Ever fallen in love with a sarod but you couldn’t find one? Personally I love the sound of sarod very much but can’t play it. That’s pretty the same problem. Here’s a way out:
A simple solution is to convert an existing old guitar into a Sarod guitar. In other words, the best of both worlds. The idea is not new. I did it back in 2007 (read article here) but it got very quiet about that project. I don’t know why. Now there is a new attempt..:
Frederik VdB brought me his Morgan guitar on which he decided not to play anymore. One of the reasons was a solid crack in the soundboard. That had to be repaired first.
Then all the frets had to be removed and the empty slots filled with homemade wood dust paste. The surface was scraped and sanded firmly and finely. All pores were filled and it became smooth, almost like a mirror.
In place of the guitar’s E & A strings will be 2 cikari strings. These are tuned high (D4 & D5) and need a shorter scale. Therefore, by analogy with a sitar, I have integrated cikari pins on the fretboard. One at half spacing and one at 3/4th spacing. A small eye is mounted behind the pin at half distance that pulls the string down enough so that it stays well on the pin.
Because the cikari strings are always struck together, they are also shorter together. This is easy to see from the bridge. The D4 string makes a small bend. 😉
Sarod Guitar specifications & tuning chart:
Scale = 65cm
1. steel wire 0.36mm / N°5 tuned to MA (= G 3)
2. bronze wire 0.46mm / N°26 tuned to SA (= D 3)
3. bronze wire 0.75mm / N° 22 tuned to lower PA (= A 2)
4. nickel flatwound string 1,27mm / tuned to lower SA (= D 2)
5. steel wire 0.23mm / N° 0 tuned to SA (= D 4)
6. steel wire 0.21mm / N° 00 tuned to higher SA (= D 5)
Frédéric t’Serstevens is a young and talented sitarist and disciple of Shubhendra Rao and Kushal Das. Since in the beginning he was a dedicated (bass) guitarplayer, he came up with this rather common idea to convert a sitar into a guitar. But now in a suitable and really original way: why not make the accompanying strings, jora, laraj & kharaj, entirely playable on the full neck area?
On traditional sitars, it is common that these strings only can be played (without meend) up to the 4th, 5th, … 7th parda. From then onwards, very frequently, intonation problems occur due to a continuously and significantly increasing strings action. This means that the distance between the string and the frets (pardas) increases too much, and thus the played notes become higher… until unplayable.
The solution is very simple: reduce the strings action by changing the shape of the pardas.
original shape (Rikhi Ram)
hybrid shape (Sitar Factory)
With this kind of new hybrid pardas, mounted on a raised parda lane, the action on the strings is higly reduced. And as such coming very close to a near perfect intonation, comparable to a guitar:
Now even chords can be played perfectly on this instrument… making it the extreme sitar for guitarists, or,… reverse ?? Or just: the ultimate hybrid sitar… 🙂
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 kuntis
No cikaris installed
Here is another unique combination: a fusion between a guitar and a veena. The concept has been developed and build by Shintai who was born in Belgium and now lives in Denmark. He frequently plays meditative concerts on this remarkable instrument.
PlayShintai on his Veena Guitar
Basically the instrument consists of a bass guitar-neck fitted on an acoustic guitar body. It has 7 main strings, 12 taravs & 23 specially shaped pardas. The 5 highest notes, located on the soundboard, are fixed while the remaining 18 are moveable. The instrument’s impressive head accommodates 17 tuning keys. Amongst them are 4 banjo-type tuners pointing to the backside and 2 extra machine heads are mounted on the neck for tuning the cikari strings.
On Shintai’s request I’ve added a regular sitar jawari (Elforyn™) and an extra wide tarav jawari (bone) and also 6 moveable tarav moghara (Elforyn™)
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.
The first step was to pull out the frets. This precise job was securely done by my colleague Frans Ieven. Many thanks to him !!!
Then I filled up the gaps with some plain veneer.
The new fretless surface, after sanding and some layers of danish oil, can be seen in front of Lord Buddha.
Then follows the mounting of the cikari strings.
Since the high pitched cikari string needs to be only half the overall length, a mini cikari pin is mounted on the fingerboard at the 12th fret, followed by a cikari ring slot. All are made of bone.
The low pitch cikari pin is located at the 2nd fret position. Both cikari strings are close to each other.
Finally, here’s this sarod-guitar’s strings & tuning chart:
1. steel wire 0.23mm / N°0 tuned to MA (= F# 3)
2. steel wire 0.28mm / N°2 tuned to SA (= C# 3)
3. bronze wire 0.37mm / N° 28 tuned to lower PA (= G# 2)
4. bronze wire 0.46mm / N° 26 tuned to lower SA (= C# 2)
5. steel wire 0.23mm / N° 0 tuned to SA (= C# 4)
6. steel wire 0.20mm / N° 00 tuned to higher SA (= C# 5)
Now I’m waiting for Nik to come and play this new instrument…
Found some pictures of my Martin 01, which I made at CMB, Puurs, 1998 – 2000.
The guitar has a beautiful head of walnutroot-veneer.
side
head back
rosette
edge
comb
heel side
heel back
devil's head
body side
neck side
As it was my first own built acoustic instrument, it took me 2 years to finish it. Body made out of rosewood, cedar top plate, Honduras mahogany neck and fretboard in ebony. Rosette with abalone…
