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Glass-Fingerboard

Marcus - 12-6-2010 at 11:54 PM

Hi fellow oudists :wavey:

I found this on ebay.
Did anybody have experiences with glass-fingerboards? If so,I`d love to listen to a soundsample and read about.
The oud looks pretty professional, unfortunately Berlin is to far away for me to test it.

Cheers,
Marcus

Aymara - 12-7-2010 at 01:09 AM

Hi Marcus!

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus

Did anybody have experiences with glass-fingerboards?

I doubt that.

I would expect, that a glass fingerboard has similar sound characteristics as an aluminium fingerboard, which is sometimes used on fretless guitars.

Combined with low action it should give a more buzzier (sitar like) tone.

Greg - 12-7-2010 at 01:27 AM

You can see a video on the maker Ender Göktepe at:
http://www.dailymotion.com/video/xf7x39_ender-goktepe-atolye-calyym...

This link may also interest you:
http://www.mikeouds.com/messageboard/viewthread.php?tid=8390

Regards,

Greg

Marcus - 12-7-2010 at 03:29 AM

Hi Aymara, :wavey:

I expected a sitar-like tone as well, but as we can hear in the clips Greg posted it sounds quite oud-like

or?

Hello Greg, :wavey:

hmmm.......my turkish is very limited....near zero.....but the oud Mr.Celik play sounds perfect to me.
Anyhow, thank you for the links.

All the best,
Marcus

Aymara - 12-7-2010 at 10:11 AM

Hi Marcus!

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus

I expected a sitar-like tone as well, but as we can hear in the clips Greg posted it sounds quite oud-like

or?

Did any of the ouds we hear in the videos have a glas fingerboard? I doubt that, but am not 100% shure.

The oud Mr. Çelik plays has an ebony fingerboard, not glas.

Danielo - 12-7-2010 at 10:34 AM

Interesting !

Note that there are many old ouds with bone or ivory fingerboards, still they sound very oudy...

Dan

Matthias - 12-7-2010 at 03:04 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Danielo

Interesting !

Note that there are many old ouds with bone or ivory fingerboards, still they sound very oudy...
Dan

Thats it, the soundboard and the body, and there the used material makes the characteristic sound of an oud and not the fingerboard.

If you use different materials, especially harder materials like ivory, you will of course have an effect to the sound, but never a basic changing. The harder the material the harder / clearer the sound.

Marcus, did you try my maple oud when you visited the concert of JT in Badenweiler? This oud has a fingeboard with an artificial material as Mohammed Fadhel used it on some instruments. If you played it, does it sound like an oud or not?
The material I used there is extremely hard.

Best regards

Matthias

Matthias - 12-7-2010 at 03:06 PM

Quote: Originally posted by Aymara

Combined with low action it should give a more buzzier (sitar like) tone.

Hello Aymara,

can you explain this a bit more please. Why should a glass fingerboard produce more buzzing?

Matthias

Greg - 12-8-2010 at 04:55 AM

I used to own a Nazih Ghadban oud that featured a fingerboard made of some sort of modern resin compound. That too was a very hard substance, but it did not make the instrument sound less like an oud.

Going by the reputation of the maker, the look of the oud from the pictures on eBay and the fact that it is equipped with such a competent pickup system, this oud would seem to be a fairly good buy.
Marcus, are you able to get the seller to send you a sound file?

Regards,

Greg

Marcus - 12-8-2010 at 05:30 AM

Hi Matthias :wavey:

no, sadly I didn`t try your ouds in Badenweiler.I was to shy to play before
"the master" plays!!

Aymara, are you sure its not glass on the fingrboard of Mr.Celiks oud.
the one on ebay looks like ebony too, and I think Greg wouldn`t have post it if it is a "simple" ebony one.

Greg, I try to get a soundfile, and yes,seems like a good buy,I would do myself a Xmas-present if a) I could afford it b)I could store it somewhere beside my other 12 stringed instruments

Greetings,

Marcus

Matthias - 12-8-2010 at 06:16 AM

Quote: Originally posted by Greg

I used to own a Nazih Ghadban oud that featured a fingerboard made of some sort of modern resin compound. That too was a very hard substance, but it did not make the instrument sound less like an oud.
...

Hello Greg,

I'm sure that is the material I mentioned and which I used on my instruments. It is called Pertinax. This is the material where electronics are placed on.

And as you said it, this does not change the sound away from an oud sound. If you all want to prove this, go to youtube and listen to records with Raed Koshaba. His original Mohammed Fadhel instrument has such an material as fingerboard.

