The string, being the 5th
main component of the Oud, has been made from silk in the early dates whereas
gut has also been used later on. In the modern era, the two lower pairs of
strings are made from nylon of a 0.55-0.70 and 0.65-0.80 mm diameter. The
other three pairs and the uppermost single string are made from silk covered
with a very fine alloy made from copper, nickel and silver.
The type of strings that the
master musician Cinuçen Tanrıkorur (Turkey) uses –written in order from the lowermost
pair to the higher
most single string– are #0.55, #0.65,
#1008, #1014, #1023, #1441. These strings are too fine for those who look for
volume rather than deep vibrations in the Oud. But it should be noted that,
thick strings used to obtain high volume may result in bending the neck by
loading a lot of pressure on the instrument. The thickness of the strings can
be measured by using a “micrometer.
The strings that the Arabs use are
thicker than these which the Turkish are using. So, we need to have attention
in size of strings (regardless to tuning) because we maybe destroy the oud. In
the Turkish ouds the cover is more thinner than Arab oud and may break if we
put Arabs strings. So, we have to pay attention that when we have a Turkish oud set up
strings which are suitable for Turkish oud, and when we have Arabic oud set
up strings which are suitable for Arabic tuning.
For the Turkish and
Arabic oud, the maker
Faruk Turunz
proposes the following number.
labella
|
Turkish tuning |
Arabic tuning |
| |
1 - D : 0.60
2 - A : 0.70
3 - E : 1008
4 - B : 1015
5 - F#: 1021
6 - E : 1036 |
|
1 - C :
0.625
2 - G : 0.725
3 - D : 1109
4 - A : 1116
5 - E : 1023
6 - D : 1038 |
