AusOudlover
Oud Admirer
Posts: 6
Registered: 10-31-2005
Location: Brisbane Australia
Member Is Offline
Mood: Cheerful
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Screw-on neck
I noticed a little discussion on attaching Oud necks using guitar style bolt on technique. I have recently completed my first Oud using all Australian
timbers and used the bolt-on technique with which I am familiar from building guitars. As mentioned by Richard in a posted reply on this subject, the
area of the Oud neck is considerably less than that of a guitar. In order to overcome this I used a laminated neck with a centre stringer of hardwood
10mm thick, this was extended to form a tenon and the crossbars of the bolt-on sytem set back inside the lamination, giving cosiderable "meat" in the
stress area. The very poor photo attached gives an idea of how this was acheived.
The instrument is maintaining its form after a couple of months of use and so it would seem that the neck attachment is successful.
Thanks to Greg who tried the Oud, I can say that the tone appears good, however the volume is a bit low. I don't think this is due to the bolt-on
neck, more likely the choice of timbers, which work fine in guitars but may not suit the Oud.
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
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Mood: better than before
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| Quote: | Originally posted by AusOudlover
I noticed a little discussion on attaching Oud necks using guitar style bolt on technique. ... |
I'm planning to use a bolt-on neck on my future ouds, why I haven't before I don't know, ignorance is not always blissful, I guess. I think this is an
over due method especially for ouds which have even less structural resistance to the bending effect of the constant string tension than guitars do.
This neck can be un-bolted, shimmed to correct the action angle, bolted back on and away you go with much less bother than removing, re-setting and
re-gluing a glued on neck. There is still the problem of r&r the rose (if you have one). I have an idea for this, but I need to try it out before
disclosing it. You can see more of this oud in the completions gallery.. The low volumwe may be improved with some larger gauge strings, like classical guitar single strings available from
D'Adarrio. Thin Man Strings sells them.
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Jonathan
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1582
Registered: 7-27-2004
Location: Los Angeles
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Doc--would you not use any glue on the neck, then? Just the screw/bolt? Do you think that this would come loose with time due to the vibrations from
the oud? Or, would you glue the screw in?
Thanks
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: better than before
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There's no need for glue with a bolt on neck, but a washer or ferrule under the screw head or nut is necessary. Two long wood screws can be effective
with a mahogany or maple neck. Softer woods may require threaded inserts installed in the neck and mating screws to hold it in place, or studs
installed in the neck and nuts to hold it on. A mortise/tenon (like AusOudlover uses here) or dovetail joint is used to secure and align the neck so
that the bolts only have to hold the neck onto the body. You don't want to add glue to any screw as it will cause the screw metal to rust and either
fail to hold or lock it in place. All electric and most steel string guitars have bolted necks and some classical makers are using them to make
alignment and adjustment easier.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3405
Registered: 6-4-2004
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The Sukar oud Iam working on has a screw holding the neck. But yet the neck joint is glued. Iam thinking its only for future adjustement if necessary
latter on.
The action is quite good right now.
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Dr. Oud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1370
Registered: 12-18-2002
Location: Sacramento, CA, USA
Member Is Offline
Mood: better than before
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The screw in the glued neck is used to clamp the glue joint. This is difficult to adjust since the screw must be removed before the glue can be
softened, and often the glue locks the screw in making removal difficult. The glue joint must then be cleaned and adjusted with with a shims or
reshaping. Disassembling the glued joint often results in the glue surfaces becoming damaged and must be cleaned before adjusting for the angle . A
dry bolted neck joint can be disassembled with no clean-up required and shimmed to adjust the action much easier.
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