Nihat Bulut Turkish Oud

Preamble
Before I begin, I'd like to draw your attention to a number of useful online resources that I referred to while completing this job; and also writing this post. Do check them out if you're interested in learning more about this fascinating instrument.

Sala Muzik - All About Oud Instrument

Sala Muzik - How To Change Oud Strings

Oud Cafe - Stringing and Tuning

Sala Muzik - How To Tune A Turkish Oud

Ali Tutan - Technical Construction of Oud

University of British Columbia - Course:Phys341 2020/Oud

Ahmed Al-Radaydeh - Structure and Parts of the Oud


What Went Down
According to the inside label, this Nihat Bulut Turkish Oud (gambus) originates from Seda Muzik of Istanbul. Amongst its pertinent features are eleven strings (one drone string and five pairs of unison-tuned strings), slotted pegbox, wooden gearless tuning keys, three soundholes decorated with intricate abalone shell lattice designs, wooden pickguard, fretless fingerboard; and 58 cm scale (as opposed to the Arabic Oud scale of 61 cm).

My first task was to reglue, reinforce and smoothen all around the rather ragged back/soundboard seam; which was beginning to crumble and fail in many places. This I managed to do, thankfully. I'm often amazed at what one can achieve with a little super glue, wood dust, abrasive paper, 0000 steel wool, thinned lacquer; and lots of TLC.

The second task was to procure a replacement for the missing 11th tuning peg. Here, I'd like to express my thanks to good ole' Mr. Liew of Kuantan Music Centre, who managed to find me two suitable pegs. The second one was insurance in case I messed up. Now, the new tuning peg was a good fit, but the "string hole" (no, I don't know the technical term) was not in the right place. So I had to use my tiniest drill bit and drill press to gingerly drill a new hole. Boy, was I sweating bullets!

Having taken care of the tuning peg issue, it was now time to restring and tune the Oud. After lots of research, I decided to go with the string/tuning peg configuration recommended by Oud Cafe. As for tuning, I followed the recommendation of Sala Music and tuned the Oud (low to high) as such: C# F B e a d. This final task cost me lots of time, hard work; and heartache (I actually broke two string winders). All said and done, I'm happy to say that this Nihat Bulut Turkish Oud is now ready for action. I don't know when the owner will be coming to pick it up, but if he doesn't; I'm keeping this lovely instrument for myself ;)