Michael_al_faaris
Oud Lover
Posts: 24
Registered: 7-21-2007
Location: Flagstaff, Arizona
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drifting out of tune
Playing outdoors every weekend at a ren fest, having an annoying problem with my g course (only) drifting out of tune when the sunlight changes.
Currently playing with a two-month-old set of La Bella OU-80 strings on my Shehata, CFADGC tuning, with good pegs (and I never have this problem
indoors). Will change back to Aquila lights or maybe try a set of Necati Celik Turkish strings at my next change, but I'm reluctant to change strings
with only a few days for them to stretch before the next weekend, unless more experienced players can tell me that this would work.
Has anybody else had this problem? Any advice about getting better tuning stability on low-heat-capacity nylon strings when their temperature changes
in the middle of a set? Worse yet, in the middle of piece.
mike
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
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Registered: 4-29-2008
Location: North Carolina, USA
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Hey Mike, I had similar issues when playing at the Carolina Renn Faire this year... I would just try to keep the instrument in the shade (since I
played in a covered section -- ie, same temp as the ambient.... and then tune 5min before each set... it would drift a bit over the course of a
day... but never had a problem in mid set...
Also, I have an electric for those wet/muggy days where it I didn't want to expose my oud to the elements.
Chris Walters
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Michael_al_faaris
Oud Lover
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Location: Flagstaff, Arizona
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Thanks, Chris. I needed the validation, because I was getting ribbed by our saz player, whose steel strings are dead stable (well, gee, my metal
wrapped strings are stable, too). Oddly enough, my nylon C course doesn't drift.
Unfortunately, our stage faces south and is just partially shaded for the dancers, while our ensemble is in the corner edge and I haven't been able to
avoid sun exposure changes. Will probably change strings before the festival is over, just to see if the Aquila nylgut behaves better.
I'm definitely going rugged solid electric before next year, just to keep my Shehata out of harm's way. Aren't you using a Sukar? Are the pegs
well-behaved? Viken Najarian uses really nice mechanical pegs but his electric ouds are almost too fine to risk at dirty outdoor gigs.
The quest for better stagecraft continues...
mike
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Christian1095
Oud Junkie
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Location: North Carolina, USA
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Yes, both Ouds and the Electric are Sukkar.... I also run Fishman Aura preamp and really like what it does to the sound... it allows me to go w/ just
piezios and no mic.
Haven't had a problem with the pegs - but I've used peg dope.. so sometimes the cc and gg courses are stiff....
I've been using the Aquilla Nylgut strings... I've tried Pyramid and others, but I like the tone of the Aquilla best.
Chris
Chris Walters
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Michael_al_faaris
Oud Lover
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Location: Flagstaff, Arizona
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Thanks again.
mike
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rojaros
Oud Junkie
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Hallo Michael, Aquila nylgut strings seem to keep in tune better after setting down - they are less hygroscopic and so less vulnerable to changes in
humidity (though they are sensitive to changes temperature as any other string).
If your pegs are really OK then you can make your tuning more stable much much quicker by prestreching gently the string along its length by twisting
them between your thumb and and the index and middlefinger parallel to the soundboard (bur gently not to everstretch them). After this procedure (as
far as I remember this is even the procedure Aquila recommands on their homepage, but I use it also sucessfully to nylon strings as well) you retune
immediately and repeat it few times. Usually the tunig should be much more stable. This is even true after the string are for a while on the oud.
In my experience softer strings also tend to go out of tune easier then harder sets (at least wehen the pegs are good) - maybe because the harder
strings operate in a diffferent elasticity domain ???
Of course changing string quite before you have a playing date or plan to play a lot is not such a good idea, if there is no sound reason to do it.
Best wishes
Robert
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