Mike's Oud Forums

Arab Strings On Turkish Oud?

rojaros - 10-9-2008 at 09:19 AM

Hello Oudists,

need advice in following issue:

I've got a turkish oud built by Mustafa Copcuoglu (wich by the way seems to be a wonderful instrument).

- Is it possible to use arab strings on turkish ouds?

- Could ther be problems and what kind?

thanks to everybody in advance for responses and

best wishes

Robert

charlie oud - 10-9-2008 at 09:28 AM

Hi Robert, I remember fitting an Arabic set on a Turkish oud I borrowed before I bought an Arabic oud. They worked fine. I think problems occur only if Arabic string sets are tuned to Turkish pitch. This puts the oud under too much tension. Others may have more advice on this. C

rojaros - 10-9-2008 at 10:15 AM

Thanks for the first go

Robert

katakofka - 10-9-2008 at 10:21 AM

Rojaros,
Normally turkish Oud are between 56 to 57cm string length. Commercial Arabic tuning strings are made for 60 to 63 string scale. When you put commercial arabic strings on a turkish oud you would get low tension strings that might give you a buzz sound. I suggest you get a custom strings and not commercial ones. Check jameel's website you can get costum strings for scales such as 56-57 cm http://www.khalafoud.com/
good luck

rojaros - 10-9-2008 at 03:02 PM

Thanks!

This Oud has a scale (open string length) of almost 59 cm (58,9 to be precise).

katakofka - 10-9-2008 at 03:14 PM

cool..so you should be safe. No worries