Mike's Oud Forums

Adjustable truss rod for the oud

Elie Riachi - 5-10-2004 at 08:29 PM

Dr. Oud's post in a different thread reminded me of a claim my brother made. He said that ouds with an adjustable truss rods are being sold in Lebanon.

I think this should be easy to make. Any comments from the oud builders out there on this subject?

I am considering this feature in the oud that I plan to build.

Peace

mavrothis - 5-10-2004 at 09:01 PM

Hi. I think truss rods are more useful on long-necked instruments, like guitar or bouzouki.

On the oud, if the action does get higher, it's usually b/c of the face sinking in a little over the years, and not b/c the neck is warping. The only oud necks I've seen that have warped were due to very high action/tension over many years.

Most players have low to medium action, so like I said, I personally don't see the need for a truss rod in an oud. The thing is I've also heard that adjusting a truss rod on an oud to alter the angle of the neck can often damage the oud, especially the face. You can always have adjustments made to the bridge, nut, and/or fingerboard over time to adjust the action, which is safer. :)

Take care,

mav

Dr. Oud - 5-11-2004 at 10:09 AM

Quote:
Originally posted by Elie Riachi

I think this should be easy to make. Any comments from the oud builders out there on this subject?

I think a stiffening center piece is more effective in keeping the neck straight and the fingerboard flat. The truss rod is used to compensate for the bow caused by string tension on longer necked steel strung instruments as Mav mentioned. The short neck and low tension nylon strings don't put nearly as much tension in the neck of the oud. The most common cause of the oud neck warping is a deep and/or poorly fitted peg box notch at the top of the neck. My opinion is that a truss rod is ineffective and risky to adjust. I don't reccomend them.

Mavrothis is correct also about the face sinking, and this is often a result of the tail of the oud raising up due to the string tension.

Truss rods

wfspark - 5-15-2004 at 12:38 PM

Quote:
Originally posted by mavrothis
Hi. I think truss rods are more useful on long-necked instruments, like guitar or bouzouki.

On the oud, if the action does get higher, it's usually b/c of the face sinking in a little over the years, and not b/c the neck is warping. The only oud necks I've seen that have warped were due to very high action/tension over many years.

Most players have low to medium action, so like I said, I personally don't see the need for a truss rod in an oud. The thing is I've also heard that adjusting a truss rod on an oud to alter the angle of the neck can often damage the oud, especially the face. You can always have adjustments made to the bridge, nut, and/or fingerboard over time to adjust the action, which is safer. :)

Take care,

mav
Hello to all. I have found that as a bass player I have not seen truss rods on fretless string basses. The reason being is because the neck is too short to require one. Mav is right on this one. Most of the short necked instruments do not have a truss rod. Although you can get one put in if preffered. The only oud maker I've heard that makes ouds with truss rods is Abraham Sukar. Am I right? Is he the only oud maker that does this? In short any short necked oud does not need a truss rod dew to the low tention of the strings.

William F. Sparks

Lectric - 5-15-2004 at 11:57 PM

The Luthier is Faddy Matta- Jouniev Lebanon