Sarod Guitar / modification
Here’s the renewed fretless fingerboard.
The first step was to pull out the frets. This precise job was securely done by my colleague Frans Ieven. Many thanks to him !!!
Then I filled up the gaps with some plain veneer.
The new fretless surface, after sanding and some layers of danish oil, can be seen in front of Lord Buddha.
Then follows the mounting of the cikari strings.
Since the high pitched cikari string needs to be only half the overall length, a mini cikari pin is mounted on the fingerboard at the 12th fret, followed by a cikari ring slot. All are made of bone.
The low pitch cikari pin is located at the 2nd fret position. Both cikari strings are close to each other.
Finally, here’s this sarod-guitar’s strings & tuning chart:
1. steel wire 0.23mm / N°0 tuned to MA (= F# 3)
2. steel wire 0.28mm / N°2 tuned to SA (= C# 3)
3. bronze wire 0.37mm / N° 28 tuned to lower PA (= G# 2)
4. bronze wire 0.46mm / N° 26 tuned to lower SA (= C# 2)
5. steel wire 0.23mm / N° 0 tuned to SA (= C# 4)
6. steel wire 0.20mm / N° 00 tuned to higher SA (= C# 5)
Now I’m waiting for Nik to come and play this new instrument…
Thanks for the advice…I’ve amended my string choices based on that to:
.008 baj (G)
.012 jora (D)
.20 flatwound laraj (A)
.32 flatwound kharaj (D)
.09 or .08 for the two chikari.
I went very light with that top string since G is 3 semitones up from E which is the usual tuning on guitar for that string. Maybe I’ll start pulling frets tonight!
If you use steel strings, it’s better to use roundwound/flatwound strings for Laraj / Kharaj and sometimes even for Jora. In this case (guitar-scale) you can easily experiment with a set of regular guitar strings. On a full scale sitar, these strings are generally too short. The gauge will depend on the tuning and notes you want to be able to play, but I cannot help you more with this. I have untill now no further experience with these guitar-scales…
This is a fantastic idea! I have a spare (cheap) electric guitar that has just found a new purpose! I’ve defretted instruments before so this should be generally feasible.
Do you think if I use steel strings for all strings, the lower kharaj strings should be higher gauge, or still the same?
i have made a fretless electric guitar, inspired by your design above. could anyone point me towards some beginner tunes to learn?
Echt prachtig om te zien.
Je bent niet alleen een getalenteerde instrumentenmaker maar ook nog een geïnspireerde fotograaf.
Me too ! Come on, Nick !!
I’m curious to hear the sound of this sarod/guitar !