Barun Roy broken joint

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One day London based sitarist & composer Jonathan Mayer drove with his car straight from London to SiTAR FAcToRY in Belgium (+/- 8hrs drive). His favorite sitar, recently made by Barun Roy, has a severe joint problem. At first sight the joint has only loosened. A friend of him fixed it with some glue and a piece of metal with two screws over the cracked region and it worked fine for almost a year or so. But now the situation has changed. The crack has opened again and the sitar became unplayable.
JointThe photo clearly shows a very large crack and the neck feels very loose. So I start dismantling the instrument. All the strings, frets, bridges and tuning pegs are removed and neatly stored away. Then all the decoration has to be removed so that I can safely and clearly start the splitting process. But it doesn’t get that far right away. With a little bit of movement and prying, I notice that the joint is actually broken. Suddenly I am left with two parts in my hands.
Clearly broken…
Now we are sure that the sitar has to be completely dismantled and a new joint has to be made.
Splitting the parts goes very smoothly. Barun Roy used the right type of glue.
I don’t have to waste any time loosening the joint because it’s broken anyway. So I can just cut away the remains.
Then I look for a suitable piece of wood to make a new joint. I still have some first-class mahogany lying around and immediately cut a nice piece out of it. Then a very difficult part begins. From that rectangular piece of wood, I now have to make two matching curves that are also tilted at an angle of a few degrees. With a lot of patience and calm, it will be fine.
The gluing can begin. First, glue the piece to the lower half of the neck. Allow it to dry and harden sufficiently, then fit the piece to the neck and glue it in place.
That’s the hardest part done. The tabli can be placed on the tumba and the top plate of the neck can be put back in place.
After allowing some extra drying time, all the decoration is put back in place. The celluloid is held securely in place with glue and bamboo nails. Then all the empty spaces between the body and celluloid must be filled with coloured wax. After the wax has hardened, the excess wax can be scraped off and the lacquer finish is thoroughly cleaned with popote.
Finally pardas, kuntis, ghodi & new strings…

 

See other Joint repair cases on SiTAR FAcToRY here.

Kabul 1900 sitar restoration – Pt2

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In a first part, you can learn about this particular ancient instrument, baptised the Kabul sitar, and read a description of how to check and repair the body and make the missing wooden parts.

Kabul sitar restored

At that time, it was already clear that other important parts were also missing: at least 4 frets had disappeared and, since the intention was to make this a playable instrument again, new bridges also had to be built.

The type of frets used on this old instrument is almost impossible to find anymore. They are flat metal (bronze or brass) strips with a rounded top and 2 gutters on either side of the rounded top. The fixing wires can run into those.

Kabul sitar restored

I don’t know a thing about metalworking. So it was thought to outsource this job to someone else. After some research, Matyas found a German goldsmith who was willing to make 4. This job took a very long time (-1 year) and the result was very disappointing. The material used was very different from the originals and the gutters for attaching the strings were simply unusable. Very unfortunate but back to square one!!!

Around that time, I happened to get to know Kees Verbeek from Eindhoven, the Netherlands. He builds a nice surbahar himself and had a few questions about it. I note on his business card that he is actually also a bronze caster. Assuming that these old frets were made of bronze, I presented Kees with the project and asked him if he could take a look at recreating such frets for us.

Kees was very enthusiastic and I sent him 2 original ones. He immediately set to work. The material eventually turned out to be brass, not bronze, and Kees managed to recreate 4 new ones in no time.

He had a sheet of brass lying around at the right thickness, cut strips out of it and rolled the shape into it. Then he filed in the gutters with fine needle files and finished them seamlessly.

Apart from the fact that they were made recently and thus still have a noticeable new metal sheen, they are barely distinguishable from the originals.

Wonderful work by Kees Verbeek! (keesv @ hccnet.nl)

Meanwhile, I made 2 new bridges from first-class quality bone. Or rather bridges, as the instrument does seem quite a bit smaller than an ordinary modern sitar. Although remarkably: the length and the scale have remained almost the same. And, the instrument weighs only 1.32 Kg, which is very little compared to a present-day sitar that easily weighs over 2.34 Kg.

