Kabul 1900 sitar restoration – Pt1
In April 2020, Matyas Wolter stumbled upon some very old Indian musical instruments for sale on ebay in southern Germany. His eye fell on one of them. The description indicated that the instrument was bought in Kabul, Afghanistan, in the mid-1970s. At that time it was already considered old,…
New Narka series
I made a new set of narkas, this time from the wood of an old broomstick (aspen wood). They are done in different colours and a new SiTAR FAcToRY logo is burnt on them. My dear neighbour girl Felien Swillen is very handy with a small wood burner. She…
Staghorn Narka
I made a narka out of Belgian stag horn. This is a tuning aid to comfortably and finely tune the taravs, the sympathetic strings on a sitar. A deer antler hung on the wall. You can find them at old flea markets, or nailed to the wall at hunters’…
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…
Kunti 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…
Surbahar Kunti Repair
Photo report of a Kanailal & Brother surbahar kunti repair. The main kuntis of this surbahar are very specific. The surface is smooth and only cut with a saw. Original Kanailal replacement kuntis are hard to find. When it is broken, repair is the most obvious solution. In this…
Sitar Mod: adding 4th cikari, the alternative way…
Another young and dedicated Ashok Pathak sishya came to me with this old Hiren Roy sitar. The question came up again: Can you add an extra cikari string to this precious vintage sitar in order to meet the Balaram Pathak Garana style specifications?Since I am not so much in…
Sitar Mod: adding 4th cikari
On a special demand from a young and dedicated Ashok Pathak sishya I’ve been adding an extra cikari string to his Rikhi Ram sitar in order to meet the Pathak Garana style specifications. Here is the workflow: 1) Selecting and preparing a new kuti. 2) Marking and drilling the…
Kartar Chand sitar restoration
This early 70’s original Kartar Chand sitar just left the restoration booth. Complete body check-up and new polish has been done by late Kartar’s brother Hari Chand in New Delhi in march 2009 while I was there on a visit. The celluloid mother of pearl imitation parda lanes have…
Broken Kunti
It happens that a kunti, old or new, breaks. Most of the time, these can be repaired easily… See the new page on Kunti Repair at “blog pages / repairs”.
Kunti Repair
This sitar kunti has been broken. Since it is an old kunti, the ball is a little bit smaller than recently made new samples. So, either you change the whole set, or you repair the broken specimen. Cut the ball from the pen. Drill a hole in the ball.…