Samir's Oud Luthiery

Building the bowl

2011-10-07T21:16:00.001-07:00

Now that I am back from vacation, let the work begin...

This part of oud making is very demanding. To put it perspective, this oud will have 19 ribs. It takes roughly 1 hour of work to shape and fit each rib. This doesn't include the preparation setting up the tools to perform this task.

The indian rosewood is a charm to work with. Bends somewhat easily and is a pleasure to work with a sharp plane.

4 down... 15 to go :)

shaping the neck and tail blocks

2011-07-31T08:26:00.000-07:00

A quick update today.

I have bent all the ribs and I have completed the shaping of the neck and tail block.

here are the pics

A quick update today.

I have bent all the ribs and I have completed the shaping of the neck and tail block.

here are the pics

Hello again,

2011-07-27T05:14:00.000-07:00

Hello again,

long time no blog :)

I am finaly ready to start a new project. I apologize to those who follow me and were looking forward to see some ouds come to life but I have been in the middle of moving which has been a drag on my progress. In the last 2 years I have had to move and to re-setup the workshop 4 times!

Anyways, welcome back. :) I am going to build a Iraqi inspired oud with a fixed bridge. Much like the oud the legendary Munir Bashir was playing towards the end of his life. The body will be made of Indian rosewood (also known in arabic as Khashab el Ward or Khashab el Sessam) that has bee seasoned in my workshop for the last 2 years.

I am going to be experimenting with new building techniques and new designs that I have been thinking about during my time away from a workshop.

here are some pictures for the new shop. I have also resawn the rosewood and planed it smooth with my new lee valley bevel up smoother plane. It comes with a thick A2 steel blade and it makes taking rosewood shavings a breeze.

Finaly...It is DONE!

2010-11-01T13:24:00.000-07:00

After months of work and anticipation,
it is done.
Here are some rough pictures. I am awaiting to take some nicer pictures and a video with a better camera soon hopefully.
thank you for following this project with me.

Applying the finish

2010-10-28T13:38:00.000-07:00

I started applying the finish. I have a lot of experiance with french polishing and schelac but I had heard good things about this ambered polyurethane finish that is easy to apply and is resistant to wear so I decided to give it a try.

Here are some shots of the first coat. I think I will go to 2 coats maybe 3 depending on how the second one looks like.

Wenge-Walnut oud update

2010-10-25T17:09:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

A little update on my current project.

The wenge and white walnut oud is coming along great. I am on the home stretch now. Just need to fit the tuning pegs, install the pickguard and apply the polish to the instrument.

looking forward to hear how it sounds :)

Luckily, I was not working alone.

My wonderful helper was assisting with the production. We can see her cutting out a pickguard pattern from a sheet of dark walnut veneer.

A true professional... :)

Here are some more shots of the front and back of the oud.

Now its starting to look like an oud

2010-10-03T13:11:00.001-07:00

Hello everyone,

just a quick update.

I have finished the neck, pegbox and bracing. now it is starting to look like an oud.

the neck is maple. I have died it black to give the appearance of ebony but without the weight. This is a common practice with european lutes.

The top is now glued to the body.

Now all that is left is to make and install the bridge, binding, fingerboard, pegs and to apply the shellac finish... I guess its still quite a bit of work left to do but I am happy with the way its turning out.

it will be a nice instrument I believe. It already sounds very responsive when singing in the bowl.

face inlay complete

2010-09-04T07:17:00.001-07:00

The face inlays are completed.

the fourth diamond inlay will be inlayed into the extended fingerboard.

the picture below shows what the oud will kinda look like. The top is not trimmed flush yet.

a closer look.

you can see here the penciled in extended fingerboard.

Inlaying by hand

2010-09-01T19:02:00.001-07:00

Good day everyone,

Here you can see I have thinned the face to roughly 2.3 mm. and I have cut out the out line of the bowl on the top.

Now its time to inlay the decorative "S" shapes into the face. This post will detail how I do this.

I dont use power tools like a dremel or a router for this because I dont really have a good enough one and I like to work by hand so that I can listen to music at the same time.

I first scribe the outline of each piece into the top wood. Then, I make some incisions in make directions using an exacto knife.

I do this to in many directions to form a grid in the outline.

I have to make sure my tools are super sharp to do this kind of work. Because these types of top woods are very hard to cut predictably. I use a special green paste from lee valley that is applied to a leather strap to do the final sharpening on my chisel.

I use the chisel to slowly but surely remove the wood and form the recess.

I keep going until I get a pretty even and about 1.5 mm deep recess

after some more wood is removed, I check to see if we can see the light coming through on the other side. Time to stop chiseling :)

The piece should fit snug and tight and voila its glued in there! now I will have to plane down the inlay to make it flush with the top.

1 down... 4 more to go.

working on the top.

2010-08-31T04:32:00.001-07:00

I am working on the face right now.

the two halves have been joined and I am working on taking down to 2mm thick.

This usually my favorite part of making the oud because I get to make all those pretty shavings. However, alaskan yellow cedar smells very strange...

Scraped bowl and diamond inlays

2010-08-29T09:01:00.000-07:00

Finally the bowl has been scraped smooth and I am now ready for the other parts of the oud making process.

Now I have to prepare some of the decorative inlay that will be used on this oud. I chose a diamond pattern for this oud.

first I made a jig to cut at very precise angles 45 and 22.5 degrees.

As you can see I have prepared some strips made of walnut and maple veneers.

A closer look at the strips

Here is the final piece assembled. It is a classic design used on century old ouds. Its a simple and elegant diamond shape. Plus i like that it looks like an "S" for Samir... get it ;)

The completed back

2010-08-14T14:33:00.000-07:00

Hi everyone,

Today I reached a major milestone in completion of my current instrument.

The bowl is completed and now I can look forward to doing something else than fitting ribs.

It gets repetitive and tedious after 19 of them.

The Wenge and Butternut makes for some pretty sweet contrast.

I would like to thank Jameel Abraham for his generosity. He gave me the wood for this project, however now I know why... that wenge is such a pain to work with. I dont think I will use it again. It splinters a lot and it dulls tools in no time.

Now it will be on to the top of the instrument, the pegbox and the neck.

I am going to use a Grade AA Cypress top for this instrument. Here it is pictured below. Never mind the guitar outline.

Ciao...

Samir

An interview with Saad Al-Tayyar...

2010-08-11T13:11:00.000-07:00

This week I had the chance to sit down one on one with legendary Iraqi luthier Saad Al-Tayyar. I have been friends with Saad for a few years now and he has been a great inspiration for me with regards to oud making. We get together for a coffee or a snack every now and then and every time it’s a learning experience without parallel which makes me realize how much I really know nothing…; he is a walking encyclopaedia of Arabic music, history and luthiery. In my opinion, brothers Saad and Sabah Al-Tayyar are some of the most important and prominent figures involved in the research of oud making today. However, throughout our meetings I kept thinking to myself how little information and knowledge was available about these dedicated oud luthiers.

Saad is (in true artist fashion) a reserved man who lets his work speak for itself. When I showed up with a series of questions and a notebook he was taken by surprise but I hope this will enable a wide audience an opportunity to learn more about the Al-Tayyar brothers…

Can you give us some background information about yourself and your history?

I was born in the heart of Baghdad, Iraq in a family which encouraged their children to pursue fine arts in its many forms. My father played the oud at home and my mother initiated us to painting and sculpting. I began as a self taught musician to finally become a classically trained musician in classical guitar, viola and the oud. I have performed concertos, solo recitals and other classical repertoire on viola and classical guitar with national orchestras and for close to 17 years and I have held teaching positions in conservatories in Iraq and Jordan. Sabah and I have relocated to Canada in the late 1990’s after living in Jordan for some time.
I also have wide ranging interests for painting, sculpting, industrial and furniture design.

How did you come to oud making and Luthiery and how many years have you been devoted to building ouds?

My brother Sabah is a nuclear physicist and I have a background in mechanical engineering. For the last 28 years, we have worked together to apply our combined skills and knowledge to innovate building techniques of the oud and to elevate the status of this beautiful instrument. I also build and repair classical guitars, mandolins, viola and violins and Kanuns. My full time career and work is as a luthier and I have dedicated my entire life to the development of my construction techniques.

What are the characteristics of Al-Tayyar ouds and what is the philosophy behind the methods and techniques behind your oud making?

I come from a classical guitar background where there is a deep understanding and respect from professional musicians towards their instrument and its makers. I believe the oud is on an evolution course similar to the guitar but it is occurring at a much slower pace. I started making ouds because I feel a responsability to elevate the status of the oud through research to improve the construction quality and the tonality of the instrument. Hopefully, we will reach a day where the oud and its makers will commend as much respect from the musicians as in the classical guitar world. I strive to construct ouds with minimal inlays in a way that lets the beauty of the wood come through.

Many oud players have become more knowledgeable about tone woods; have opinions about design and an eye for fit and finish. Tell us a little bit about your take on tone woods and a musician’s involvement in the design of the oud?

I will accommodate certain design aspects when it comes to playability such as requests to adjust the width of a fingerboard etc… but I strongly believe that it is up to the luthier to make the choice of tone woods and to use their expertise and knowledge to create harmony between the woods and build an instrument. This is why I prefer to work under my own inspiration and direction and to provide the finished instruments to musicians after they are completed. Unfortunately, there is a noticeable gap in education and knowledge between classically trained guitar players and oud players which contributes to this problem. Furthermore, many beautiful tone woods are very underappreciated by musicians because of widespread misconceptions on tone woods and lack of knowledge this is why I also try to educate the oud musicians I meet to provide them with true information based on my knowledge and to re-establish respect towards the luthier’s trade.