This brings us steadily to the finishing touches. Matyas wants to play it and, as the instrument is very lightly built, we choose a light, thin stringing in a rather low tuning C. For details, see the overview of the Kabul 1900 sitar string set / tuning chart.

Once we agree on these details, I can start fitting the frets. First, I put on a baj string and a jora string. That’s enough to start setting and binding the frets. The position of the frets is determined by the tuning. Little adjustment to the height and position of the bridge is needed to achieve a workable fret distribution. Since this old type of sitar has only 17 frets, the positions for Komal RE, Komal GA and Komal DHA initially remain empty. Even the high Komal NI is not provided permanently.

Once all the frets are in position I check everything again. Finally, the rest of the strings go on. The new Kabul sitar sounds soft and very lively. Matyas will be pleased…

If you would like to see, hear and read more, take a look at the marvellous report on this sitar, which you can find on Matyas’ outstanding website: Antique Kabuli sitar.

Kabul 1900 sitar string set / tuning chart :

1. Baj – steel wire 0,28mm / N°2 tuned to F3
2. Jora – bronze wire 0,37mm / N°28 tuned to C3
3. Jora – bronze wire 0,37mm / N°28 tuned to C3
4. Laraj – bronze wire 0,46mm / N°26 tuned to G3
5. Pancham – steel wire 0,25mm / N°0  tuned to G4
6. Cikari – steel wire 0,19mm / N°000 tuned to C5
7. Cikari – steel wire 0,19mm / N°000 tuned to C6
0. Taravs – steel wire 0,19mm / N°000

Kabul 1900 sitar restoration – Pt1

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In April 2020, Matyas Wolter stumbled upon some very old Indian musical instruments for sale on ebay in southern Germany. His eye fell on one of them. The description indicated that the instrument was bought in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the mid-1970s. At that time it was already considered old, the seller told him. It was a part of a small local museum in southern Germany from 1985-2017.

Kabul sitar origin

The sitar was nicknamed Kabul sitar. It is probably +/- 110 years old…

There was a small crack (about 7cm) in the neck and the strings would have to be replaced. ‘It is in an uncleaned and unrestored storage condition’ reads the description.

In May 2023, the Kabul sitar arrived here in my shop, along with the Ilyas Khan sitar I previously restored for Matyas .

It soon turned out that it did have more going on than the original description indicated.

Besides the small crack and the old worn strings, it also turned out that the neck was well bent. At least 4 frets were missing and most of the tuning pegs needed a lot of attention. The bridges also had to be renewed.

In this section, I describe the work on the body. Mainly woodwork, in other words. In the next part, the metal fittings, the bridges and finishing and tuning will be covered.

We start with the body. The neck is noticeably well warped. This is easy to see when all the hardware is removed. So it needs to be opened up and straightened again.


There was already a crack in the neck, just on the line of separation between the 2 parts of the neck, and so opening it up goes pretty smoothly. The glue is very old and breaks easily. Still, the job has to be done very carefully. It is a very fragile instrument.

And yes, once opened there are a few striking things to see. The neck is made extremely thin, and the lower, round, part has an unusual thickness gradient. The front, which holds the tuning knobs, has a thickness of 5 to 6 mm and tapers to a thin 2.2 to 3 mm on the other side. The top flat plate is only 3 to 4 mm thick.

I also note that there are very small holes in the wood of the neck, most likely cavities of woodworms. There is no trace of the worms themselves, fortunately, and the damage does not seem to be too bad.

I also notice an additional crack in the side of the neck. This could not be seen on the outside, but it has certainly weakened the neck well. Now that the neck is open, this is an excellent time to repair this crack properly.

Then the time has come to close the lid again. I leave a small signature and after a final look at the nevertheless finely flowing and evenly finished inside, the pieces go back together. Everything still fits perfectly.

After a few days of good drying, the heavy solid straight beam and ropes can come off and we get a perfectly straight neck again. The kabul sitar is on its way of return.

Kabul sitar return

Then it’s the pegs’ turn. There are 8 main pegs on it for the main strings and 11 tarav pegs for the sympathetic strings. Of the 5 main pegs present, only 3 seem usable and 1 is missing. Of the 2 cikari pegs, only 1 is usable. We then start combining the good and usable pieces and use the head of the too-short one to make a new fitting one.


