As breathtaking as the first morning of spring with its promise of the coming warmth of sunlight, this 2020 Hossein Karimian oud is a work of art fit to breathe new life into your compositions--and your collection. Plucked harmonics yield haunting overtones, and the trebles shimmer with a focused edge, but don't overpower the balance between the bass and middle registers, which are themselves expressive and rich. And how could the voice be any less resplendent? Karimian blessed the gorgeous flamed maple, whose bee's wing figure gives the oud a sun-kissed golden hue, with an Adirondack Spruce top to ensure the tone of this oud. The tone of this beauty is comprehensive, articulate, and inspirational. With the same flamed maple neck, the rich warmth is amplified further.
Designed to be the perfect oud in mind, this oud maintains the elusive crispness, thanks no doubt to that Adirondack Spruce top and the unflagging craftsmanship of Karimian Ouds. If you're looking for an oud that inspires as much for its appearance as its voice, your search is over: this "girl" is plucked for you.
Adirondack Spruce is a great choice to go with Maple as it adds a bit of warmth and depth to the brilliant and powerful Maple tone.
Soundsample: https://youtu.be/yyXOQ7devTs
Wittner pegs
Unfortunately, Oud pegs are still built as they were built in previous centuries. These pegs (commonly made of Ebony) have a simple mechanism and low accuracy. They also become non-ideal over time and by weather changes and their accuracy decreases which makes the oudist send the Oud to a luthier for regulation occasionally.
Adirondack Spruce Top
Origin: North America
Adirondack spruce has a “springy” quality. Acoustically, it produces a robust output and more dynamic range than Sitka, which allows it to be driven aggressively for greater volume without distortion. The midrange tones also tend to have a richer, sweeter quality.
Also known as Eastern red or Appalachian spruce. Its availability is beginning to increase slightly, as another generation of trees matures, although they’re still considerably smaller than their old growth forebears. Current supplies of Adirondack tend to lack a certain aesthetic purity of look (they tend to be wider-grained and more irregular in color and grain patterns), but tonally, Adirondack is even more dynamic than Sitka, with a higher ceiling for volume. The payoff is the ability to drive an Adi top hard and hear it get louder and louder without losing clarity; it’s hard to outplay it.
Another sonic nuance is its "an undeniable sweetness in every note, especially in the mids."
The Cedars and Redwoods do not develop dramatically over time like the Spruces. This is primarily because the Spruces contain resins that continue to dry and harden over many years. Cedar and Redwood don’t have resins and sound pretty well developed right off the bench. All Ouds will break in and develop regardless of resin content by virtue of playing and vibration through some magical realignment and relaxing of the wood fibers and molecules. All very scientific!
Specs:
Bowl: Flamed maple
Neck: Flamed maple
Pegbox: Flamed maple
Nut: Ebony
Bridge: Rosewood
Saddle: Bone
Fingerboard: Ebony
Pegs: Wittner
Purfling: Herringbone
Soundboard: Adirondack (grade 5A)
Bracewood: Adirondack
Rosette: walnut wood & Bone
Binding: Snakewood
Bracing: arabic/persian
Finish: french polish (shellac)
Top finish: French Polish
Pickguard: Transparent
Scale: 58,5cm, 11 strings
Strings: Oriental Instruments Custom set
Comes with hardcase
More info:
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