet,
though!
Jon, if you do try that set let us know it works!
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Brian Prunka
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Quote: Originally posted by padawan101  | Hello,
Thanks to everyone for their valuable advice. I think I'm going to go with the Aquila nygut strings, CFADGC.
Can anyone tell me the number associated with these strings, please? Also, if you might recommend a retailer this would be greatly appreciated and I
will post my results.
Gratefully,
Jon Gottfried |
Jon, just a note — this thread is from 15 years ago! Aquila has changed their string sets many many times in the meantime. The advice that Aquila
strings were high tension, while true at the time, is no longer true. Aquila string sets have very moderate tension. Some people find that it's
enough on a short scale oud, so it could be worth a try (they are good strings generally), but it may still be too light.
Mustafa will be able to help you pick out strings.
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padawan101
Oud Admirer
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Hi,
Thank you so kindly, Mustafa and Brian.
Mustafa: how might I proceed in getting appropriate sets from you: CFADGC on a 585 mm (2x pls)? Paypal?
Thanks in advance!
Jon
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