Here are photos of a variety of cümbüs types... enjoy!
Above, left to right: the "agac" (wood) cümbüsü, also known as the "extra" cümbüs (3 views).
Heavier (and more expensive) than the standard metal-bodied model, its tone is mellower (less "twangy,"
if you like), and has slightly shorter sustain, but is very nice to play and sounds good with nylon strings as well.
Next, a "counterfeit" cümbüs from the 1930s made by reknown
oud luthier Onnik Karibyan, in the collection of Cengiz Sarikus, Istanbul.
Early cümbüs-es normally had this kind of mother-of-pearl
inlay on the fingerboards also, as you can see from the one in the graphic at the top of the page
(courtesy of Dr. Tufan Hicdönmez). Far right medley: from the top, a standard cümbüs, a
cümbüs tanbur (often bowed), and two cümbüs mandolins. (The black line shows one foot/30.5 cm.)
Above: three styles of metal cümbüs bodies. From the left, older style rounded back, standard "cooking pot," and engraved.
Photo credits: mine except for the bottom row, which I found online at (left to right)
David Parfitt's "The Oud" (from the collection of Dr.
Tufan Hicdönmez, who sent me the photo in the top graphic), Pamela Music,
and
Garanti Alisveris.
Below are photos of an antique cümbüs I acquired in June of 2009 from luthier Feridun Obul, in Istanbul, Turkey. I took it to the Cümbüs shop on July 15, 2009 to see what they might know about it
and Naci Cümbüs (Fethi and Ali's father, and grandson of the instrument's inventor, Zeynel Abidin) lit up when he saw it. He said even they have only
one of this vintage. From the shape and materials he dated it around 1935. This sounds right to me, since the inscription around the edge says,
"Cünbüs Mucidi Zeynel Abidin" (Cünbüs [its] inventor [being] Zeynel Abidin) without a place-name; after the "Surname Law" of June 21, 1934, Zeynel Abidin began using Cümbüs (with an "m"
rather than an "n") as the family name, and changed the inscription to "Mucidi Zeynel Abidin Cümbüs," ([its inventor being] Zeynel Abidin Cümbüs)
and included the place name of his shop (first Beyazit, later and currently A. Bulvari - Atatürk Boulevard in Unkapani) - Istanbul, Türkiye.
Whole front.
Upper part of fingerboard (ivory [?] inlay). (Compare the design with the image below of...
...a 1908 `ud by Roufan Nahat of [Ottoman] Damascus - thanks Tony Klein - and with
this copy of a 1928 Toufiq Nahat model.)
Lower part of fingerboard (bone inlay; original designer unknown).
Back of the neck (with turtle-like plastic covering).
Rounded (and well worn) body - shape discontinued in the 1960s.
Headstock fit for 11 strings; here, 5 on-a-side tuners from underneath (imported from Germany.
Cümbüs-es usually have 12 strings since the 1960s). Buttons are cow bone; Naci Bey sanded the upper two to show me
how to clean them.
Back of the headstock (note two replaced buttons on the tuners).
"Its inventor Zeynel Abidin"
"Cünbüs" (now spelled "Cümbüs").
Part of me would like to "restore" it, if only by cleaning it up a bit - and Naci Bey had recommendations for doing that - but another part of me wants to leave it exactly as it is, especially since it sounds great already (and thanks to Feridun Bey for putting it in playing condition - he'd got it from a junk dealer). No doubt even the sweat on the fingerboard is older than I am! If I do spruce it up I'll certainly keep all the parts I might replace.
If you should know something about this particular instrument, please write me at the e-mail address below!
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Here's a new one - a cümbüs with a tin face, like a resonator guitar! Saw this at the Kaymakamlik Museum in
Safranbolu, Turkey, mid-August, 2009. I'd guess from it's shape and materials that it was originally made in the mid-1960s.
It belonged to Safranbolu notable and amateur ethnomusicologist, the late Sadi Yaver Ataman, who - I was told by Ismail Bey
who has tended the adjacent clock tower for forty years - played it himself often, taking it with him on song-collection trips
to nearby villages.
