From: Navid Goldrick

RE: Buying your dream Oud

Hey, 

I get it... it's hard to trust buying Ouds online. 

How can you buy an instrument you haven't ever played yet? 

Isn't the Oud going to be damaged after shipment? 

Right now, you're excited about the idea of buying a new Oud. But it's overwhelming with all the options you have. 

How do you know you're buying a good Oud?


Well, I've been in your shoes, and I've made so many mistakes buying Ouds. 


1. I asked someone inexperienced to buy my first Oud...
2. I bought a cheap Oud...
3. I bought a few used-and-abused Ouds... (one of them was off ebay and I paid A LOT...)
4. I tried to buy an Oud while travelling...
5. I wish I was more open about different types of Ouds and knew more about Ouds...

My first Oud was a piece of crap, I'll be honest. Buying that Oud, actually prevented me from learning more than it encouraged me to learn. It was cheap but that made it barely tunable, barely playable, and it made me stall learning for a few years. 

After that, I bought a better Oud, but it was used and somewhat abused. It had a decent sound, and it was tunable, but the action was horrible making it so tedious to play. Unfortunately, I made this mistake twice. I bought an Oud off ebay in 2015 and it turned out to need some repairs. I paid $1300 USD for it. It was not worth it. I ended up spending an additional $300 to repair it.

I tried to buy an Oud while I was travelling, but it was logistically impossible and risky. I returned home empty-handed.

Years later, I wish I knew a lot more about Ouds from different countries and different builders. 

Fortunately, you don't have to make the same mistakes.