Dieter Zarnitz surbahar repair – Part 1

Restoring a Unique Dieter Zarnitz Surbahar – Part 1: Opening the Instrument and Rebuilding the Neck Joint

This article follows the repair and restoration of a unique surbahar built by the late German sitar maker Dieter Zarnitz. This exceptionally beautiful instrument had become almost unplayable due to a serious problem with the joint connecting the neck to the body.

In this first part, I examine the problem, open up the instrument and rebuild this crucial connection.

A unique surbahar by Dieter Zarnitz

Dieter Zarnitz was a passionate and innovative sitar maker who devoted much of his life to exploring and developing improvements to traditional Indian instrument making. An extensive overview of his work can be found on the excellent website of his friend, sitar and surbahar player Matyas Wolter.

In 1992, Dieter started building this impressive surbahar. Rather than using the traditional construction, he made the body in a lute-like structure with wooden ribs. He chose flamed maple for the head, neck and ribs, spruce for the tabli (soundboard) and ebony for the kuntis (tuning pegs).

The dimensions were based on a Radha Krishna Sharma surbahar.

After Dieter’s sad passing in June 2024, the instrument came into the hands of his friend and dedicated sitar and surbahar player Matyas Wolter.

It soon became clear, however, that something was seriously wrong.

Diagnosing the problem

The action of the playing strings had become far too high, while some of the sympathetic strings were touching the underside of the frets.

These are typical symptoms of a problem involving either the neck itself – such as warping – or the structural connection between the neck and the body: a loose or broken joint.

When the surbahar arrived on my workbench, it quickly became clear that the latter was the problem.

At the back of the neck, where it joins the body, a wide gap had opened between the decorative strip and the wooden ribs of the body.

This was going to be an interesting operation.

There were a few other problems as well. The pta (the upper plate of the neck) appeared to be slightly depressed, several tarav mogaras had become loose, and the upper string nut had shifted.

According to Matyas, Dieter enjoyed experimenting with higher tunings. Higher tuning inevitably means higher string tension, which can push a large instrument such as a surbahar towards the limits of its construction.

That may at least partly explain the structural problem we were now facing.

Opening the surbahar

As always, I started by removing the hardware: strings, tuning pegs, bridges, frets and the string attachment.

Next came the decorative strips covering the transition between the tabli and the gullu.

An interesting detail immediately appeared. Dieter had used small brass nails to hold these strips in position. In traditional sitar making, bamboo nails are normally used instead.

The tabli, or soundboard, came off relatively easily. In several places the glue had already failed and a small gap was visible. A chisel could be carefully inserted into the opening, while small wedges kept the separated sections under tension as I gradually worked my way around the body.

Once the body was opened, another charming detail appeared: a neatly glued cardboard label carrying a personal message from the maker.

Measuring the soundboard

Whenever I remove a tabli from an instrument, I take the opportunity to measure it.

Using a thickness gauge, I scan the entire surface and record the measurements on a full-size drawing of the soundboard.

This provides valuable information about how the maker shaped and graduated the tabli and creates a useful record of the instrument’s original construction. The result can be found here.

Opening the neck

Next came the neck.

The upper plate (the pta) came off just as easily. Once removed, it turned out not to be as badly depressed as I had initially thought. There were, however, cracks in the spruce around the tarav mogaras.

These clearly needed attention.

I repaired the cracks and added a long, thin strip of rosewood to reinforce the soft and rather fragile spruce. This also provides a much stronger base for securing the tarav mogaras.

The original spruce plate is quite thin and, on its own, does not provide much structural strength in this area.

The damaged neck joint

With both the body and neck opened, the joint was finally completely visible.

There were two possible approaches.

I could try to loosen the existing joint and reuse it, or I could cut it out completely and make a new one.

I decided not to rush this decision. After sleeping on it, I chose the second option. Making a new joint would allow me to extend it further into the neck, increasing the contact area and creating a considerably stronger connection.

Removing the original joint

The original joint was made from meranti.

I made several saw cuts in it and gradually removed the wood with a chisel. Fortunately, this went quite smoothly.

Once all the meranti had been removed, I discovered several additional pieces of wood underneath, possibly mahogany. These were probably used to establish the correct angle between the neck and body.

The workmanship in this hidden area was less precise than elsewhere on the instrument. Some sections of the wood were poor, several cavities appeared, and the adhesive was remarkably soft. It looked very much like an ordinary white woodworking glue had been used here.

I removed these pieces as well, exposing the complete gluing surface between the gullu and the neck.

Again, the contact was far from ideal. There were large gaps and more soft glue. At this point, it was no longer surprising that the joint had failed.

Creating a stronger foundation

I made new, accurately fitting inserts from good-quality mahogany and glued them into the body.

On the neck side, I added another piece of mahogany at the same level, creating a larger, flat contact surface. This allowed me to make the new joint longer than the original one and therefore considerably stronger.

Both sections of the instrument now had clean, flat and accurately prepared surfaces ready to receive the new connecting piece.

Dieter had chosen a simple rectangular joint rather than a dovetail. This certainly makes the construction easier, although it is inherently somewhat less resistant to the forces acting on such a large instrument.

That made the accuracy of the new joint even more important.

Making the new joint

For the new joint I selected a piece of first-class mahogany measuring: 13.35 × 6.72 × 1.8 cm

I first glued it into the neck.

Once that was secure, the complete neck assembly could be fitted to the gullu.

A great deal of care went into achieving a precise fit between the two sections. Using the mahogany inserts on the gullu, I set the neck at an angle of approximately 3°.

I cannot be certain that Dieter originally used exactly this angle on this particular surbahar. I do, however, have a drawing of one of his sitars from the same period, and on that instrument the neck is also set approximately 3° downwards.

After repeatedly checking the alignment and measurements, the two parts were finally ready.

The neck and body were glued back together.

And then there was nothing more to do but wait. The glue now needed plenty of time to dry and fully cure.

This is one of the most crucial moments of the entire surbahar restoration.

To be continued in Part 2 of this Dieter Zarnitz surbahar repair: closing the instrument, reinforcing the construction, setting up the hardware and finally hearing the surbahar play again.

Go here for Part 2 of this repair.

Dieter Zarnitz joint Repair Surbahar