Mike's Oud Forums

Converting classical into floating bridge

rojaros - 11-4-2008 at 05:32 AM

Hi dear oudists,

I consider to convert an oud that has a classical bridge into one with floating bridge.

- Does that make sense at all?

- How do I detach the classical bridge from the soundboard without damaging tha latter?

- Has anybody experience doing that? Results?

My motives:

- The sound board is relatively stiff - seems suitable for a higher tuning

- the varnish is not nice

- the classical bridge that is on the face is plainly ugly and too heavy...



Thanks for much appreciated participation in advance and best wishes

Robert

francis - 11-4-2008 at 08:02 AM

Is this oud the Fathi Amin you buy last summer and play on youtube?

rojaros - 11-4-2008 at 08:51 AM

Yes, it has nice trebles and a little dull bass due to its internal stiffness, I suppose.

Peyman - 11-4-2008 at 10:21 AM

Hi,
I don't know if you know but the bracing is different for floating bridge and fixed bridges. The bracing for floating needs to be more robust and there are more braces on a floating bridge. Samir has done a similar thing. Look for his posts. He actually changed the face.

rojaros - 11-4-2008 at 11:01 AM

Hi thanks.
I realized[ that if one would want to have this higher tension of the Iraqi modern style ouds one would have to have a different construction.
But if I stayed with the traditional arabic tuning and used light gauge strings?
As I wrote the face seems to be quite stiff.

Maybe another option would be to take away the bridge, thin out the face a bit and put a nicer classical bridge onto it;

so the first issue is: how would I get the bridge removed from the face????

Thanks to everybody sharing their wisdom.

robert
Quote:
Originally posted by Peyman
Hi,
I don't know if you know but the bracing is different for floating bridge and fixed bridges. The bracing for floating needs to be more robust and there are more braces on a floating bridge. Samir has done a similar thing. Look for his posts. He actually changed the face.

Peyman - 11-4-2008 at 02:07 PM

Well, I am going to tell you what I once did with a project (still incomplete). I used a flat iron (the type use to iron clothes) to heat up the bridge then used a spatula, not the one for cooking but the one that's used to spread joint compound, potty, etc (the triangular type). You have to be patient and work the spatula in slowly and from all sides. I would do it without steam. Cover the face around the bridge to protect from miss-haps. The brdige seems pretty flat so the iron should work. You could use a heat gun too but that's not very accurate.
Luthier supplies sell heating blankets for guitar repair that you put over the bridge, but they are a bit pricy.
Good luck with the project.

francis - 11-4-2008 at 02:41 PM

The oud that I bought last summer has the same big and ugly bridge, instead of a nice "moustache" one like on the seller's picture.....I was very sad to discover this and I understand the reason you want to change it : oud's faces are disgracious with such bridges which seem to be a brick!
Could'nt you install stronger strings for the bass if the top is stiff?

rojaros - 11-5-2008 at 12:15 PM

Thanks for advice given so far...

concerning removal of the bridge I'll mybe consult a luthier as well. I happen to have a really great (and I mean GREAT) guitar maker in the same village! He happens to be an oud player as well - the world is full of magic.

The bridge is not only ugly, it seems to be too heavy and to dampen the sound too much - so even if I would not change to loating bridge it probabely would be an improvement to redo it.

Still I'd love to hear your opinion on thinning the face?

Putting stronger bass strings doesn't solve the problem, because this makes also the sound more like that of a guitar. I love medium to light string on the oud - they are somehow richer than just the bold sound of hard tension strings.

best wishes to everybody

SamirCanada - 11-5-2008 at 01:06 PM

I suggest that you dont convert to a floating bridge.

it could be a very nice oud if you modify some aspects of it.

I would change the bridge exactly as peyman sugested to do it.

taking off the varnish will undoubtedly remove some face material.

but you can tell right now how thick the face is from looking at the thickness of it where the sound holes are. it should be about 1.5 to 2mm thick.

so you can if you chose sand it down to that thickness and it will improve the sound most likely.

you would have to replace the pickguard with another one probably.

francis - 11-6-2008 at 09:54 AM

The wood of the bridge, on Rojaros oud don't seem to be a hard one. Is -it better to use hard wood or not for bridges ? I believe that the sound we obtain is not the same in each case.
I have the same question about the thickness ( which damp the sound ? ) and the width.

Peyman - 11-6-2008 at 01:27 PM

rojaros,
Samir is right with the thickness measurement but usually the thickness is not uniform across the top. It's usually a bit thinner on the bass side. This supposedly gives a better bass response. You can try thinning the bass side. And off course, you probably will have to remove the pickguard.

rojaros - 11-7-2008 at 05:16 AM

Thanks everybody for advice.

That's probabely what I'll do: remove the bridge and the pickguard and thin a bit on the bass side. I think the wood of the bridge is OK, I read it shouldn't be to heavy like ebony because it doesn't transmit the sound as well (?).

Is there any opinion on suitable material for pickguards?

What about the stuff that is used for flamenco guitars??

So I may shape the bridge in a nicer form and reglue it then. I'll keep you posted when something moves forward.