Regards

Matthias

Multi Kulti - 12-8-2010 at 08:56 AM

Just to prevent some missunderstandings because in the old thread there are some things said which i still dont think they are correct.
Necati Celik's old oud is NOT a Sabri or Ender Göktepe oud but still i didnt manage to find it out. There are members of this forum ,who are/were students from him and maybe know the answer..so please (Hank Levin, Adam are you there?)

Second the Ouds from Göktepe family are highly appreciated and used from a big number of professional players (mainly based in or around Ankara).Names like Cinucen Tanrikorur,Bayram Cosküner, Sedat Oytun just to mention some.
This glass-fingerboard Oud is something special and its sound is of course very oudy with very big sustain like you are going to see.The only problem for me is that is bit heavier than other turkish ouds...

Some videos of the glass-fingerboard ouds are:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0yMSSLaMZk8
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aLXavgPBmNk&feature=related
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IfCFlJiUcWU&feature=related

enjoy

Nikos

Aymara - 12-8-2010 at 09:43 AM

Hi again everybody!

Quote: Originally posted by Matthias

can you explain this a bit more please. Why should a glass fingerboard produce more buzzing?

Matthias, buzzing might be the wrong word. I carried some experiences with fretless basses over to this topic ... but regarding the glass fingerboard it's speculation.

Some fretless bass players like Jeff Schmidt prefer fingerboards made of very hard, glossy materials like the Pedula Pentabuzz in the video. This surface produces a very pronounced Mwah ... that's this fretless tone Jaco Pastorius made famous. BTW ... Jeff plays a picollo bass ... tuned way higher.

And this Mwah sound is, what I meant ... I was able to produce Mwah also on my oud's wound strings and the lower the action and the harder and smoother the fingerboard, the easier it's to produce and the louder it is.

You can hear the Mwah in THIS video, which Niko posted above.

Quote: Originally posted by Marcus

Aymara, are you sure its not glass on the fingrboard of Mr.Celiks oud.

95%

Shouldn't a glas fingerboard look glossy ... this fingerboard is mat and looks very much like ebony.

Maybe I'm wrong?

Quote:

I think Greg wouldn`t have post it if it is a "simple" ebony one.

If I understood Greg right, he just wanted to give us information about the luthier.

Quote: Originally posted by Multi Kulti

The only problem for me is that is bit heavier than other turkish ouds...

I would expect them to be really neck heavy.

Quote:

Some videos of the glass-fingerboard ouds are

Wow, what a fantastic sound :airguitar:

Greg - 12-8-2010 at 12:03 PM

Chris,

You are right. I posted the links as a reference to the luthier only.

Your link to Jeff Schmidt is much appreciated. What a great player. I understand what you mean about the 'Mwah' sound. It is hard to use written language to express how something sounds. Is it a 'Mwah' or a 'Pwang'?

I sometimes invoke this sound on the bass strings of my (ebony fingerboard) Faruk Türünz oud, but I always feel I shouldn't be doing so, as it is not an authentic eastern sound. I do it because I like it and I'm not an authentic eastern musician.

Nikos, thanks for the links to the glass fingerboard ouds being played. I note they are all from the same location and, I presume, use the same recording method. Perhaps that's why the sound on all those links is so similar and so 'brittle'. Is that sound caused by the glass fingerboard or the overall design of the instrument? Who knows!
It's not a sound I would want from an oud, but that's my personal taste.

Greetings Matthius, thanks for your clarification on the subject of Pertinax.

Warm regards to all.

Greg

Aymara - 12-8-2010 at 01:52 PM

Hi Greg!

Quote: Originally posted by Greg

Your link to Jeff Schmidt is much appreciated. What a great player.

Yes, and an interesting musician, who plays many different styles ... but he seems most successful in composing music for computer games.

Though it's off-topic ... but because you liked Jeff's playing, you should become to know Michael Manring too. Here we see a similar fingerboard ... but a very different bass

Quote:

Is it a 'Mwah' or a 'Pwang'?

Though a strange term, Mwah became very common in bass player forums to discribe this specific tone.

Quote:

..., but I always feel I shouldn't be doing so, as it is not an authentic eastern sound.

Well, I never was a traditionalist and will never be ... I'm more a pioneer type of guy ... always searching for something new even when using something old

Quote:

Is that sound caused by the glass fingerboard or the overall design of the instrument? Who knows!

I would expect it to be a matter of the overall design.