Syrian Oud, Iraqi Oud, Cümbüş, Fretless Mandolin Show and Tell

I thought it would be fun to do a “show and tell” video of some of the instruments I use.

It’s nice because you’ll really hear the differences of these instruments back to back, and I speak candidly about them.

I hope it will give you some insight into these instruments.

I’ll be showing you two Ouds of different styles, a Turkish Cümbüş, and an Eastman Mandolin that I made fretless.

Each instrument has a unique story…

The Syrian Oud

The story of how I acquired my Dimitri Rapakousious Syrian style Oud is detailed here:

The Ultimate Oud Buyers’ Guide: Part 3 How to Buy an Oud in a Foreign Country 

I had a great experience with Dimitri, and the Oud is fantastic. I can find no reason to part with it.

The Floating Bridge Iraqi Oud

The Iraqi Oud I show in the video is made by Faik Mohamad Fadel Hussein, son of Mohamad Fadel a legendary Iraqi Oud builder.

I’ve always liked the sound of floating bridge Ouds, and I’ve always wanted one, so when I thought it was time to buy a backup Oud, I decided it would be a good idea to do something different.

I bought this Oud from someone on Ebay. It was around Christmas time that I was expecting it to arrive. It was a great surprise the day I got it, because it was SUNDAY!!

I didn’t know Canada Post did Sunday’s…

Well apparently only during the holidays…

Well who cares! I was happy! I didn’t have too many plans so it was the perfect day to set the Oud up and work it in a bit.

The Turkish Cümbüş

I have often had a love and hate relationship with the Cümbüş… I’m sure you can understand… it’s like a wannabe Oud. It sounds clunky, and often out of tune.

But the Cümbüş has it’s charms as well…

First of all, it’s the perfect travel instrument!

It’s cheap to buy, relatively small, light, almost indestructible, and it’s loud as heck!

It traveled to nine different countries with me on a 7 month backpacking trip. It kept my playing hands in shape. I bought it in Turkey for roughly $140 with a carrying bag, an extra resonator head, and extra set of strings. It then came with me all through South East Asia, and Japan.

Fretless Eastman Mandolin

Eastman doesn’t make fretless Mandolins, but I do…

I suppose I’m the only person in the world with a fretless EASTMAN Mandolin.

Why not? Violins are fretless… Why can’t a Mandolin work as a fretless instrument?

Well naysayers begone! It works! You just have to customize it a bit.

I met a fretless Guitar player from Eastern Europe on Facebook, and was very inspired by his own personal story of going fretless and never coming back. He plays nylon string Guitar fretlessly. He took the frets off one day by himself, and has never gone back to playing fretted Guitar. I thought, if he can do it, maybe I can do it with my Mandolin.

There you have it.

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