Saz 166-BSW Turkish Oud Walnut BK

The build quality is abysmal; wood glue all over the place, the neck and head are both set sub-par at best. Cut outs aren't sanded properly, it actually managed to give me a splinter within the first 10 minutes of use.

It doesn't hold tuning if it's life depended on it, which is no wonder, considering the tuning pegs are just plastic knobs, pushed into an unsanded, unfinished hole. Some of the strings can't even be tuned properly, as the pegs keep turning backwards on their own, or are about to fall out of their hole all together.

The sound quality is equally atrocities. Even after I got around to putting a new set of strings on it, it still sounded like a cheap, 40 dollar discounter guitar. The high end sounds "plastic-y" and while the low end is definitely the best aspect of this oud's sound, while still being flabby and undefined, it is nearly impossible to get a pleasant sounding note, let alone a proper interval or chord of this thing.

Even if this is a "monday model", I'm not interested in a replacement with less splinters, glue and proper tuning pegs. It is shocking that someone has the audacity to charge 170 € for this.

Do not buy this under any circumstances.

First of all, the process of ordering and the delivery by Thomann was perfect. I am so grateful. But, there are some important points regarding the instrument itself, which seem necessary to mention.
It is the cheapest OUD available on the website and I didn’t expect too much quality. In fact, if someone was directly purchasing an OUD in Iran, Iraq or Turkey, a budget of 200 Euro would be enough to buy a perfect BEGINNER-INTERMEDIATE instrument. However, after a few weeks of playing, I think there are two important points that anyone should know about the instrument (no matter how much is the price). 1) The instrument doesn’t stay tuned for longer than 30 minutes of playing and retuning is necessary. Even, if it is not played for a few hours, retuning is a must! 2) The strips on the instrument are fake! I mean, the sound box of the OUD is made of strips (ribs) of wood attached side by side to each other. But, in this instrument, a printed layer (I don’t know what material) has been used to cover the instrument body (the sound box). It has been also done with a poorer quality inside the box, so you cannot easily see the material. I repeat again, I didn’t expect too much from this instrument, but I felt somehow “cheated” by the instrument maker. I think it is better to mention on the website that the strips are fake. (Now it says: “Body consists of 19 ribs made from hardwood and walnut”, that is clearly not true)
Finally, if you neglect the fake body and be patient with tuning, the instrument is OK. The sound is clear, warm and soft. I am enjoying it!

The Oud is educational Oud and his strings is very bad quality and I changed it immediately. The key tuing should be beter. A lot of wood glue. The sound is good But sometimes if you play loud the strings start buzzing and this is a big problem. In the contact area of the neck and the Top is buzzing like if under this area is empty.. this area from the neck is go down when you pushing on it and the strings start buzzing because they touched the Top ... I don't know if these problems on my order only or in the product. And thank you thomann for every things.

Pleasantly surprised by good value for money and reasonable sound for a starter instrument. The only problem I had was waiting for the tuning to stabilise, but judicious application of talc helped, and things are now manageable. Admittedly, an ebony fingerboard and tuners would improve the sound, but given the price, this a a perfect way into a new instrument, and if I get to the point of being competent, I can always trade up. A great buy - very pleased!