20 Mart 2009 Cuma
LOOSE STRING PROBLEM
One having loose string problem when it is tuned one tone lower than Turkish tuning mode, may be a typical Turkish oudoid: An instrument which has not been constructed in a proper way to gain a well balanced and equally scattered resonance areas, may probably produce a relatively satisfactory sound when only tuned to comparatively high scale and its strings will be too loose when it is tuned to a lower scale. The feedback of the total vibration data causes this effect. If a soundboard was constructed as containing well scattered and excitable susceptible but stiff areas that are good for resonance at the frequencies of higher harmonics (produced by the strings), dominantly vibrating parts of the strings are now those which produce higher harmonics and take place towards the both ends of the strings. This sort of vibration pattern is sensed as stiffness of the strings. If the lower harmonics are dominant then, the middle section of the string will vibrate in bigger amplitude so we call it " a loose string". This must have been caused by thin soundboard and weak braces both attribute tendency to resonate by low frequency excitation. You can find detailed information about the topic in my website, www.oudmaster.com
A General Commentary on the Differences between Turkish and Arabic Ouds
The members of some oud forums frequently ask something dealing with converting an Arabic Oud to Turkish or vice versa by changing the strings. Not to come by a satisfactorily good result is quite normal in either case. The different type ouds have to be constructed in different ways. Although the difference in the size is one of the components to characterize the type; it is not a binding factor. The string length is more determining than any other physical features. Of course if the difference in the length of the strings is more than 1.5cm then the length of the body must be extended to compensate this on the soundboard. Otherwise, the mounting of the braces will be so closely spaced and the overall resonance behavior of the soundboard will not be well-balanced.
I often design soundboards for Arabic Tuning Ouds without changing the mold but just the brace intersections if I am not asked to make the body larger. In order to decide the suitable intersections and the shapes of the braces which will be suitable for Arabic tuning, I deal with their frequencies but not any metric dimension.
But of course this is not the unique and only technique for calibrating the braces.
This or that if the soundboard is made in accordance with any certain method specified for a certain type oud and works properly then that oud had better be strung with a suitable set of strings and tuned in that range.
The characteristic Turkish Oud sound is rather brilliant and with echo. These two features of the sound are originated by several physical peculiarities of the instrument such as the positioning of the braces especially the one in front of the bridge and the interval between this one and the one at the back of the bridge.
One of the determining causes of a slight echo is the thinness of the back and of a distinct one is the identicalness of two areas in terms of the resonant frequency. If the identical resonant areas are close to each other then the echo is slighter. When the identical resonant areas are far from each other the echo becomes more distinct. Bigness of the time interval between the two identically resonant but vibrating in inverse phase areas cause to grow echo effect. Typical Turkish ouds have frequently this sound feature due to the overall strength (and thus identicalness of some resonant areas) gained by the dimensions (in other words “the specific frequencies”) of the braces copied from the famous oud makers’ models. In the traditional Turkish music “echo” is a wanted quality and the ouds which have this sort of sound with echo were/are regarded as “good ouds”
The great oud makers in the past must have solved many of the secrets of this instrument and managed to build “great ouds”. Now we can copy their ouds if we follow a true way: Not to copy the shape and metric measurements but the specific frequencies of the braces may be a way. This is not enough of course: matching the brace system with the wood used for making the soundboard must be accurately done to produce balanced and equally scattered resonant areas on it.
I often design soundboards for Arabic Tuning Ouds without changing the mold but just the brace intersections if I am not asked to make the body larger. In order to decide the suitable intersections and the shapes of the braces which will be suitable for Arabic tuning, I deal with their frequencies but not any metric dimension.
But of course this is not the unique and only technique for calibrating the braces.
This or that if the soundboard is made in accordance with any certain method specified for a certain type oud and works properly then that oud had better be strung with a suitable set of strings and tuned in that range.
The characteristic Turkish Oud sound is rather brilliant and with echo. These two features of the sound are originated by several physical peculiarities of the instrument such as the positioning of the braces especially the one in front of the bridge and the interval between this one and the one at the back of the bridge.
One of the determining causes of a slight echo is the thinness of the back and of a distinct one is the identicalness of two areas in terms of the resonant frequency. If the identical resonant areas are close to each other then the echo is slighter. When the identical resonant areas are far from each other the echo becomes more distinct. Bigness of the time interval between the two identically resonant but vibrating in inverse phase areas cause to grow echo effect. Typical Turkish ouds have frequently this sound feature due to the overall strength (and thus identicalness of some resonant areas) gained by the dimensions (in other words “the specific frequencies”) of the braces copied from the famous oud makers’ models. In the traditional Turkish music “echo” is a wanted quality and the ouds which have this sort of sound with echo were/are regarded as “good ouds”
The great oud makers in the past must have solved many of the secrets of this instrument and managed to build “great ouds”. Now we can copy their ouds if we follow a true way: Not to copy the shape and metric measurements but the specific frequencies of the braces may be a way. This is not enough of course: matching the brace system with the wood used for making the soundboard must be accurately done to produce balanced and equally scattered resonant areas on it.
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