Think back to the last time you went online looking to buy an Oud.
You stumble across eBay, and you see some pretty decent looking Ouds with some pictures. It’s a second hand Oud.
It’s hard to tell, but it looks like a decent instrument.
Should you buy it?
Double check one thing first.
Always, always, always… double check the action. Action is the distance of the string from the fingerboard.
OUD SELLERS: Take a picture of the height of the action!!
Action height is never usually a worry when buying a brand new Oud, so if you’re buying one of these Ouds (https://www.oudforguitarists.com/oudforguitarists-ouds/) , you don’t need to worry about that.
So if you find a second hand Oud you like, make sure there is a picture of the action height. Don’t buy it without seeing one from the seller.
And dear Oud sellers: make everyone’s life easier and share a picture of the side of the Oud like this:
If the Oud costs more than $1000 then it would be reasonable to ask the seller to measure the distance of the action where the neck meets the body of the Oud. DO IT. Or the seller can publish a picture of the action height with a ruler against it.
Anything above 3 – 3.5 millimeters suggests the Oud may have warped over time causing it to be difficult to play. You want to avoid this kind of Oud.
Pro tip: Ouds with a shorter scale length like the one in the picture above will have slightly higher action than longer Ouds. This is normal.
The action you see in the pictures below is the highest the action should be before you run into difficulties playing the instrument.
Want to avoid buying an Oud with bad action?
With a new Oud, you can completely avoid this problem. I have some suggestions for you, and I’ve thrown in a huge freebee when you purchase an Oud from OudforGuitarists this weekend. Click below to check out what we have in stock.
