This year I’ve completed 2 plexiglass sitars. They are 100% See-Tar cloned replicas according to the original Purbayan Chatterjee copy as seen here on this site.
Sound sample:
Plexitar on AER Compact 60 amp
Comes with a solid AUER CP 12416 Protective case Pro with locks & wheels in beautiful “blutorange” (vermilion) color.
I have improved the sound of my solid body sitar SBS-O2. I added one Lipstick ‘bridge’- pickup to the combination. The earlier 2 ‘neck’-pickups can be switched in parallel or in series and now smoothly be mixed with the additional ‘bridge’ pickup by means of one of the pot-meters. All the pickups are Seymour Duncan types and the sound possibilities are divers and very inspiring.
Sound sample:
SBS-02 & SH101
You hear SBS-02 thru an Orange CRUSH20 distorted amp accompanied by a Roland SH101 synth in a random modulation (complex tanpura) mode …
Note: May not be entirely suitable for pure ICM… 😉
CURRENTLY ONE FOR SALE @ SITAR FACTORY SHOP
The modification of an acoustic travel sitar into an electric hybrid guitar-sitar.
Specifications Materials Drawings The modification process
This instrument has been made on demand
The original idea comes from Frédéric t’Serstevens (March 2016)
Design & drawings by Klaas Janssens @ Sitar Factory (April 2016)
Completion by Klaas Janssens @ Sitar Factory (June 2016)
Specifications
Dimensions: 1060mm x 300mm x 130mm (L x W x H)
Neck width: 89mm
Scale: 831mm
Strings action: 
String configuration: custom sitar (Baj, Jora, Laraj & Kharaj), tuned as guitar
Pardas: 24 custom hybrid shaped
Taravs: 11 traditional with wooden kutis
No cikaris installed
Materials
Body: teak wood
Parts: white fiber & metal
Pardas: Nickel Silver wire 5,0mm diameter
Machine heads: M6 Mini / Schaller
Pickup: Neck & Bridge single coil Telecaster™ guitar pickup / Seymour Duncan
Strings: Silver plated steel N°3 (0,30mm) & N°0 (0,23mm) / Pyramid
Nickel flatwound Jora N°26 (0,46mm) / Pyramid
Nickel flatwound Laraj N°24 (0,56mm) / Pyramid
Nickel flatwound Kharaj N°22 (0,76mm) / Pyramid
Drawings
1 Parda lane raised
2 Parda custom shaped
original shape (Rikhi Ram)
hybrid shape (Sitar Factory)
The modification process
1 The original body, removing the original pardas
2 Fitting a raised parda lane, made out of maple & celluloïd
3 Creating a new shaped parda: the hybrid parda
1 = Hybrid parda 2 = Rikhi Ram parda 3 = Traditional parda
4 Mounting a full set (24 pcs) of hybrid pardas
5 Fitting compact electronics control & pickups
Last week Friday, 19/06/2015, I’ve delivered this electric plexiglass sitar to Purbayan Chatterjee. One year has passed since he had asked me to build this instrument for him (May 2014). Initially I found it a weird idea and honestly, I didn’t favour the choice of plexiglass because of the rather unknown and synthetic nature of this material (modified PMMA / Polymethyl methacrylate). In general I prefer working on wood, rather than with plastics. But the unique challenge seduced me completely and I plunged into this venture which took me a year to accomplish.
The moment I finally passed this sitar into Purbayan’s hands was very exciting, for me as well as for him, because this is really the first sitar ever made completely out of plexiglass. The instrument has a breathtaking look. The transparency is 100% and makes it look quite unreal… But, as this is meant to be a professional musical instrument, I was especially wondering how it will behave on stage, how it will sound, will the material withstand the constant changing and heavy tensions caused by the powerful play of an extremely talented professional sitarist like Purbayan Chatterjee…? 
Soon after handing over the instrument I went back home and kept my mobile close to me. That same afternoon Purbayan tested the sitar profoundly during the rehearsal for a concert the next day in Brussels with Slang, the impressive jazz/rock band (with flute virtuoso Manuel Hermia) from Belgium. 
To my relief no alarm call came, not in the evening, and not in the following morning. A few hours before the concert on Saturday I received an sms from Manuel Hermia writing: “Purbayan loves your sitar!!” and, indeed, a few moments later, when we met in front of the concert stage, his big smile welcomed me,… and,… the concert was marvellous and blew away all my initial questions. Purbayan named the instrument “The See-Tar”, a see-through sitar.
Must read (on this site): The making of a solid body electric sitar in plexiglass.
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)
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
Drawings
click on the pictures for zoom or alternative view
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
Press
Video
Swarangini Digital is an electronic tanpura machine that delivers high quality original tanpura sounds. It has been introduced to the market in 2008. For more info about this very handy and popular machine visit the Sound Labs website. The machine is excellent for tuning and accompaniment. But, since this is a digital machine, it has a big disadvantage: the main volume is not anymore adjusted continuously but in steps. And, unfortunately, these steps are rather big, especially in the lower volume regions. Also the lowest sound ever is still much too loud in many occasions such as practice at home.
The most simple and very adequate solution is to create yourself an analog volume fine tuning knob by putting a potmeter in series with the loudspeaker. The only consideration which has to be taken into account is that this part of the circuit works under a slightly higher current level since it is the main amplifiers output. So, best is to choose a wire-wounded (high power) potmeter. A value of 50 Ohms, 4 Watts works great.
Open the box by removing the 4 screws and cutting the warranty seal sticker. Drill a 10mm hole through the side and remove the excess plastic on the inside to make room for the potmeter. Fix the potmeter and loosen the black wire which is leading to one of the solder lugs of the speaker. Solder this wire to the middle lug of the potmeter. Take another piece of insulated copperwire and solder it between the adjacent potmeter lug and the speaker lug on which the black wire was attached before. Close the box and mount a nice knob. Thats all for your custom volume finetuning knob…
Here is an introduction to the Fosse Electric Sitar. This instrument replicates the sound of the classic indian sitar. It is a new solid body electric instrument made out of carbon fibre by Gregg Fosse.
More info on www.fossesitar.com (soon ??).
During my learning school at Centrum voor MuziekinstrumentenBouw, CMB, at Puurs, Belgium, in 2000 I made a Gibson EB-3L replica. I’ve choosen this electric bass because of the unique and original “slotted head” construction which I applied later to my new style sitars SAS-01 etc…
This guitar has a Honduras mahogany body and neck with Indian rosewood fretboard and head top plate.
Because the original instruments sound wasn’t very inspiring I decided to replace the pickups with some modern and better performing types made by Di Marzio. Their DP145 Will Power™ neck model is very deep-sounding with great low-end definition. Its dimensions are the same as the original replacement Model One™, but it’s a little louder and fatter-sounding, and pole piece spacing is slightly wider for better string alignment with long-scale basses.
pictures made by Luc De Gezelle 2009
New page added with more semi-acoustic sitar & solidbody sitar pictures. These pictures (most of them) are made by Luc De Gezelle. The pictures are coming in autoviewer slideshow mode… Feel free to take a look here.
Specs and other info about these instruments can be found here.
Or download the new style sitars pdf brochure.
I ‘ve made some simple and interesting technical modifications to Frederic T’s new travel sitar. He has bought it last year in New Delhi.
1) I have installed Schaller™ M6 mini machine heads. These run so much more smooth and accurate then the rather cheap and crappy original machines.
2) Also mounted a Kent Armstrong Slimbucker™ Jazz guitar pickup which brings it very close to the sound of a full scale Jazz Sitar.
