Melbourne
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Khailfeh Oud restored by Ian Watchorn Melbourne - Oz
Hey guys again....
I finally got the chance to take some pics of the oud which was restored and converted to a Bashir style oud my the Melbourne based luthier Ian
Watchorn, whose work was mentioned on these forums a few weeks back by Ronny Andersson. This oud has turned out fantastic, and the sound gets better
each day. The pegs came from Jameel and are sooo smooth to operate, that even if the ud stays in tune, I untune it and retune it  . Now some people may ask why would you not buy a need oud instead? Well in this
case I wanted to satisfy my curiosity, and wanted to have every thing customised to the smallest detail. Every thing that is seen on this oud I drew
myself to the nearest 1mm!! It did seem like a risk at the beginning, but the result was worth it. The big plus for me is the European craftsman
ship and detail which is rare to find in Arabic ouds. I especially like the Western Red Cedar top, which I specifically asked Ian, to be in 2 pieces,
and the grain is beautiful. So many ouds, even higher end ones have the top stitched up of many different pieces, and the result is ugly I find. But
anyway...here are some pics....
Enjoy!
Cheapo Khalifeh Oud before
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Melbourne
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Western Red Cedar Face
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Melbourne
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The Back...
I chose to keep the bowl the same as original. I would have liked the bowl to be sanded right back, stained with a dark colour, and french polsihed.
But this was going to be an extra few hundered dollars...which the allocated budget didnt allow.
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Melbourne
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Close up
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Melbourne
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The peg pox, small pyramid added to the end. Jameel's ebony pegs, even these were a bit small for the large holes orignially drilled in the pegbox,
so some bushing needed to be carried out.
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Melbourne
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Another Shot....you can see the pyramid in this one
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Melbourne
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Last one....
Sorry for the pink sheets BTW, didn't realsie they'd be this loud!
http://www.ianwatchorn.com.au/
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Greg
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A lovely job Melbourne. Hopefully I will get to hear it some day. You're only 2,000 Km from the heartland of Australia, so why don't you come on up
some time and bring this beauty with you. 
Regards,
Greg
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SamirCanada
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a Real beauty.
he's quite the artist indeed.
looks like he strenghtened the bowl with strips of paper too.
what's the wood the raqma is made of?
and when can we hear it?
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Ronny Andersson
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Very nice project made by a master luthier! I wonder about how you solved the problem with high action due to the floating bridge; by a thick
fingerboard or by bending the soundboard?
Also did he use any sorts of reinforcement for the soundboard?
Best wishes
Ronny
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Ronny Andersson
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is not 57cm string length?
Best wishes
Ronny
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akram
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it is very buoteful, i like the sound board
what about the sound????
akram
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Lintfree
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That Western Red Cedar top has lots of crossgrain. Looks like a good Harris tweed. A guitar I heard once had a similar top and it was huge sounding.
Looks like a bit of Australian blackwood around the soundholes. There are guitar makers in Australia that are some of the best and most creative in
the world. Should be some great ouds come from there as well it appears. Good one. Ask him if he knows John McGrath, the guitar maker.
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paulO
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Great transformation, beautiful and understated work. The pickguard is fantastic, just an overall great job. Enjoy it Mel...hope you post a soundclip
somtime.
Regards...PaulO
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Melbourne
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Hey thanks for all your comments guys. Hopefully soon I will get a microphone and try to post a sound clip. Ian did tell me what the wood was for
the raqma and sound holes, however I cant recall and I will check with him and get back. As to the sound board, Ronny, I know the bracing that was
used is not typical oud bracing, the brace closest to the central sound hole is "v" shaped, and I remember Ian saying something about fan pattern
braces in the treble area around the bridge location. I think it was based on a lute design, and I remember some thread on here last year that was
talking about fan bracing... But when I speak to this guy again I will get a sketch from him of how the bracing was distributed. The face is
definitely very stable and does not sink around the bridge like most the floating bridge ouds.
As for the high action, and I'm not sure if this answers the question, but the finger board was thickened and built up from the neck joint onwards
towards the big soundhole. Overall the action is very low, but appears high in the higher registers of the fingerboard, but I cant reach that high so
its fine . The string length is 61.5cm, I did think about 57cm, but that would
have meant the pegbox had to come off and removing 1.5 cm from the top of the 20.5cm neck. This would have most likely blown the budget as it would
have invovled a few extra hours work. And as a result the sound is definitely Syrian and more classic than Bashir.
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Melbourne
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I tried to capture the thickened fingerboard in this image and the one above...
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Ronny Andersson
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Yes the fingerboard is as I thought but you could make it thicker without harming the sound. Yaroub makes much thicker extended part and also some
other makers. The sunken bridges are a common problem and maker use all sort of reinforcing to prevent it to happen with the drawback ¨bad sound¨.
I think the first Bashir oud built by Fadel showes that his design with bent soundboard is very stable and you never find a sunken bridge on his ouds.
Also the sound is superior most other makers ouds but that is my personal tast like I love Fawzy's ouds despite the structural problems on some of his
ouds.
Best wishes
Ronny
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Melbourne
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Yes....definitely my next Bashir will have a bent soundboard.
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alibaba
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I also have a khalifah oud 
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