zalzal
Oud Junkie
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Location: Nîmes France
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Question: can an oud be entirely made on ebony ??
I liked very much the looking of this oud at half million dollars, all black, and i wonder if it is possible to build an oud entirely with ebony, i
mean, all, pegs, pegbox, neck, soundboard, bowl, pickguards, inner bracing.
Aesthetically it can be odd, a totally black oud......a question of taste finally.
If the ebony wood is a good tone wood, -i do not know if it is- why not making bowls, soundboards and bracing with it.
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SamirCanada
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The soundboard i doubt was ebony in the expensive oud. It said it was some kind of old spruce and I think it was died in some kind of ink.
if you ever hold a peice of ebony flat enough to ressemble a soundboard. Hit it and it wont produce any tone. In the same proportion of spruce or
cedar you will hear a tone vibrate. The face wood has to react to the movement of the strings. The ebony is soo hard and stiff. It even sinks in
water!
Iam with you Zalzal I think using a face died in a india ink type of liquid could be a really elegant looking oud if done properly. It could make the
mother of pearl inlays come out soo much more.
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-9-2005
Location: Nîmes France
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Yes Samir, the half million dollar oud was not all ebony but i fount it elegant all black so i though ebony could do it.
So for the soundboard and the bowl, as ebony has no tone, we are left with a good tone wood like say lebanese red cedar and spruce dyed both in ink,
as you says.
Still can the pegbox be built with ebony together with the pegs?
For the inlays, you will think i m mad, but i imagined a not at all inlaid oud, no mother of pear at all.
Just a rosette, only one with an arabic calligraphied poetry in.....white bone...or even ivory.
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Jason
Oud Junkie
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I think it would be difficult to bend wide ribs of ebony because it's so hard and stuff.
I think it would look nice ot have an oud with figured maple ribs stained a certain color or a dark amber like old violins. I think Tayyar may have
made a few ouds like this
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SamirCanada
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Registered: 6-4-2004
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Shehata makes all ebony ouds. For the bowl, neck and pegbox. The sound they produce is really nice to me. Some have said it could be a little bit
heavy but It still amazing to see he can bend those ribs to make a bowl.
Watch this video of Afif Taian playing an ebony shehata oud.
http://www.mikeouds.com/audio/mb/afif_ebony.rm
Jason.. I have seen this oud and played it. It was actualy amazing the amount of attention to details it had. I liked it much more in real life then
in the pictures. It has a more amber look to it.
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Hosam
Oud Junkie
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Zalzal, If you want all black oud then I think staining traditional wood to black is the way to go. Ebony can be used for the back ribs, fingerboard,
inlay work, pickguard and possibly the bridge. This will produce a heavy oud which is generally undesirable feature. The hardness/stiffness is a good
quality for the wood used for back ribs. It is the weight that represents the problem. Working with ebony is also hard. Bending Ebony should be easier
than bending many traditional woods already in use for the back ribs. I have a strips of Ebony, Maccasar Ebony and African Blackwood (a rosewood
species that is very much like ebony) ready for bending for my future project.
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-9-2005
Location: Nîmes France
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Just found some discussion on same topic here in mike's forum
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dMH0bHeiRNg
Just starting to read....
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hakeem.ram
Oud Junkie
Posts: 107
Registered: 11-28-2005
Location: Singapore
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Mood: Ouding my time away
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Zalzal,
the evolution of dance?
but really funny interesting clip though! 
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
Posts: 747
Registered: 12-9-2005
Location: Nîmes France
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Mood: still alive
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Ha ha ha, i can not really make two things at once.
At the same time i was posting here, my daughter was asking me to show her this famous youtube clip which has been viewed millions of time...and i
mixed all.
(BTW i also liked this performance)
Well here is the real link
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=1482#pid992...
In the beggining of first page and all the second page people are saying very interesting things on ebony. (The 2nd half of first page is a dispute)
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