Juma Mankas
I’ve made a set of mankas and one tarav ghoraj for Zach Ferrara. They are made out of golden dragon snake Juma® blocs. Juma® – the name stands for independently developed and very modern processing material made from a mixture of various mineral base materials, bound in a resin…
Tumba Horror
A while ago, I received this mail: Hallo, I got the chance to buy an old Rikhi Ram GP Sitar for 40€ only (the 60yo sellers dad died and she kept it since~30yrs ago so I would guess 1970s or 80s). The sitar looks very good and has the…
Baritone sitar – lute on a visit
Recently, David Keustermans visited me @ SiTAR FAcToRY. He came to Belgium to show his latest sitar with some pride, and rightly so. Please read on for more details about his wonderful sitar. David started building it in october 2017 @ CMB (Centre for Musical Instrument Building – Puurs,…
Rudra Veena repair
This anonymous rudra veena was found by my friend Guillaume CZLT in Bombay Pekin Bruxelles, a shop for second-hand furniture in Brussels. It was quite badly damaged. One of the tumbas was badly broken, the main bridge had been torn off and lost, and all the frets had been…
Tiny Tanpura
A tiny tanpura tuned in F. She almost fits in your inside pocket. Doing jawari & mounting new strings as usual… (note jawari without threads). The scale measures 59cm only and the string set is: 1: 0,58mm brass RW string tuned to C3 2: 0,37mm bronze string tuned to…
Kunti Hole Bushing
A sitar tuning peg or “kunti” works on the basis of friction. The peg is conically ground and is clamped into a conical hole. After some time, the surfaces will wear out and the peg will go deeper and deeper into the hole. Eventually it comes out deeper and…
Hari Chand
One of my dearest friends and guru, Hari Chand, passed away yesterday. He reached the age of 87. All what you can read on this site, I’ve learned from him. I am eternally grateful to him and my thoughts go out to him and his family and friends. Death…
Makhan Lal Roy sitar surbahar repair
Here is an old and worn Makhan Lal Roy & Son sitar with numerous defects coming to my shop. It is a very rare surbahar style sitar with very little decoration. I have no idea about the age of this sober beauty but she has clearly been through a…
Surtanpura, a Surbahar Tanpura mod
Following the Sitanpura, here is now a surbahar transformed into a 5-string tanpura. This one has a mini swarmandal facility with 13 strings under the main strings (= the former taravs). The lazy Gurusoundz products are good for something after all… 😉 This surtanpura sounds awesome. The scale measures…
Hemen sitar restoration
Hemendra Chandra Sen, passed away in 2010, was a very well known sarod and sitarmaker. His shop was situated near Deshapriya Park in South Kolkata. There he mainly made sarods for the most world famous players such as Alauddin Khan and his son, Ali Akbar Khan, Amjad Ali Khan…
Hiren Roy 70’s refurbish
Hiren Roy 70’s refurbished… Peeling tumba & crack repair with color change… New jawari ghoraj mounted… Dieter Zarnitz jawari ghoraj with Cumaru top & Angelim Amargoso feet installed. Pardas added… Added RE komal & DHA komal, 23 pardas in total.
Rikhi Ram 70’s restoration
Early 1970, Michel Dumont (Musician, flutist, graduate of the conservatories of Brussels and Valencienne, who became a theatre and opera decorator at La Monnaie/De Munt) together with his wife Martine Mergeay (journalist and music reviewer at La Libre Belgique, Le Vif/L’Express and Musiq3) went to India to explore and…