Iranian Barbat made by Mohammadi Bros
While these days everywhere CNC and laser machines rule, Mohammadi Bros still build and cut every little millimeters of their instruments by hand & hand-tools, and this gives their instruments a magical touch of luthiery that you can hear when you play them. This is nothing but the love and passion for what they do.
Absolutely Amazing and mindblowing workmanship from the Mohammadi Bros workshop. Everytime that i get their instruments in the shop, i wonder how good their instruments are. The eye for detail is at its highest possible grade as the sound of their instruments. And this barbat is nothing less than that.
Bracing method on this Barbat is their new system that's been applied for the first time on this one. The new bracing method has developed the sound on their barbats in a way that they really can conquer any large size oud regarding volume & brightness.
The sound of this instrument is everything you would expect from an instrument of this class, amazing volume and headroom, responsive, nice rich balanced overtones, powerful projection and an amazing dynamic range.
Engelmann Top:
Engelmann is also known as white spruce. It is usually visually distinguishable from Sitka by its creamier complexion. We're almost out of the “good stuff.” Engelmann trees these days are so small and twisted that we get a fair amount of runout (grain that doesn't run parallel to the surface) and as a result, mismatched tops.
Sonically, Engelmann has a mature tone, and yields a slightly richer midrange than Sitka, which makes an oud sound a bit older. Old growth Engelmann tends to have a sonic attribute of smoothness or refinement to it, but the days of older growth Engelmann trees are essentially gone for now. Good news is that these tops can get matured and old on an instrument, when so, it is difficult to beat that instrument.
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: Rosewood with maple stripes
Soundboard: Engelmann 5A grade
Bracewood: Engelmann
Fingerboard: Ebony
Neck&pegbox: Walnut
Pegs: Ebony
Shams: Walnut
Binding: Rosewood
Scale: 60cm, 6 course
Finish: French polish
Top finish: french polish
Pickguard: Transparent
Strings: Oriental instruments custom set
Comes with hand-made hardcase plus a soft-padded gig-bag
More info: