dkhoury35
Oud Junkie
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Location: Melbourne Australia
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what wood would you prefer for bowl oud
hi im in process of ordering a oud from fadi matta and not sure which wood to go with he seems to recommend palisander but I'm not sure what to go
with can people give me some advice please
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Alfaraby
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"Walnut is the most suitable wood for producing the well-known deep mellow sound of the Syrian oud", says master Kamil Mowais "I've tried every
possible wood I'd bumped into while hunting, but came into conclusion there's no equivalent to the walnut for our Arabic traditional ouds.”
Good luck
Yours indeed
Alfaraby
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Brian Prunka
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One more vote for walnut.
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MatthewW
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I agree, from listening to various woods and combinations of woods used for the oud, walnut has the sound I prefer above the rest. Other woods have
their own qualities, but I think walnut is special.
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jdowning
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The subjective evaluations are interesting but I would have thought that the sound board material and structure and geometry (profile and volume) of
the bowl would have a much greater influence on the sound than the type of wood used for the ribs?
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ameer
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^My thoughts as well.
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dkhoury35
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anyone have pics and sound file of palisander oud and of walnut oud to compare that are made by fadi matta
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Brian Prunka
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I agree that the soundboard and bracing is probably 85-95% of the sound character. I thought he was just asking about the bowl, though, since
presumably the face will be made of spruce . . .
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dkhoury35
Oud Junkie
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well i would like a great sounding oud it is going to cost me a lot of money so i want to get the best sounding oud for my money so what kind of
combination would u recommend me .
I have been playing now for a year and a half and would like a oud that is going to sound like a traditional arabic oud but in a 7 course something
that i would not like to put down or sell for ever
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fernandraynaud
Oud Junkie
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I know most people believe the bowl wood has almost no effect but comparing 2 sukars which are in other ways almost identical, one a 212 in medium
dark walnut and the other a model 14 in very dark oily "walnut of lions" shows a surprising difference in tone. The heavier darker wood seems to
shift nodes downward and gives a much bassier timbre. It also affects the weight and overall feel of the ouds.
If you plan to record, recording is not a simple thing. Solo oud has different needs than one that must mix well with other instruments, and then it
depends on the specific inztruments. Oud tends to fill the spectrum and is hard to mix.
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jdowning
Oud Junkie
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Even seemingly identical instruments from the hands of the same maker - given the overwhelming influence that a sound board and its bracing has on the
sound character (not to mention stringing variations) - may sound significantly different when compared side by side. Wood, of course, is highly
variable in its mechanical properties even within the same species - so there is walnut ... and there is walnut etc.
Even as early as the 15th C certain woods were considered superior to others in the construction of an oud. The author of Kitab kashf al-humum
according to Dr G.H. Farmer's translation (see topic 'Wood Fit for a King? - an investigation' on this forum for a detailed discussion) - "the
ancients preferred four kinds of wood - Beech (zan), Elm (dardar), Walnut (saz or sasam) and Vine (mais). Beech gives a ringing tone, Elm gives a
fineness, Walnut lasts forever - is safe from worm attack and has a sweet smell - and Vine has a quality only to be found in the treasury of kings".
Both Walnut and Vine are suspect translations as 'sasam' today means the Rosewood species 'Dalbergia Latifolia' and Vine is useless for anything but
firewood so another type of wood is intended here - most likely a sound board wood such as Cedar of Lebanon (found in the treasuries and palaces of
ancient kings of the Middle East).
So either Walnut (or Rosewood?) might have been preferred for bowl construction - although the attributes of either from this description would seem
to exclude any influence on sound quality.
At the end of the day the acoustic quality of an oud is in the hands of the luthier - the experienced maker knowing first of all how to select the
potentially best sound board material from a pile of blanks that visually all appear to be identical and then knowing how to assemble these woods to
make the finest sounding instrument possible ('finest sounding' being entirely a subjective perception of individual players).
In choosing an instrument ideally one should compare ouds of the chosen type - side by side - i.e. that are already built and pick the one that fits
personal preferences best - a decision which might be based not only upon sound quality and 'playability' but upon what are most likely to be cosmetic
preferences such as bowl wood, decoration etc.
Otherwise order the best possible oud that one can afford from an experienced reputable maker specialising in the style of oud required be it Arabic,
Turkish, Floating bridge etc. - and be guided in your choice by the luthier.
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