The joint has been fitted and glued again. On the left hand side you can see some adjustment strips sitting between the joint and the body.
Then the tabli is glued to the body. A rope is used to keep the tabli fixed and under sufficient pressure at regular points along its contour.
Now this sitar body is ready to get some new polish. But unfortunately we have to wait for the good weather to come…
… after some time the glue became softened and the joint can be removed.
Now, the wooden parts need some time to dry thoroughly.
This old Rikhi Ram is having a problem: the joint got loose.
I handled the same problem before on another (left – handed) RR sitar. On that occasion I made a new joint which took a lot of work to make it fit perfectly. Now I turned an old pressure cooker into a steam generator which is used for removing and loosening the animal glue.
First step is to open the sitar :
Then I drilled a fine hole in the corner area of the joint in which the needles will blast their steam.
I add water to the pressure cooker and have the power switched on …
It happens that a kuti, old or new, breaks. Most of the time, these can be repaired easily…
See the new page on Kuti Repair at “blog pages / repairs”.
This sitar kuti has been broken. Since it is an old kuti, the ball is a little bit smaller than recently made new samples.
So, either you change the whole set, or you repair the broken specimen.
Cut the ball from the pen.
Drill a hole in the ball.
Make this hole square.
Find a new pen, make one end equally square.
Make it fit properly in the ball’s square hole.
Apply glue and let dry.
Finish according to original.
Read more:
Next step is to hollow out the glue joints.
…en then fill out these hollows and the fixing holes with a mixture of plaster, wood-glue and water.
Making the colour matching and polishing should wait for the summer. We need warmth and sunshine…
Another nice picture from the sitar’s inside : “Ali Baba’s Café”
This picture is taken on the soundboard, inside the tumba.
It’s all about this tumba, “… mind the gap …” :
And, when all the pieces are fit together, glued and fixed in the traditional way, you ‘ll get this :
More tumba repair here .
Tumba repair completed.
New strings fitted and jiwari adjusted.
Here a picture about the soundboard (tabli).
Page added documenting the repair of a joint… Take a look here !!
