Mark Riess's Page

 Okay, this is turning out all right. I decided to reshape the neck while I was at it:… Continue

When I left you yesterday, the cutaway piece was pretty much fitted up and ready to go, so with a few minor adjustments to the kerfing, a trial fit or two, a dry run at clamping, and some finish sanding to the exposed surface, I glued it up and put the clamps on:…

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Well, the oud turned out great. Sorry, no photos. 

 After I delivered it, I was invited to the birthday party of the oudist. There was a band of flamenco players there, burning up the strings with incredibly fast & furious rhythms, with the not inconsiderable help of a "jam-man", a phalanx of AEG amps and a hot drummer.

So I came home and rounded up the old classical beater, and, while tossing and turning one night, decided to retrofit a cutaway design into it as well as…

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Oodles of odd ouds are coming across my workbench these days. Yesterday I removed the peg head from a neck/head assembly a friend had shipped from Jordan to replace the peghead on an oud he has. The oud maker in Jordan had mistakenly sent a neck assembled to the peghead as well, which my friend did not want. So I fired up the espresso steamer and separated the two. …

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