Make your own oud

1. Oud building book

2. My comments regarding this book

3. My own oud building project

4. Rosettes designs

 

1. Oud building book

If you intend to make your own oud, it's not so simple to get plans and/or directions for it. I can assure that, since I was looking that info for a long time. Richard Hankey is an American luthier who wrote the book shown below.

"The Oud, Construction and Repair" by Richard Hankey (Dr. Oud) 138 pages with 100+ pictures, detail drawings of all parts, and instructions for fixtures and tools. The design is based on the early Hanna Nahat model, circa 1910. The book sells for $29.50 US$, plus shipping cost to your location. Inquiries to dr.oud@comcast.net
or mail to: 

Dr. Oud  Press
   P.O. Box 87392
   Vancouver,  WA
      98687-7392  USA


Download from here a brief sample .doc file (181 Kb), including table of contents and a page with photo.

Comments by the author: "I started my first oud in 1968, after being frustrated trying to find one to buy. My friend let me measure his Karibyan, and I made my first oud from those measurements. This oud is now with a friend whose 5 year old son has declared that he wants to play oud, not his father's mandolin!
I developed my construction methods and techniques by doing guitar repair and studying European lute construction. I found no information in any language describing in detail how to make the oud. Over the years I repaired many ouds and bought several broken ouds to measure and analyze. I have parts of 3 old Nahats, a face from Hanna, a back from Roufan (brothers) and a complete oud by Georges (the nephew). I recently restored a 1902 Hanna, back to original condition complete with all the decorations, from photos taken in 1946.
My purpose for writing this book is to pass down my knowledge and hope others add their experiences to preserve and improve the making of ouds. Dr. Oud is a nickname I acquired after repairing ouds for musicians that had given up trying to get repairs done by guitar shops".

Go to Richard Hankey's instruments shown in "photo & sound gallery"

2. My comments regarding this book : This book is an amazing tool to whom are looking for a handbook in order to make their own ouds. I must say, since I had no previous skills regarding woodworking, that is intended mainly for people with some knowledge of woods and how to work them. Anyway, it is fully explained (step-by-step) with many photos, and some doubts I had were cleared by Richard himself, or my local wood store seller. Highly recommended if you plan to make your oud.

3. My own oud building project : Well, finally I started my own building project. I'll build an oud based on Richard Hankey's book, but slightly modified to make a 7-course oud. Anyway it will have just one rose, like the Nahat model seen in the cover above. Click here to check out my slow (but steady I hope) progress... :-).

4. Rosettes designs : here you have different rosettes (roses) photos, so you can get an idea about how to make your own pattern, or simply copy one of them. Go now!

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