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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 12-5-2002
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First off, I thought this would be an easy one! I guessed wrong. You guys need to bone up on your wood species identification. 
Oak? Sorry Peyman. Not even close. First off, I wouldn't make an oud from oak. Where I live, red oak is everywhere, and used to make the cheapest,
ugliest "country" style furniture.
Not mahogany. Not sapelle. Nope, not makore either. Teak? nah. Bamboo? Come on, Johnathan, mister "pink ivory", you've gotta do better than that!
No, it's not a trick question. And no, it's definitely NOT Brazilian Rosewood. Can't afford the stuff. And it's not high tech Sam!
And it's not 13 ribs either. It's 15. And yes, I'm planning not to round the ribs. I like the faceting.
Abdo had an uncle in Finland? Figures. There's always that one oddball uncle...
So, the prize goes to.......(even though he wasn't very decisive in his choice!).........Sam! It's walnut!
Seriously guys, this is some beautiful walnut I scored from an old farmer. It's been sitting in his barn for at least 30 years. The grain is
beautiful, and the color is incredible. Most of the walnut you see is kind of a ashen brown, especially if it's been kiln dried, or worse yet,
steamed. This is air-dried walnut. It has a such a rich red color, I just love it. The sunlight helps to bring out the beautiful color. For me, it's
hard to beat walnut for ouds. It's easy to work, sounds good, looks great, it's lightweight, hard enough, but not too hard. It's hard to look for
other woods when I have wood of this quality available. I have another billet just like this. It's about 4" square, so I can get all the ribs for a
bowl cut sequentially from the same billet (bowls look great with all the ribs in sequence) with enough left over for the pegbox.
Thanks for playing my little game. It was a lot of fun! 
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samzayed
Oud Junkie
Posts: 485
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Location: Chicago, IL
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Walnut was my first guess... but then I thought, that's too easy... Next contest, I will be more decisive... This was my first wood guessing
contest, so I must have been a little nervous  Hahaha LOL
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Jonathan
Oud Junkie
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That's stinks. I'm with Sam. The only reason I guessed the bizarre stuff was because of Samir's comments.
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Peyman
Oud Junkie
Posts: 496
Registered: 7-22-2005
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I didn't know walnut could turn that red. Nice stuff. Cool inlay too.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Well, the consolation is that it is often difficult to determine the species of wood from only the external appearance - more detailed, microscopic
examination of the cell structure is required to be certain.
I have some Black (American) Walnut that is a deep purple in colouration but suspect that this would change to a more modest brown colour when exposed
to light and becomes oxidised. Indian Rosewood that I have in stock in log form is a deep purple but (sadly) I know will eventually turn brown when
cut into fingerboards or whatever. Is there any way to preserve the purple colour - I suspect not.
Jameel - did you cut your rib stock 'on the quarter' or is it 'slab cut'. I have always cut rib stock on the quarter to obtain the best figuring and
stability but am interested to know if slab cut stock is generally used by oud makers. Slab cutting might produce a more pronounced fillet or faceting
of the rib section than quarter cut - but I don't know.
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Jason
Oud Junkie
Posts: 733
Registered: 9-17-2005
Location: Louisville, KY
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Mood: Loving my oud
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jdowning
Well, the consolation is that it is often difficult to determine the species of wood from only the external appearance - more detailed, microscopic
examination of the cell structure is required to be certain.
I have some Black (American) Walnut that is a deep purple in colouration but suspect that this would change to a more modest brown colour when exposed
to light and becomes oxidised. Indian Rosewood that I have in stock in log form is a deep purple but (sadly) I know will eventually turn brown when
cut into fingerboards or whatever. Is there any way to preserve the purple colour - I suspect not.
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It would be interesting to see an oud built with a purpleheart fingerboard. I have a bass w/ a purpleheart board that I really love. It does darken
over time but it is a very unique looking wood.
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1672
Registered: 12-5-2002
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| Quote: | Originally posted by jdowning
Jameel - did you cut your rib stock 'on the quarter' or is it 'slab cut'. I have always cut rib stock on the quarter to obtain the best figuring and
stability but am interested to know if slab cut stock is generally used by oud makers. Slab cutting might produce a more pronounced fillet or faceting
of the rib section than quarter cut - but I don't know. |
Yes, it's quartered. Flat sawn is probably stronger, but I like the looks of the quartered face better, much more subtle. And I figure its strong
enough. I don't think there's a uniform practice quartered vs. flat. I've seen both.
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Peyman
Oud Junkie
Posts: 496
Registered: 7-22-2005
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I am superstitious with numbers. I am glad you went with 15 and not 13!