Roughly how many ouds have you built so far and how much time does it take to complete an instrument on average?

My brother and I don’t know have many ouds we have made so far. We have established the practice of numbering our instruments because in many ways we felt that we were still in a research period and working towards refining our building techniques and designs; so much that we feel we have not yet started making ouds. That being said, I have spent a lot more time designing and developing making techniques, building moulds and tools compared to time making ouds.

As you continue to make ouds what motivates you? Have you ever built an instrument that you were completely satisfied with and that you use as a standard?

Actually, in continually researching oud making I have found that it gets ever so deep. Each discovery opens the door to so many new possibilities so much that the more I discover the more I realize the possibilities are endless. In 1998, I have researched and experimented the application on the oud of lattice bracing that is used in classical guitar construction, in the late 1980’s I have built ouds with fluted ribs and in the early 1990’s I have experimented and researched the concept of sandwich top on oud using my own grid bracing that I had developed and made myself. To this day I have been quite happy with some of my creations but never reached a completely satisfied level of perfection. I will always strive towards elevating the oud to its highest degree but only God is perfect. In fact, I feel for people who call themselves virtuoso’s and masters and claim to have reached the peak of all knowledge. Other then perhaps Paganini, I don’t believe there were any musicians who can really call themselves a virtuoso.

You perform repairs and restorations of ouds, how does that fit in your work and have you found any inspirations from past makers?

I have repaired and restored ouds that were made by great master oud makers such as Onik Karibyan and the Uzunyan brothers who I admire very much, they were very advanced luthiers. When we lived in Iraq, I was very close friends with Munir Bashir and I have repaired his oud made by Mohamed Fadhel. However, my philosophy of oud making is to develop and achieve my own ideas and solutions.

Thank you very much Ustadh Saad for your time and for providing us with some insight into the world of a master oud luthier.

When Sukar oud necks go wrong.

2010-08-04T04:25:00.000-07:00

Good day all,

this week i was working on a repair which gave me all sorts of headaches. Its a oud made by Ibrahim Sukar of Syria. He came from an engineering background and has set up a small production factory of ouds. His ouds are famous for being very constantly good sounding while being very affordable.

Amongst other things, Sukar ouds are famous for their neck joint comprised of metal rods and bolts. Contrary to popular belief and in my opinion, the mechanism that is used to tighten the joint is not a neck adjustment system. It is made without the intention to ever move. What actually happens is that the metal rods, being harder the the spruce block, start to enlarge the holes in which they are drilled through. This allows for some "adjustement" if you will.

There is much debate about wether or not ouds should have metal mechanisms. I am not going to get into that other then say I prefer a solid wooden dovetail joint using well seasoned neck wood.

This particular repair involves a problem which occurred with the mechanism itself. The retention nail which can be seen on the neck of every Sukar oud had been broken somehow by tightening the neck bolt from the inside of the oud. The action had come up drastically and the central rod was turning on itself instead of tightening.

Bellow is the long threaded bolt. where you can see the broken piece of nail which was present.

Bellow is the mechanism with the metal guiding rods and the hole in the central hole. The nail that goes in there prevents the central rod to spin on itself.

Here comes the headache part... the other piece of the nail was still stuck inside!

There was no way to get it out.

I had to shorten the central rod by about 1 cm. so that it could get as close as possible to the hole in the rod and so that it could go far into the neck. None the less the central rod couldn't go past that stranded nail. Luckily I had room on the central rod to shorten it. I also filled the cavity with fast setting wood metal epoxy so it doesnt come out again.

Here is the final product. That other hole is from the original nail emplacement and will be filled with some matching wood to hide it.

white walnut and wenge back

2010-07-26T05:00:00.000-07:00

Good morning,

This is my first "real" post on this blog and its about my current project: a white walnut and wenge back oud.

This oud will be made of 19 ribs.

Wenge is a hardwood from Africa and is really a pain in the @** to work with! It splinters and it is very irritant. I make sure to plane the wood and create shavings as opposed to using sanding paper. The dust created by sanding could result in respiratory problems and dermatitis.

click here to learn more about wenge http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wenge

White Walnut also called butternut is really a lot more docile and a easy to work with.

Here are some shots of my progress so far.

Samir

Welcome to my oud blog

2010-07-24T14:06:00.000-07:00

Good day my friends,

Following immense pressure from my family and friends, I have launched this blog where I will share my progress and ideas on string instrument making more specifically the oud.

I have been involved with oud making and repairing for a very short time and I have much to learn still. I would like to thank my mentors for sharing with me all of the knowledge I have acquired thus far about oud making specifically, the great Mr. Saad Al-Tayyar and my dear friend Jameel Khalaf (khalafoudluthiery).

Oh and yeah... I also want to thank my wonderful wife for putting up with my crazy addiction to this instrument. She's my #1 fan :)