Oud tuning and string replacement

10 July, 2021

I found out that the order in which Oud strings are connected to their pegs when replacing the strings is important for a few reasons. It makes the neck look pretty, but more importantly, it makes the tuning more accurate when replacing strings, because it becomes easier to make sure that strings are not touching each other.

This is how the pegbox looks like:

	      +---------------------+
	      |                     |
	      |               +-----+----------+
	      |               |                |
	      |               |                |
  +-----------+----+          +-----+----------+
  |   Do Bass      |
  |   C Bass                  +-----+----------+
  +-----------+----+          |    Sol 1       |
	      |               |    G1          |
	      |               +-----+----------+
  +-----------+----+                |
  |   Sol 2        |                |
  |   G2           |                |
  +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
	      |                |   La 2         |
	      |                |   A2           |
  +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
  |   Ré 2         |                |
  |   D2           |                |
  +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
	      |                |   La 1         |
	      |                |   A1           |
  +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
  |   Ré 1         |                |
  |   D1           |                |
  +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
	      |                |   Do 2         |
	      |                |   C2           |
	      |                +----+-----------+
   +-----------+----+                |
   |   Sol 2        |                |
   |   G2           |                |
   +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
	       |                |   Do 1         |
	       |                |   C1           |
   +-----------+----+           +----+-----------+
   |   Sol 1        |                |
   |   G1           |                |
   +-----------+----+                |
	       |                     |
	       +---------------------+

Replacing strings

Strings to bridge

Start by connecting strings to the bridge in the following order.

C1 / Do1 (triple knot)
C2 / Sol2 (triple knot)
G2 / Sol2 (triple knot)
G1 / Sol1 (triple knot)
D2 / Ré2 (triple knot)
D1 / Ré1 (double knot)
A2 / La2 (double knot)
A1 / La1 (double knot)
G2 / Sol2 (double knot)
G1 / Sol1 (double knot)
C / Do bass (single knot)

Strings to pegbox

Before starting, use a pencil to mark over string lines on the nut of the Oud
Make sure none of the strings touch each other on the pegs
Each peg needs about 5 cm extra length on the strings. Cut the excess
Stretch each string and insert it the peghole, then rotate the peg to stretch the string
Connecting to the pegs should happen in the following order:
- C1 / Do1
- G1 / Sol1
- C2 / Do2
- G2 / Sol2
- D1 / Ré1
- A1 / La1
- D2 / Ré2
- A2 / La2
- G2 / Sol2
- G1 / Sol1
- C / Do Bass

Oud tuning

Oud strings tunning is as follows:

[  Do / C  ] ---------------------
[ Sol / G  ] ---------------------
[ Sol / G  ] ---------------------
[  La / A  ] ---------------------
[  La / A  ] ---------------------
[  Ré / D  ] ---------------------
[  Ré / D  ] ---------------------
[ Sol / G  ] ---------------------
[ Sol / G  ] ---------------------
[  Do / C  ] ---------------------
[  Do / C  ] ---------------------

Sources: