SamirCanada - 11-23-2005 at 09:07 PM
Here is a first pic with my new oud made by Maurice.
I ordered this baby through Mike and the whole thing went perfect. Iam going to be working on a video to post but I want to record something nice. The
back is Palissandre, The pegs and fingerboard are ebony. I also decided to have him put a ebony sweat protector (Araq'a) and a ebony pickgard with my
name inlaid with sycamore wood. I love feel of it its the oud with the lowest action I ever played on. Wich feels like I will have to take some
getting used to since I dont have to press hard at all to hit the notes.
Enough talk here's the oud.
pic of face
SamirCanada - 11-23-2005 at 09:14 PM
here is the face
Here is the inlay
SamirCanada - 11-23-2005 at 09:15 PM
my name inlaid
Another picture with Naseer Shamma
SamirCanada - 11-23-2005 at 09:17 PM
syrianoud - 11-23-2005 at 09:24 PM
Mabrouk Inshallah tethana fi ya ghayeh Samir....very very nice oud.What a great Job maurice did.... Walahi helu kteer.Alah yewafak. Wenshallah yekoun
ghyr ala wejak elhelu.
Best regards, Samir , California
Elias - 11-24-2005 at 01:21 AM
Wow Samir!
What a nice Maurice oud!!Mabrouk!
I wish you hours and hours of nice playing with this jewel!
We look forward to listen to its sound...
Salamat
elias
Greg - 11-24-2005 at 03:49 AM
Alf mabrouk Samir.
It looks great and I look forward to hearing how good this treaure sounds.
Regards,
Greg
mavrothis - 11-24-2005 at 06:09 AM
Great oud Samir! Mabrouk! 
Play it in health my friend.
mavrothis
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 07:56 AM
Thank you All..
I'll try my best to have it tuned properly asap and get something on video.
Cheers.
Mike - 11-24-2005 at 10:34 AM
Congratulations Samir...the oud looks great.
I am very glad it arrived safely.
Play in good health my friend.
Take care,
Mike
LeeVaris - 11-24-2005 at 11:21 AM
Sweet oud!
Love the pickguard - enjoy!
Jameel - 11-24-2005 at 01:47 PM
Elegant, Samir. Now let's hear it.
First a little old school
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 01:57 PM
This recording is a rather low quality.
But it gives you an Idea.
I'll play something shorter now so you can get more of the sound quality. The phone rings at the end so I tried to salvage it but with no succes...
Sidi - 11-24-2005 at 04:54 PM
Alf mabrouk Samir, it sounds very nice for such a young oud. I'm sure it'll mature to an even sweeter tone in time. BTW I hope to take a -well
overdue- dive and get myself a Shehata sometime soon.
God bless you all,
-Sidi
revaldo29 - 11-24-2005 at 05:33 PM
allah allah!
Congratulations samir. The ouds sounds and looks amazing. We need some better pictures though!
Adnan
back after popular demand
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:14 PM
more
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:16 PM
enjoy as much as I do.!!
...
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:17 PM
yah habaybi ya ghaybeen
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:18 PM
back of the family
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:19 PM
detail of back under different lights
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:21 PM
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 06:42 PM
Thanks to all for your wonderfull coments.
Iam trully happy about this purchase. And I must say that I was a little scheptical at first about the quality of Maurice's ouds. I figured some liked
them a lot and others were totaly not pleased with them. I had not seen one in person before ordering one. I loved the look to start with but now that
I have received it. I can say even if its not the most expensive oud... its the nicest oud that has crossed my hands... I havent had the chance to
hold many ouds but I know that to have something of this quality in North America would be twice the price. I guess Iam part of those that love his
ouds its a mather of taste but when a oud fits your personality then you can only feel stronger for it. I wanted something personalised but still with
the older style and verry classic and simple.
Iam thankfull towards everyone on the forrums.
I remember that 2 years ago I didnt know how to even tune or hold a oud. And now Iam pretty happy with where Iam. Looking forward to develop some new
skills along the way.
Cheers and happy thanks giving.
small video
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 07:39 PM
Here's a little clip..
The strings stilll sound verry fresh... that will go away in a week or so. Also Iam tuned a bit lower to releive some tension. Iam using the strings
maurice sent with the oud. He has worked with LaBella to make them especialy for his oud. I figured I'll give them a try first. I might switch to
Aquila's latter on but these strings are neat. They have this kind of treatment they go trough to minimize the scrathy noise made from the rishi. The
Nylons arent clear they look like they have graphite or like they have been rubed on a pencil.
Jameel maybe that's why Labella has a new arabic set..?? because they have been working with Maurice??
samzayed - 11-24-2005 at 09:52 PM
Samir, Alf mabrouk! IT's a beautiful oud! Inshallah tithana feeha.
I saw you have 12 strings on it, what is the tuning?
SamirCanada - 11-24-2005 at 10:06 PM
People in Egypt are begining to play with the high F.
Thats what maurice's oud strings are made for.
I tuned it F2 A2 D3 g3 c4 f4
Now I dont like the high F string too too much myself but since that's what the strings are made for I tuned like that. One thing to I tuned it to 25%
higher then a half step lower. So just a little over half a step down. I would think that its quite a bit of tension to have it all the way up to F.
Especialy since its not a floating brige.
I dunno but I might take the high F off and use a C string from a D'addario set I have.
What do you think I should do?
Thank you for your comments again Sam.