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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More pics
Just about got this one wrapped up. These simple ones go much faster than the fancy ones.
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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beard detail
this is kingwood (rosewood) and holly
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
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label
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Peyman
Oud Junkie
Posts: 496
Registered: 7-22-2005
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Classy all the way!
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SamirCanada
Moderator
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Ooh.. Aahh....
nice!!
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mavrothis
Oud Junkie
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Location: NJ/NYC
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Bravo! Beautiful work!
mavrothis
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francis
Oud Junkie
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Location: Saintes , France
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I entirely agree with "classy all the way".
I add "Jameel aux doigts d'or".
It's always a great pleasure to watch your nice an subtil work, Jameel....and to dream one day, may be......
Francis
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Melbourne
Oud Junkie
Posts: 354
Registered: 10-9-2006
Location: Mlebourne, Australia
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Ok.....first in best dressed!
Whenever Jameel decides to sell this one - I put in the first call 
Who is this guy in the photo?
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ALAMI
Oud Junkie
Posts: 643
Registered: 12-14-2006
Location: Beirut
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It is Jameel without the beard, he put it on the oud face
Simple and classy, I love it.
BTW don't miss Jameel Blog, some beautiful pics and lot of infos there..
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GeorgeK
Oud Addict
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Registered: 7-16-2008
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Simply stunning. I'm in awe of your work.
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Faladel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 339
Registered: 6-12-2004
Location: Spain
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Mood: ya salam
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Dear Jameel :
very nice , please more pics.
of whom is it this photo Jameel???? it is of someone of your family or chosen at random ???
Oud Player
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1672
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Thanks guys. One thing about my camera, it has a wide angle lens, so it squishes the shape of the oud. This is same bowl as Mike's oud, so you can get
an idea. The single hole also makes it look more squatty and smaller.
The picture is of my great grandfather, Salim Ibrahim Khalaf. That photo is probably from before 1910. It's my little tribute to him. Other times I
put in a picture of my grandfather, who has the same class and style that I could never match.
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Jason
Oud Junkie
Posts: 733
Registered: 9-17-2005
Location: Louisville, KY
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That looks great Jameel
I think it's time to quit the day job so you can start producing enough ouds for all of us!
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Faladel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 339
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Location: Spain
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wow Jameel you have thrilled me for the memory to your grandfather
Oud Player
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Jameel
Oud Junkie
Posts: 1672
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Gluing in the rose
I took a few shots of gluing in a rosette after the face is attached. On new ouds I've always glued these on from the inside, before the face is
glued. But there are some real advantages to doing this last, after the oud is done. Being able to adjust bracing or correct a loose brace end, or
even scribble the serial # onto the label (something I forgot to do on this oud, but just remembered as I'm writing this!). Yep, I think I'll be doing
it this way from now on.
I cut a notch in the edge of the rose just wider than the thickness of the face, then remove a little material from the opposite edge of the rose.
This allows the rose to slip in nice and easy. I tie five loops of strings to the rose. The center loop is large, and acts as a handle for pulling the
rose up to the face. The other four are placed at 4 equidistant locations and tied to a strong area of the design. I use Franklin liquid hide glue
for gluing the rose (it's strong enough for this, and is the only place on an oud where I'll use this not-as-strong glue) since it's tricky to get
everything in place before hot hide would gel. I suppose the face could be heated with iron to re-melt the glue, but my iron isn't exactly super
clean! I run a small bead of glue all around the rose, I don't want much, if any squeeze-out. The glue isn't on the rose in this picture. I can't
glue, and run the camera at the same time!
After I apply the glue I insert the rose, trying not get glue on the face as I insert it. Once it's in I grab the middle loop and pull the rose up
snugly against the face, making sure it's in the correct position.
Then I slip in a couple small bars of wood, about 8mm square through the small loops. I cut and remove the center loop so I don't accidentally catch
myself on it and risk breaking the rose.
I run some wedges under each side of the bars and this draws the rose tightly to the face while the glue dries. I leave the wedges on for an hour or
so, then remove them. I cut the strings and pull them out gently. There is usually some dried glue around the edges and it's easily removed with a
small chisel or scraper.
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
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| Quote: | Originally posted by Jason
That looks great Jameel
I think it's time to quit the day job so you can start producing enough ouds for all of us! |
I'll second that... The rosette is absolutly beautiful. If I could ask, what does it say? (sorry, I don't read much Arabic)
Chris Walters
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SamirCanada
Moderator
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Nice idea with the wedges!
Its way more adjustable then the usual rectangle bar that you twist up way
less of a chance to dent the face this way too.
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