Then I dive into my box of old (discarded?) specimens and find 2 similar pieces whose head I can update. In this way, I put together a full, fitting set of large pegs. In the meantime, that looks good.

1 cikari peg I then have to replicate myself. I start again from an old scrapped peg, taken from a very old sitar from Bangladesh. After some sawing, filing and sanding, a nice new one emerges. I give it some dents and bumps and finish it so that it is indistinguishable from the others.


This is followed by checking the tarav pegs. It becomes a real puzzle because most of them are so worn that they keep coming loose and no longer fit. I then decide to combine these pegs with new internal bushings. See the previously demonstrated method here. All in all, it’s not too bad. I only need to replicate 1 new tarav peg. For that, see the same procedure as for the cikari pegs. The cikari pegs and tarav pegs are very similar, and in fact almost interchangeable. The only difference is the location of the hole where to attach the string. On the cikari pegs, it is outside the neck, and on the tarav pegs, that hole is on the area that is inside the neck.


So much for the first part. All wooden parts are complete and checked for proper functioning. The instrument is ready for the finishing phase. See part two on this Kabul sitar restoration soon.

Sarod Guitar / mod II

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Ever fallen in love with a sarod but you couldn’t find one? Personally I love the sound of sarod very much but can’t play it. That’s pretty the same problem. Here’s a way out:

A simple solution is to convert an existing old guitar into a Sarod guitar. In other words, the best of both worlds. The idea is not new. I did it back in 2007 (read article here) but it got very quiet about that project. I don’t know why. Now there is a new attempt..:

Frederik VdB brought me his Morgan guitar on which he decided not to play anymore. One of the reasons was a solid crack in the soundboard. That had to be repaired first.

Then all the frets had to be removed and the empty slots filled with homemade wood dust paste. The surface was scraped and sanded firmly and finely. All pores were filled and it became smooth, almost like a mirror.

In place of the guitar’s E & A strings will be 2 cikari strings. These are tuned high (D4 & D5) and need a shorter scale. Therefore, by analogy with a sitar, I have integrated cikari pins on the fretboard. One at half spacing and one at 3/4th spacing. A small eye is mounted behind the pin at half distance that pulls the string down enough so that it stays well on the pin.

Because the cikari strings are always struck together, they are also shorter together. This is easy to see from the bridge. The D4 string makes a small bend. 😉

Sarod Guitar specifications & tuning chart:

Scale = 65cm

1. steel wire 0.36mm / N°5 tuned to MA (= G 3)
2. bronze wire 0.46mm / N°26 tuned to SA (= D 3)
3. bronze wire 0.75mm / N° 22 tuned to lower PA (= A 2)
4. nickel flatwound string 1,27mm / tuned to lower SA (= D 2)
5. steel wire 0.23mm / N° 0 tuned to SA (= D 4)
6. steel wire 0.21mm / N° 00 tuned to higher SA (= D 5)

Read here about another Sarod Guitar modification (2007).

Dieter Zarnitz website

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Dear friends, this year (06/2024) we sadly lost a very special and warm person, Dieter Zarnitz. He was a very talented and inventive musical instrument maker. Passionate about Indian musical instruments, he devoted his time to searching for alternatives to find a better construction and sound for the sitar & surbahar.

The most notable results are 7 sitars and 1 surbahar where he replaced the traditional gourd and tabli with a lute-style resonator and soundboard. He also explored other materials and used Elforyn, ebony, spruce and maple, among others. He experimented with leftovers of exotic hardwoods to make new bridges.

But his soul and work now lives on among us thanks to the magnificent work of Matyas Wolter. He has created a wonderful website on the work of our dear Dieter Zarnitz. It has become a beautiful tribute to his work, excellently documented and solidly provided with masterful sound clips and photos. A must see !!!

Visit the website here: https://matyasitar.de/dieter-zarnitz-instruments/

Tom Thumb sitar

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A person encounters all sorts of things in life, and so too in the sitar world. I knew that there are children’s sitars (mini sitar or baby sitar) that can also be played, but I had never seen such a gem before. What would you call it? A tiny toy sitar? But it seems more then only a toy designed to me, which you can then actually play on (if you want to). Calling it a “Tom Thumb sitar” sounds good, I guess…. 😉

Anyway, the little instrument did need some cleaning and repair work before anything could be done with it. The bridge was missing and a few tuning pegs were broken. Other than that, it wasn’t too bad. So, I made a new bridge out of a tarav bridge and found some old matching tarav kuntis.

Tom Thumb has 10 pardas, 5 taravs and possibly up to 7 main strings. The scale is only 36cms, the body is 55cms long and the tabli 14cms wide. The neck is only 5.4cms wide. The ‘tumba’ is probably all wood, with a good bit of plastering to get it nice and round. Otherwise complete with simple decoration on celluloid, just like its big brothers & sisters!

Tom Thumb sitar string set / tuning chart (example):

1. steel wire 0,28mm / N°2 tuned to A#4
2. bronze wire 0,37mm / N°28 tuned to C#3
3. bronze wire 0,46mm / N°26 tuned to G#3
4. steel wire 0,23mm / N°0  tuned to G#4
5. steel wire 0,19mm / N°000 tuned to C#5
6. steel wire 0,19mm / N°000 tuned to C#6
Taravs: steel wire 0,19mm / N°000

Intonation blocks

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Intonation on the sitar (& surbahar) is a very complex aspect for players to master due to its unique structure and intricate tuning system. Unlike Western stringed instruments with standardized frets, the sitar’s pardas (frets) are movable, allowing players to adjust the intervals between notes to suit different ragas or tonal structures. This flexibility, while beneficial for musical expression, also creates a challenge in maintaining acceptable intonation. Even slight misplacement of a parda can alter the pitch and compromise the player’s comfort and impact the performance.

Achieving nearly perfect intonation on a sitar & surbahar requires a lot of attention to detail, advanced tuning skills and adjustments. In consultation with Jan van Beek, I designed intonation blocks for his sitar & surbahar. They are made of Elforyn™ and fully tuned to his instruments.

Elforyn™ is a modern synthetic ivory substitute that is very hard-wearing and at the same time easy to work with. Moreover, it has a very natural appearance.

Besides greatly improved intonation, these special blocks have an additional advantage. The distance from the first parda to the meru (comb or nut) increases, making the string longer there. In this way, it becomes possible to play more comfortable and thus more accurate meend on the highest pardas, and especially on the first.

Another case of intonation can be read here.

Lost Paloma

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This old Paloma sitar had been found in an attic. How long it stood there is not clear, but it may have been a while…. Paloma is a registered brand of Haribhau Vishwanath Diwane who distributed sitars from various builders under it. They are rather somewhat cheaper mid-range sitars for everyone. But there are also hidden gems among them. Who eventually made this sitar I don’t know, but it is definitely well made, and fitted with full decoration.

She has undergone a full restoration and is ready to please another sitar player. She is also very suitable for the committed beginner.

Now for sale on this site (click here).

New Narka series

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I made a new set of narkas, this time from the wood of an old broomstick (aspen wood). They are done in different colours and a new SiTAR FAcToRY logo is burnt on them. My dear neighbour girl Felien Swillen is very handy with a small wood burner. She burnt the new logo into the wood with razor-sharp precision. The result is impressive.


The mouth of the narka is inlaid with recycled African buffalo leather. This way, the kuntis are not damaged. The outside is finished with shellac polish.

Read a report on making a stagghorn narka here.

Rikhi Ram necklace 75′ restoration

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[ezcol_1half][/ezcol_1half] [ezcol_1half_end]An original Rikhi Ram necklace Sitar from around 1975 needs a complete restoration:

– The neck is bended and needs straightening.
– There is a crack in the top of the neck that needs repair.
– A large tuning peg is broken and needs to be replaced.
– The optical condition of the instrument needs to be renewed.
– All the frets should be re-tied.
– The instrument needs to be completely re-stringed.
– Any faults found should be fixed.
– And, of course, jawari needs to be done on the instrument.[/ezcol_1half_end]

Here then is a photo report of the work carried out:

 

More neck bend repair can be found here.