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Marcus
Oud Junkie
Posts: 446
Registered: 11-26-2008
Location: Stuttgart/ South Germany
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Mood: Lost in music
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Is there nobody who can answer?
Playing the oud is like feeding my soul with peace
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3404
Registered: 6-4-2004
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Hi Markus,
Take a look at my site to see the inner workings of a sukar neck setup. http://samirnassifoudluthiery.blogspot.ca/#!/2010/08/when-sukar-oud...
Here is is the way I do it.
-Remove all the strings execpt the 6th course and 1st course. However, reduce the tension on the remaining courses so they dont pull too much.This
will alow you to get your hand in there while still being able to see the action height approximately.
-Start unwinding the nut a little bit. Press on the neck near the nut going backwards to see if that lowers the action. In my experience there is a
little bit of glue which holds the neck that should be removed to properly lower the action. I have broken the glue seal by simply pressing back to
lower the action or sometimes you can try to heat up that general area to help soften the glue. Its a bit tricky because you dont want to ruin the
finish so you cant heat it up that much.
-once that seal is broken you can manipulate the neck as you wish, you can then adjust the action back and lock it in place. You can add some more
glue to reset it in place if you wish.
Warning again: reseting the neck on the Sukar will require some knowlege of fingerboard leveling/filling. this is because it is made in 2 pieces most
of the time so there could be a gap or it could be unleveled after the adjustement. If your oud has a one piece fingerboard I am not sure this method
will work.
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samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
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Mood: m'Oudy
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The important thing is not to go further than finger tight when you are turning the butterfly nut (or plain nut) clockwise.
If you do use tools, use good judgement to not exceed finger tight. This is because two things can happen if you go too far:
1) you can strip the threads on the rod, much as on a truss rod.
2) you can break the little nail whose head protrudes on the back of the neck. That little nail goes through a hole in the threaded rod and prevents
it from moving. If you break it, the rod both spins and moves in and out. The action will rise as it no longer holds the neck back against the string
tension, and of course it no longer does anything in adjusting the neck. A sometimes very tricky repair will be required.
If the neck is not restrained by any glue, you can make adjustments even without loosening the strings. I have relatively small hands. If yours are
too big, just loosen the bass bam string.
Then wiggle your hand past the bam string and reach the butterfly nut. It's very helpful to start by raising the action, just to confirm that it
works. UN-screw the nut (counter-clockwise) say a quarter turn, and the neck will tilt forward, raising the action. You can pull the neck gently and
confirm that this lowers the action. I always apply a little backwards pull to the neck while making any adjustment, so that the nut/rod are not
taking all the stress, same as when you adjust the truss rod on a guitar. You can feel when the pressure is lessened on the nut.
When you've seen the action go up, it's time to go the other way. As long as you don't exceed finger tight, you won't hurt a thing. It's especially
important to pull back gently on the neck when you tighten, particularly if you still have the strings on the oud, as their tension is applying
considerable force against the mechanism, so by relieving some of that tension you "float" the nut and make it much easier to adjust. You might be
able to see the gap in the fingerboard at the junction minutely open as you tighten, but I've never felt the very slight change in angle affect the
playability high up on the fingerboard.
Once you've reached full finger tightness clockwise, that's as far as she goes. You will NOT get it any lower by forcing. It CANNOT, because the
mating faces (that on the neck and the one on the end-block) are now pulled against each other and that's as far as they can go.
[file]26938[/file]
If it's not going down low enough for you, you will need to familiarize yourself with exactly how it works and do some more work on it, most likely
pulling the neck off and filing/sanding the mating surfaces so that the neck can tilt further back as you tighten the nut, thus lowering the action
further. There may be ways without actually pulling the neck, but the decorative ring that covers the gap on the back side of the neck-body junction
is in the way. Maybe Samir knows some tricks.
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SamirCanada
Moderator
Posts: 3404
Registered: 6-4-2004
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I think the main point is, its not as easy as tightening the bolt in there. And please dont overtighten with tools etc as our friend pointed out
above.
Sorry, I dont have any magic tricks Fernand 
As you said, if its as low as she goes then some work needs to be done like removing the rign, altering the mating surfaces etc... at that point its
also easier to plane down the fingerboard if possible.
You say there is no glue in there. I have done this with 3 or 4 sukar ouds. It think for the most part there was always a faint layer of glue on the
mating surfaces. Generally it came apart with light prying of the neck and then POP!
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samiroudmaker@gmail.com
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Marcus
Oud Junkie
Posts: 446
Registered: 11-26-2008
Location: Stuttgart/ South Germany
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Mood: Lost in music
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Hi Samir+ fernand (Tony) 
first, thank you for your explanations!!!!
To be honest, they unsettle me a bit I thought it is easier and not so "risky" to
do it.
Maybe it`ll be better for me to leave it like it is and try to get used to the higher action again. I was fine with it when the Sukar was my "first"
oud. Surely it`ll make my left hand stronger again
Thanks again + all the best for you guys!
Marcus
Playing the oud is like feeding my soul with peace
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1865
Registered: 7-25-2009
Location: San Francisco, California
Member Is Offline
Mood: m'Oudy
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Oh, no, don't suffer. It's not risky at all. I change the action on my Sukars pretty regularly, just for the different timbre. You don't need to take
anything apart. You don't even need to loosen the strings. Just slip that hand in there. If you have a plain nut instead of a wing-nut you can safely
use a little wrench. Just don't go to the garage and fetch a big-ass automotive wrench and apply gorilla torque to it. You'll see if you have any
margin or if it's already as tight as it will go. It does help to start with loosening, it gives you a good idea of what's there and helps break any
glue drops. Then try hand-tightening all the way while pulling back on the neck. You might gain a millimeter or more on the action with only a few
minutes' work.
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