Cheers.
revaldo29 - 11-24-2005 at 10:19 PM
Hey samir,
The oud sounds great! I like the sound of those strings. I think that once you try the aquila strings, you will se that it gives you a much more
"old" arabic sound. It sounds like something off of an oum kalthoum recording. I'm actually considering taking out my old strings and putting on that
high f string. I want to get an idea of Iraqi tuning becuase I'm thinking my next oud will be Iraqi.
Adnan
Congratulations Samir
Hatem_Afandi - 11-25-2005 at 09:18 AM
Hi Samir,
Your oud is made of the same material as mine. I can tell you what will happen a year down the road if you take good care of it.
The sound becomes deeper, louder , and more tender.
It is a good oud made by one of the best luthiers around.
Enjoy!
Hatem
Elie Riachi - 11-25-2005 at 11:06 AM
Congrats on the new oud, very nice. So the action is lower than any others you have played? Is it the loudest?
Your playing is very nice and that is very good for just two years Samir.
Regarding the strings, if you search the forums you'll find many of my posts regarding tensions and how you can do exact or rule of thumb
calculations. My recommendation is to contact Maurice and ask him about the recommended total tension on this oud (that is the tensions of all the
strings combined) make sure you know the maximum total tension and never exceed it. D'addario is one of those friendly companies which publish the
linear density and tensions along with scale length for each of their strings. Using such data with the formulae and rules of thumb I previously
posted, you can tell how much tension you are putting on the oud for its scale length.
Great job. Play long and prosper.
SamirCanada - 11-25-2005 at 11:30 AM
Its loud my friend... Maybe not the loudest but that could have to do with the one sound hole vs. the 3 soundholes. Also If I raised the tension then
It would be even louder. Right now tho I feel like its effort less sound. The yammine I have can be loud as well. But I have to press down on the
strings too hard so it reduces speed a LOT. I will do a comparaison using the same mic and trying to use the same strengh on the risha.
Stay tuned( hahah get it 
palestine48 - 11-25-2005 at 12:30 PM
Its interesting to see that your Lebanese/syrian oud is just as big if not bigger dimension wise than your Egyptian. I thought Egyptian ouds were the
biggest of all types of ouds.
I have an egyptian and like it but have always yearned for a levantine oud because I figured the egyptian ouds were much deeper.
The string lengths seem to be the same on your two ouds, but it seem sI have been misinformed about oud sizes. What do you think?
Rami
samzayed - 11-25-2005 at 03:58 PM
Hi Samir, I tried the high F tuning out of curiosity once. My oud teacher told me what will happen, and he was 100% right. First, it encourages you
to play in F (instead of C in Nahawand) and G (instead of D in Bayati). This tuning is really meant for soloist oud players because they can stress
the higher registers when they play alone. Another thing, if you want to play the traditional repetoire and be accompanied by a singer, the more
traditional tuning is really more appropriate for this.
In my opinion, when you determine what tuning to use, you have to ask yourself what kind of music you are going to play. If you are going to play
traditional tarab, then stick with C F A d g c', but if you are going to be a soloist, or playing more modern renditions of tradional music, then you
may like the F A d g c' f' tuning.
I think in a few years, more ouds will be made in the 7 course design, that allows both.
SAGR QURAISH - 11-25-2005 at 06:47 PM
HEY SAMIR, how r u....im very happy for u. congratulation. the oud mashallah sounds very very beautiful....allah yi36eeeek 5airaha wo yikfeek sharaha.
its gorgeous mashallah... i hope u enjoy playing on it. keep practicing.
palestine48 - 11-25-2005 at 08:26 PM
Hey Sam,
In regards to you comment about higher tuning. That is also what my uncle was telling me. He first had me tuned In F When I furst picked up the oud.
The reason is like you said, You can play and compose claissical songs while only playing in the first octave rather than up and down the
fingerboard.
If you recall, someone posted an article about Simon Shaheen where he said playing F is being lazy but I guess for someone who wants to follow the
melody of a voice it could be considered as being "efficient".
Elias - 11-26-2005 at 01:05 AM
hello!
If so i don't agree with Mr shaheen about the "lazy" F string...it depends only about the personal way of playing. If you play a lot of solos and you
like to develop melodies on the high notes there is nothing bad, you can also go to the end of the fingerboard the same...
i think that with F string you can express more intimate solos and express your self while with the standard tuning you can make more rithmycally
solos...
by the way... me too if i have to accompain a singer or play traditional music i prefer 11string, and yes in my experience a 7course oud could
solve te matter!....
salamat
elias
DJCrabtree - 11-26-2005 at 02:45 AM
Congratulations Samir,
Having received a Shehata myself about six weeks ago, I can appreciate what a high you are on right now.
And you have made sense of something which was puzzling me. I assumed, for some reason, that the my oud had come strung with Pyramids, and while I
liked the feel of them, I thought that they must be too light because the 3rd string rattled so much. But of course I had tuned to standard D2 G2 A2
D3 G3 C4 tuning, and hadn't realized that the oud was designed to take the higher tuning. I have Aquilas on it at the moment, again strung to the
standard tuning, but have been getting very cross with myself and my lack of progress this last week or so. Maybe I should go back to the original
strings and try that higher tuning once I get home from work. I know that alone won't make me a good player, but a change is as good as a rest.
Best wishes
David
Orahim1 - 11-26-2005 at 06:52 PM
Very nice oud and great playing!!
Marina - 11-29-2005 at 04:25 AM
Mabruk Samir, 
SamirCanada - 11-29-2005 at 06:24 AM
Thanks to everyone for you nice toughts.
ofadel - 11-29-2005 at 09:41 AM
mabrouk ya samir! It looks awesome!