The making of a solid body electric sitar in plexiglass, the See-Tar.

Specifications    Materials    Drawings    The making of    Press    Video

This instrument has been made on demand
The original idea comes from Purbayan Chatterjee (May 2014)
Design & drawings by Klaas Janssens @ Sitar Factory (September 2014)
Raw plexiglass body is made by Patricia Stoops & Alexander @ Plexi Reine (Januari/April 2015)
Assembly & completion by Klaas Janssens @ Sitar Factory (May/June 2015)

Specifications

Dimensions: 1070mm x 300mm x 105mm (L x W x H)
Neck width: 90mm
Scale: 822mm
Weight: 3,25kg
String configuration: Ustad Vilayat Khansahib
Parda setting: traditional (20 with no Komal Dha or Re)

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Materials

Body: modified PMMA (Polymethyl methacrylate) = plexiglass
Parts: Black Buffalo horn & modified PMMA
Pardas: Nickel Silver wire 5,0mm diameter
Machine heads: M6 Mini / Schaller
Pickup: Slimbucker™ Jazz guitar pickup / Kent Armstrong
Strings: Silver plated steel N°3 (0,30mm) & N°0 (0,23mm) / Pyramid
Nickel flatwound Jora N°26 (0,46mm) / Pyramid

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Drawings

click on the pictures for zoom or alternative view

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The making of

1 The plexiglass body, as coming from Plexi Reine

2 Making the main parts out of black buffalo horn

2.1 taardan

2.2 langot

2.3 jawari


3 Assembly

3.1 taardan & machine heads

3.2 langot

3.3 pardas & cikari posts


4 Installing electronics for sound reproduction

4.1 pickup mount

4.2 potmeters & jack

5 Installing electronics for light effects

6 Amazing color effects


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Press



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Video

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Comments

See-Tar, the Plexiglass Sitar — 6 Comments

  1. I was waiting to see if somebody would come up with a Dan Armstrong type plexiglass body for a sitar. Very happy to see it has now come to pass. Beautiful job in concept, design, engineering and assembly. Nice clean wiring as well. Congratulations on taking this idea and making a superb job of it. Well done ! ! !

    • Hi Tony, thank you for your kind comment.
      But credit where credit is due: the original idea came from Purbayan Chatterjee. The challenge for me was only to make it come true, and yes, of course I am a kind of proud about the result. The instrument plays perfectly well and sounds amazingly good. Even pure acoustically a well-balanced sound comes out. It is very suitable for practice sessions or a late evening cosy intimate play with your most beloved one(s)… 😉

  2. Hello,
    I’m interested by this sitar.
    What is his price? There is no sympathic string: what about the sound?

    Best regard
    Patrick

    • This sitar is made on special request and not for sale. But, if you want, I can make a new one. Please contact via mail.
      The sound is superb. Check-out on Purbayan Chatterjee concerts…

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