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Tag Archives: tumba

Drowned Sitar

Sitar Factory Posted on Friday, 13 December 2019 by AnandaThursday, 12 December 2019

More than one year ago, an awfull sitar was brought to me. At first sight it looked like it was burnt, but actually it was only drowned for some time. This sitar was stored in a basement which has been filled with water due to an inundation. Only after some time it has been rescued and luckily it was protected by a good fiber case. All the strings and hardware got ruined. The damage to the tumba was horrible but the neck seemed to have endured the misadventure well.


I removed all the hardware and pegs and started to let the sitar rest and dry up completely for almost one year. Then, after some time, the tumba’s lacquer finish started to peel off. So, I removed everything which was hanging some loose and made a new build-up. Fortunately it was a decent tumba, sturdy and round. Then colouring and a fresh full-scale shellac finish finally made it look like a new… real good Srishti Musical sitar.

Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, SrishtiMusical, tumba | 6 Replies

Tumba cosmetics repair

Sitar Factory Posted on Wednesday, 8 June 2016 by AnandaWednesday, 8 June 2016

It began with an ordinary crack. Yet another case of overzealous luggage handling at airports. Very regrettable, but in this case it revealed an underlying and overwhelming problem.

A tumba is made out of a gourd, which is a natural product. As it grows on the field, the shape becomes more or less irregular, as squiggly as nature can be. But in a musical instruments setting this isn’t always very usable or good-looking…

Thus here and there some cosmetics are necessary to give it a more practical, handsome round shape. To obtain this, in general, plaster is applied. But sometimes regular plastering isn’t adequate. When more than a couple of millimeters difference in levelling needs to be adjusted a heavier and stronger filler is needed. Then sawdust, wooden dust, water and woodglue are well mixed and applied prior to the plaster mixture.

On this sitar it seems that the mixture has been made with a persistent shortage of glue. And, secondly, really a massive amount of this poorly mixed material has been used. The obvious reason for this is that the original tumba was of a critical quality. Now it is clear that it is just too thin and weak. At several places the tumba is hardly 2mm thick.

Thus, when repairing the crack, more and more chunks of almost already pulverised wooden dust filler simply fell off from the tumba. Finally, almost the complete surface seems to be covered and more than 50% became loose.

In order to obtain a better bonding the plaster is mixed with woodglue as well. A lot of work…, a lot of drying time needed…, sanding, filling, drying, sanding, filling, drying, sanding…, fine sanding, sealing, colouring and finally the finishing touch with shellac.


Read more about tumba repair : click here

Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, tumba | 2 Replies

Cavitied G.Rosul gourd

Sitar Factory Posted on Wednesday, 21 October 2015 by AnandaTuesday, 5 January 2016

The second tumba of this brandnew beginners G.Rosul sitar has been affected by worms. When the instrument fell down to the ground one day, the gourd got severely broken. Close examination revealed that a big worm has been digging a lot of tunnels through the gourds soft & dry flesh. At some points only the very thin outer peel (hard crust) has been left making this tumba extremely fragile. Where and when this worm got in and out the gourd is hard to find out. But certainly we don’t want this kind of destructive parasites inside our beloved instruments, nor in our house…

The repair of it started with filling up most of the tunnels with a mixture of fine wooden sawdust, water & woodglue. After that the outer shape could be restored using a mixture of wooden sanddust, plaster, woodglue & colourpigment. Finally came the sanding, colouring & the finishing with lacquer.

At this point I would like to notice that nowadays on more and more (cheap) sitars a synthetic sprayed lacquer finish is applied. The problem is that these synthetic solvents react very different with colourpigments that are used in the traditional shellac finish procedure (french polishing). Even worse, shellac doesn’t attach well to these chemicals. One is obliged to start determinating the kind of chemicals used in this spray, and look for eventual available alternatives which can be applied succesful to it. And I didn’t even mention the bad health aspects which might come along when working with these cheap synthetic mixtures…
But, what to do ? Just don’t buy it ?!! At least ask for traditional finish !!

Posted in repair | Tagged G.Rosul, SitarRepair, tumba | 2 Replies

Kartar Chand sitar restoration

Sitar Factory Posted on Wednesday, 5 January 2011 by AnandaThursday, 21 March 2013

This early 70’s original Kartar Chand sitar just left the restoration booth. Complete body check-up and new polish has been done by late Kartar’s brother Hari Chand in New Delhi in march 2009 while I was there on a visit. The celluloid mother of pearl imitation parda lanes have been renewed. My part of the job was to refurbish the original pardas and fit them again on the new lanes. I also made and fit new stagghorn jiwaris for main strings and taravs. The original tuning pegs were used again but some taravkuti-holes needed a new bushing.

Note the very fine finger grips on these taravkutis and also the remarkable cherry-round tumba-shape which is very typical on all Kartar Chand’s sitars.

This sitar sounds amazingly bright and has a vivid tarav response. The meends play very easy and the instrument is very light-weighted.

Posted in repair | Tagged HariChand, KartarChand, Kuti, Restoration, SitarRepair, tumba | 1 Reply

Restoration of old Bina Musicals sitar

Sitar Factory Posted on Saturday, 7 April 2007 by AnandaThursday, 21 March 2013

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This 40 years old Bina Musicals sitar came in for repair.

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Continue reading →

Posted in repair | Tagged BinaMusicals, popote, Restoration, SitarRepair, tumba | 2 Replies

Tumba repair 2 (ctd.)

Sitar Factory Posted on Sunday, 19 November 2006 by AnandaMonday, 6 June 2016

Next step is to hollow out the glue joints.

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…en then fill out these hollows and the fixing holes with a mixture of plaster, wood-glue and water.

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Making the colour matching and polishing should wait for the summer. We need warmth and sunshine…

Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, tumba | Leave a reply

Tumba repair 2

Sitar Factory Posted on Saturday, 18 November 2006 by AnandaMonday, 6 June 2016

Another nice picture from the sitar’s inside : “Ali Baba’s Café”
This picture is taken on the soundboard, inside the tumba.
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It’s all about this tumba, “… mind the gap …”  :
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And, when all the pieces are fit together, glued and fixed in the traditional way, you ‘ll get this :
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More tumba repair here .

Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, tumba | 2 Replies

Repair completed

Sitar Factory Posted on Sunday, 17 September 2006 by AnandaSunday, 17 September 2006

Tumba repair completed.

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New strings fitted and jiwari adjusted.
Here a picture about the soundboard (tabli).

Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, tumba | 1 Reply

Tumba repair

Sitar Factory Posted on Monday, 21 August 2006 by AnandaMonday, 21 August 2006

Meanwhile I started another tumba repair.

Watch this unique picture about the sitar’s inside :

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This is the joint between the hollow neck and the tumba :

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Posted in repair | Tagged SitarRepair, tumba | 1 Reply

Tumba Repair

Sitar Factory Posted on Monday, 21 August 2006 by AnandaTuesday, 21 June 2016

This tumba has been broken into many pieces. I counted more than 20 crack lines.

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An early attempt by the owner to repair this wasn’t very succesfull.

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So, here we go :

Session 1 : Opening the cracks, adding glue and fixing zone 1

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Session 2 : Idem for zone 2

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Session 3 : Idem for zone 3

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Session 4 : Idem for zone 4

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I’ve added a piece from another broken tumba to complete this one.

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Session 5 : Opening the crack lines

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Session 6 : Filling the crack lines and sanding

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Session 7 : Colouring

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Read more articles about tumba repair:

Cavitied gourd
Tumba repair (another one)
Tumba cosmetics

36 Replies

Vishwakarma

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