Finally I got Mari strings. 6 + mumtaz ff
Iwant to tune:
GGAAddggccff
so from down up:
ff -11-22-33-44-6
is that ok?
Thanksfernandraynaud - 7-3-2010 at 12:12 AM
Hey, mrkmni!
I don't see a problem tuning up to G on that bottom course but only if you use a single 5th course string, that's a 0.034". You get around 4.5 kg.
That's OK.
But two things I would not do.
I would NOT use a 6th course string (which is a 0.043") for the bass string, whether you tune it G or F
And I would not double up on that course.
The tension if you use a single 0.043" (from the 6th course envelope) tuned to C (Do) on your 600 mm string length is going to be
around 3.6 kg. That's what that string is supposed to be tuned to.
If you pull it up to G, you are around 8.1 kg. That is too much. I will explain, but 5 kg is a good figure for max per string, and two of those being
10kg, you really don't want to exceed 10Kg on a double course. If you are doubling up that 0.043" course, that would be 16.2 kg which is
crazy, enough to do damage pretty quickly.
You always should keep an eye on your soundboard, especially on the bass side. I kept a 0.050" Sukar copper fatso on the bass course of my Model 1,
tuned to C. I can calculate that's around 5.5 kg. And it felt quite tight. After about a month I started to see a very light "spooning", like a slight
dip in the soundboard in front of the bridge, on the bass side. Nothing serious, a little spooning is normal, especially if it's the same on both
sides of the bridge.
But if you load it up with two 0.043" strings each pulling over 8 kg, 16.2 kg total, that's about 3 times as much as my already heavy 5.5kg, and
that's getting crazy. If the bridge doesn't come unglued (which HAS happened), your soundboard will start to spoon badly on the bass side. If it gets
deep, it will mess up the action asymetrically, and the oud will require major work.
What I would do is use the 5th course, 0.034", on the bottom, which tuned to G gives you 4.5 Kg, which is getting close to 5 kg max,
but still OK. The more common tuning is F, which gives you 3.8kg. Either way is OK.
Set the 6th course 0.043" strings aside for hanging cats and stuff. Or if you later decide to take off the mumtaz course, shift all the strings up,
add the bottom 0.043", and drop the tuning to ordinary CFFAADDggcc.
Can you double up that bottom course using two of the 5th course strings? That's around 9Kg total. Based on what happened in my case
with just 5.5kg total, I would not do it. Notice how seldom people double up the bass course. Maybe the soundboard bracing is
designed to expect a lower tension on the edges? I would stick to a single bass string. It also makes it much easier to retune for a different Maqam.
Alles klaar, herr Komissar?
mrkmni - 7-4-2010 at 07:57 AM
My first impression is that i did no find a huge difference between the original and Mari strigs as I expected. We ll see over the time.fernandraynaud - 7-4-2010 at 06:46 PM
The factory strings on many ouds are all too often "whatever they had on hand", so who knows, on some courses they might have been close. I got 0.021"
on mine on the high course, almost identical to a muntaz pair. Now you most importantly have the right gauges for the higher tension wound strings.
And you know what you have.
The factory strings on many ouds are all too often "whatever they had on hand", ....
I am afraid that the strig sellers behave the same way.
How can I know the diameter of the strings if they do not write them on the boxes?fernandraynaud - 7-7-2010 at 07:43 PM
Regarding what's in the various sets, it would help if people realized that most "string makers" are just packaging and reselling strings they buy,
and some of them don't even know what gauges are in what sets. It helps if you can measure stuff.
There's a device everybody should have: a cheap digital caliper or a micrometer. $10 Chinese ones are perfectly adequate. A caliper like this one
(that you can buy for $9.99 + shipping - I have one)
will measure down to 0.001" and will display in inches or metric. It will measure thicknesses, height of strings over fingerboard, depth and diameter
of holes, spans up to 6", etc. It measures strings just fine, you don't need the better resolution of a micrometer. Once you have one you wonder how
you ever lived without it. Certainly anyone optimizing their instruments needs one.
I can tell you the previously used gauges in Daniel Mari sets. They may change a bit now and then. I'll be getting some new ones soon, I'll let you
know. They now offer sets with longer basses: I whined to Bill Ostrie about the bass strings being too short until Mari did this. But fundamentally
they are the same gauges as all the standard sets: LaBella, D'Addario, etc. In the past the Mari Arabic set had a slightly thicker 2nd course, 0.032"p
as opposed to 0.028"p, and I rather liked that. Plain nylons are indicated with a "p", wound strings with a "W". Starting with the Muntaz course 0 in
parentheses:
The tensions on these range from under 3 kg on the nylons, to over 4 kg on the stiffest wound courses, and of course stiffer on a 615 mm than on a 585
mm scale oud.
If you want a different (brighter) sound on the plain strings, you can try PVF (fluorocarbon) trebles, Musicaravan in San Rafael CA sells the cc and
gg courses as a mini-set. The 1st course cc should be 0.41 to 0.54 mm, the second course gg 0.57 to 0.66 mm. You might have trouble finding a course
0 ff mumtaz pair, you need about a 0.35 mm. But you might get some Seaguar Premium fishing leader in a 0.37mm
