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How to make a Mizrab … in one minute — 8 Comments

  1. Thanks for sharing this, it is really useful.
    However, even after trying many different times, I just can’t seem to make a decent one. I tried with 0.70mm copper and 0.90mm steel wire. The copper is soo soft that it gets very easily bent out of shape where as steel is so hard to wind tightly and cleanly. I’m trying to do it with bare hands as well as tweezers but just can’t seem to wind it properly. Are there any other tools that the makers use to make mizrabs?

    • Dear Dhawal, keep courage! My gurus Hari Chand & Kartar Chand only used a tweezer with a fine tip. Steel wire 0,90mm can be very though. Try to find some thinner steel wire such as 0,82mm wire. This wire gives an acceptable strength & affordable processing.
      Today I also added this picture about how to perform the stretching (final step) properly.
      Mizrab stretch out

  2. A copper wire is ideal for exercising purpose. You can practise with a piece of kharaj string (0.72 – 0.82 mm) and, even a more thicker copper wire ( + 0.82 mm) can result in a usable mizrab. It will give you a more soft tone when hitting the strings but the mizrab itself may become deformed after some time and it may easily become loose on the finger.
    A standard mizrab is made of medium hard steel wire of 0.82 mm (N°16). Piano wire can also be used, but it might feel too springy to bend and wind.
    In any case it will not be easy and you will better use a rather heavy tweezer to wind the wire.

    Most difficult is taking the measurement (lenght) of the wire and its bending location to result in a nicely fitting mizrab. Learn by doing…

    Succes !!

  3. My best time ? Not under 30 minutes 🙂 🙂 🙂

    Hmmm, I’ve got 2 questions :

    1> Which kind of steel do you use ? I’m trying with string that we call “piano string” but in fact it’s not “piano string”. It’s a string which is used in air models. Maybe this steel is too hard ?

    2> Which kind of tweezer do we have to use ? Hard steel is not easy to wind !

    I’ve also tried with copper but I will NOT send a picture 🙂

    Thanks.

  4. Pingback:Sitar Factory » How to make a mizrab, the translation

  5. Thierry, you are very brave. What is your best time in making a mizrab ?
    Keep on exercising !!
    Soon I will publish the translation and if you want I will be glad to give you a course.

  6. Heuu, well … I tried and … not easy to do it in one minute 🙂

    The result was … how can I say ? …indescribable :-))))

    I’m waiting the translation of the sheet in Hindi.

    Maybe I will have more success :-)))))

    Or Klaas can you give a course ?

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