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Kamil Gul Professional Turkish Concert A Lavta (Wenge/Spruce) Sop. Oud - $475 (Annandale)
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This is a very well crafted Turkish Lavta from a top luthier in Izmir, a coastal Turkish town renowned for being the center of artisanship for the region and full of many fine instrument makers and musicians.
This is a smaller version of the Oud that fits a different role in the music and is usually tuned roughly a fourth above the standard Oud, but it has fewer strings/courses as well. Unlike the Oud, but more like the Saz, the Lavta has movable nylon-based "frets" that include quarter tones.
It comes with a super thin gig bag; no quality gig bags were available at the time but now there are some high end bags and cases available finally. It also comes with one short Oud pick that is more appropriate for Lavtas, and one extra set of high quality Kenan Ozten strings.
I haven't played it much as COVID pushed me around the country so it was in storage for a while. I have decided to switch to a newer yet less high-end model that has standard guitar type geared tuners. I simply wouldn't play this instrument enough to warrant the amount of time it takes to incrementally get all the strings in tune using the traditional friction peg tuning mechanisms.
Once the strings are more broken in, tuning becomes easier. Be sure to push the tuning peck through the hole to the other side while turning it; this is the key. But as the headstock is super narrow, it can be difficult to follow which peg goes with which string, and when one pops loose, it can take a bit of time top get everything recalibrated. I simply don't have that kind of time for an instrument that isn't one of my regulars.
Please note that by the time you come to pick up this instrument, (or after it arrives once shipped), it will have at least partially fallen out of tune. This is the nature of friction pegs. I am not going to take the time to constantly keep it tuned up, and there are alternate tunings anyway.
These go for $750 new. It might be difficult to get a new one now though due to the situation over there, as shipping traffic in the Eastern Mediterranean and Aegean Sea might be disrupted a bit for a while. The vendor that I buy from is located in Turkey.
Specifications:
Body Length: 18"
Maximum Body Bout: 12"
Maximum Body Depth: 7"
Scale Length: 28.25"
Frets: 27 Wide
Nut Width: 1.5626"
Neck Wood: AAA Wenge
Fingerboard: Walnut
Body/Back Wood: AAA Wenge
Top Wood: Spruce
Stringing: Loop-End
Standard Tuning: D-AA-dd-aa
Strings: Kenan Ozten PVF Premium Carbon Oud Strings
String Gauges: Unspecified (there is only one Lavta set)
Purchased in early May 2021. Probably crafted around the same time as they're a hot seller at Ethnic Musical in Izmir, Turkey.
I also have a bunch of specialty Oud picks but I am holding them until I know whether I will be getting a geared tuner model or giving up on the Oud altogether. I should know very soon though.