On the SAS-01 I use ordinary mini steel nails (diam. 1mm / lenght 8mm) as tarav mogara. They sound very good at the moment but I think this can be improved one day. But how? By bone, or horn, or… ? Anybody a suggestion ?
Tag Archives: fusion
SBS-02, with Lipstick pickups
Day 55: I mounted 2 single coil Seymour Duncan – Lipstick model pickups and tried out various combinations. One pickup is reverse winded and reverse polarised, creating thus a humbucking combination which gives less distortion and less noise. The potmeters in front offer volume and tone control while a switch on the backside makes series / parallel combination possible.
Day 56: Mounting of the electronics. Drilled holes for the potmeters, wiring and plug. Definitive mounting of the pickups and soldering the wires. Mounting of the backside switch, potmeters and plug.
Now also this sitar is ready for playing…
SAS-01, with taravbar
Day 53: Assembling the body after sufficient drying (pardas, cikari- and tarav machine heads, jiwaris & strings).
Day 54: Mounting the cikari pins and strings, and doing jiwari. Mounting the taravs and tarav jiwari.
Now this semi-accoustic sitar is ready for a first play. Who wants to … ?
Niladri Kumar on electric sitar
Playing an electric sitar gives some weird possibilities.
Watch this Niladri Kumar on the electric highway.
Electric Zeetar
Anyone ever seen this one in real ?
The Rajah Zeetar is an instrument made in the 1960’s in the likeness of a sitar. Supplied with an electronic amplifier. Made in Japan. It comes with 2 eye-catching big magnetic pickups and the body is made of papier-mache with a wooden soundboard, lenght is 112 cm.
Electric Sitar @ NAMM
Seen at the annual top-event of music-industry in California :
Look at the similarities to my solid body sitar.
Or, check here: blog categories sitar making.
Sarod Guitar / repair
Some time ago Nik G. asked me to modify this Simon & Patrick guitar into a sarod…
but first a little damage had to be repaired…
I noticed that also the bracing became loose from the soundboard. Since I couldn’t find any long clamp, I had to do it like this :
After that, a nice triangled puzzle started.
The inner triangle contains the original piece of soundboard wood.
Now the triangles fit properly and after some sanding the finishing polish is applied.
Unfortunately, some decolouration appeared. I guess the sun needs also some job to do…?
The Solid Body Sitar
I created a new blog/website about the making of a solid body sitar.
Start the discovery by clicking on the picture…