ALAMI
Oud Junkie
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Al Arja Brothers Oud - 1892
This is an :
Al Arja Brothers Oud - Tripoli - Lebanon - 1892
I know from the owner that it has been repaired at least once in the eighties, even with the horrible strings it has the sound seems good with very
deep and sustained bass and clear yet mellow highs, two strings are annoyingly buzzing, it clearly needs some work.
For a venerable oud that old, what is the recommended approach, what are the "To-dos" and the "Never do".
One doesn't find an oud like this easily, I really want to avoid committing any error or acting according to a bad advice, your help guys would be
much appreciated.
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
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ALAMI, mabrouk.
In below thread there is the photo of a label for probably same maker Al Arja brothers.
It is funny in the label says "all kind of "mobilia".
Many oud makers were also or had to became furniture makers to get enough food and live.
The label says year 1921 or 24, or 1931 or even 1934, which means AL Arja ikhwan were a lasting and longing luthiers clan.
Is yr label similar ??
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=3041&pa...
(scroll down down)
Quelle joie de metre les mains sur une pièce centenaire...je suis presque content aussi aux finsfonds de la Provanssse......
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al-Halabi
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Alami,
Mabrouk on your new antique oud. It's rare to find an instrument from that period that is still in one piece, with its original soundboard and other
parts intact. My general suggestion would be to have a professional luthier make adjustments and repairs while maintaining the original parts of the
instrument as much as possible. Items like the nut or pegs might be worn out and need replacement, the glue might need to be reinforced in some areas,
the neck may need adjusting, and the finish may need to be restored here and there, but it would be a shame to otherwise tamper with what is a
beautiful oud.
I had some experience with this with an old oud, one that is in fact very similar in style to yours. These older ouds display a simple and elegant
aesthetic that is not always so evident in our contemporary Arab ouds.
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ALAMI
Oud Junkie
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Yessss Thank you Zalzal, it is the same label but I am unable to take a clean photo through the rosette, am still trying, this is where I got.
(Merci pour tes sentiments, ca faisait une eternite que je n'avais plus eu cette excitation du gamin qui a eu le joujou qu'il voulait, merci jusqu'aux
finsfonds de la belle Provannnsse)
And AlHalabi, many thanks for your advice, I will try to ask Fadi Matta to do the work and hope he will accept, I will discuss with him your
suggestions and let you know what he thinks.
Do you think getting gut strings would restore the original sound ? (I have an address in Switzerland)
I owe you also another thank you:
In an old thread, you suggested that all the real old ouds are still in people's houses kept in a closet or on a "Tetkhiteh".
I was not going to knock on people's doors asking if they have an old oud that they would sell. So I contacted some people who's job is to go to old
houses: an antiquaire (not related to music in any way), an Art Deco furniture specialist (people that still keeping their old furniture have probably
kept their ouds), and I am planning to add a plumber to the "search squad". This technique seems to work and next week I will have more ouds to
see.
You were right, a lot of ouds are "sleeping" in houses.
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al-Halabi
Oud Junkie
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Wa-law. Good luck with the restoration. It's good that you are bringing old hoarded ouds back into circulation. So many old instruments have already
been lost precisely because families just kept them in closets for years until they fell apart. You will become hafiz al-a'wad.
I have not used gut strings yet, but I think they would be worth trying out on an older instrument like yours, which originally used gut strings. If
you do order some let me know what your experience is with them. It may take some trials to get the right gauges. By the way, what is the scale length
of your oud (the length from the nut to the bridge)? I would guess that it is between 59 and 60 cm.
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ALAMI
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The scale length is 62.8 cm (unusual ! isn't it ?)
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al-Halabi
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Longer than I thought. Once you have completed your oud search mission and recovered a bunch of ouds from that period you will know if this scale
length is unusual or not. As a practical matter, you can't go much beyond this length without making the playing technically difficult. Your left-hand
fingers will get a good workout on this oud.
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Hosam
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Congratulations ALAMI, beautiful oud, play it in good health.
For the strings I suggest that you get a custom made low tension strings. Old faces become thinner and weaker as they get older, so it is better not
to stress the face.
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zalzal
Oud Junkie
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What is written around the first circle of the rosette??
I got a torticoli trying to read it...
And the first circle seems celtic...
It must be camel or goat bone..
Only 5 string courses ??
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billkilpatrick
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5 courses is all you need ... what a rare and wonderful beauty - long life to you both - bill
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will_oud
Oud Maniac
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Five courses is deffinatly all you need. Especially if you're playing Farid ElAdrache material.
William F. Sparks
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ALAMI
Oud Junkie
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Thanks for all,
Frankly, if a few years ago someone told me that I would be passionately investigating the history of an "old piece of wood, I would've laughed.
Luckily humans can change.
Nothing is written on the rosette and what looks like words is meaningless ! It is only decorative, this was the expertise of an old calligrapher (as
I had also torticoli trying to decypher it), He told me that he have seen old craftsmen work who were able to produce stunning, meaningless
arabesques...without knowing how to read and write ! Yes, it is bizarre.
Fady Matta has examined the 2 ouds today and he is going to do the restoration, a summary of his expertise:
The Al Arja Brothers has been repaired twice: one fine old repair (3) on the neck that should not be touched and one "street boys repair" as he put
it, probably the one done in the eighties (1 & 2), the latter work needs to be undone and repaired.
It is indeed a 5 course and should remain so
The rosette is made out of 3 pieces of camel bone.
He says that the soundboard and the bowl are very good and will not be touched, he will replace the nut and the pegs and do some "minor" work on the
pegbox.
The real problem is in the fingerboard:
The inlay work is extremely thin and in order to get rid of the buzzing he needs to do a work that can only be partly done without damaging the
fingerboard inlays and he don't want to touch the inlays. in his words: the fingerboard is bumpy and cannot be "equalized" as it should be. he wants
to think it over.
Any suggestions ?
Then the strings issue: he thinks that is very tempting to use gut to restore the original sound, but as you Hosam he is worried about tension and
thinks that custom low tension is a safer bet, and that the scale length of 63 cm yields about 8-10 kilos extra tension above the normal 60.
Any recommendation or source for those custom low tension ?
He played it and loved its "very Nahatian" sound, and told me that it has the best condition he has seen on a "centenaire".
I will keep you posted on how the restoration will evolve and would appreciate any advice or suggestions
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gtivalencia
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Hey Alami
Marhaba , i am from tripoli lebanon how weird!!!! this is oud is a real antique i was wondering are you from tripoli too , and do u know what street
is the oud made is on ?
Thanks,
SH
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ALAMI
Oud Junkie
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Hi Salah,
I am originally from Tripoli and it is a city I like very much.
The address on the oud label does not exist anymore, it was wiped by the "modernisation" in the sixties when a part of the old city was destroyed.
I contacted some members of the actual Al Arja family in Tripoli in order to get infos on the Al Arja brothers but none seems to know about oudmakers
in the family, even the senior ones, they told me that they are into the sweets business since many generations.
The brothers are still a mystery even though they had a long carreer.( 1890s to 1930s)
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