stos - 12-28-2013 at 09:25 AM
Hello everybody!
I'll maybe let someone do an arabic oud for me in the near future and I have to decide myself on the bridge design
I'm thinking on a simple nahat like on this one
On those kind of bridges it seems that there could be a saddle of wood or bone.
I thought that it could be a good idea to have a removable saddle and to have two saddle of different height so the action could be easily changeable,
what do you think of this?
is there also a difference of tone making a saddle of bone? or wood?
About the rosette, i really like the design of the oud I shown before but I would like to have my own calligraphy in the middle of it, could somebody
help me on that?
thanks a lot!
Christos
Brian Prunka - 12-28-2013 at 10:03 AM
Bone would definitely change the tone of the oud.
A wood saddle might be ok, but I am not sure . . . it seems like it would alter the way the strings vibrate (more downward pressure rather than
lateral).
I don't really think that installing a saddle for the purposes of adjusting the action is a good strategy. The bridge height has to be a certain
distance from the face in order to have enough clearance for the risha. Lowering it would solve one problem but create another (otherwise, you could
just build the bridge high and shave it down over time). A well-built oud should have many years of life without the action changing. The best
strategy, in my experience, is to have a fairly thick fingerboard, which can be planed down slightly to compensate for wear and movement.