Tag Archives: SitarMods

Sitar Modifications

Mayur sitar with K&K transducer

Sitar Factory Posted on by

This new Mayur sitar, made by Waseem Maner, Miraj 2022, belongs to Visjal Auwerx.

K&K Sound make natural-sounding acoustic amplification products and affordable pickups.

Their Pure Pickup for acoustic guitars, installed on the guitar’s bridge plate, is a very good choice for achieving a rich, natural guitar sound — even without a preamp. It’s one of the best passive pickup on the market, for the musician who wants a warm, full-range signal without worrying about cluttering up their instrument, adjusting onboard electronics, or having to remember to change the battery.

I chose the Pure 12-String: 3-head transducer for 12-string acoustic guitar. The larger pickup heads produce an extra strong bass response and pronounced midrange that sounds great in 12-string guitars. I installed it befor inside a surbahar, which sounds perfect!

The work begins by removing the tabli.
First, the celluloid decorations are removed and then the tumba is separated from the tabli.
A wooden reinforcement with a hole in it is then glued to the inside of the tumba. The jack connector is later mounted there.

Then the transducers are glued to the tabli just below where the legs of the bridge are. That is the most efficient place (according to K&K’s instructions) and it is quite convenient that there are 3 separate transducers.

Finally the jack connector is mounted and the tabli is glued back onto the tumba.
Because the original fragile decorations were damaged too much during removal, I place a new binding of celluloid plastic mother-of-pearl imitation. It fits best with the rest of the sitar’s copious decorations.

Done!

Sound samples played by Visjal Auwerx:

Play K&K transducer only

Play K&K transducer + EQ

Play K&K transducer + external mic mix

Play K&K transducer + external mic + tanpura mix

K&K transducer = Pure Pickup™ 12-String
external mic = AKG C2000B

Sitanpura in F

Sitar Factory Posted on by

Another very good looking but cheap and inferior sitar has been transformed into a tanpura, giving it a new life. It is an old and beautiful body with a nice and big tumba. This time I converted it into a regular 4-string female tanpura, tuned to F. The mounted string set can also reach G, but different strings are needed for higher tuning.

 

Sound sample: Play PA-sa-sa-SA Sitanpura in F

The scale measures 86cm & string set is
1: 0,41mm bronze string tuned to C3
2: 0,30mm steel string tuned to F3
3: 0,30mm steel string tuned to F3
4: 0,56mm bronze string tuned to F2

My friend Christine has made a beautiful cotton protective cover for this instrument. It is completely handmade and custom-made for this tanpura. Perfectly fitting and skilfully finished!

Read also Sitanpura, the Sitar Tanpura mod

Surtanpura, a Surbahar Tanpura mod

Sitar Factory Posted on by

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 106cm and the string set is:
1: 0,56mm bronze string tuned to G#2
2: 0,46mm steel string tuned to C#3
3: 0,46mm steel string tuned to C#3
4: 0,46mm steel string tuned to C#3
5: 0,76mm brass string tuned to C#2

Long live recycling! 😉 Listen… :

Sound sample: Play PA-sa-sa-sa-SA Surtanpura

Sitanpura, the Sitar Tanpura mod

Sitar Factory Posted on by

Good news for the thousands of “tourist”-grade cheap and crappy sitars, bought in India by trusting tourists eager for buying a “real” sitar as a souvenir. For many of them there is life after years of exile to the attic: the sitanpura is born!

I turned this old innocent banished beauty into a real full-fledged 5-string tanpura. And, it is also very flexible because it can be quickly converted into a regular 4-string tanpura. You only have to remove 1 string and put the remaining ones into another slot. You’re done…

Only one skill remains: jawari. Making the ghodi, installing it on the tabli, adjusting the angle and “doing jawari”. But also this can be learned by doing… with patience and persistance…

Sound sample: Play PA-ni-sa-sa-SA Sitanpura

The string set is
1: 0,56mm bronze string tuned to G#2
2: 0,41mm bronze string tuned to C3
3: 0,41mm bronze string tuned to C#3
4: 0,41mm bronze string tuned to C#3
5: 0,76mm brass wound string tuned to C#2

Hybrid Sitar mod

Sitar Factory Posted on by

… the ultimate guitar for sitarists …

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… 🙂

For more details, please read (on this site): The modification of an acoustic travel sitar into an electric hybrid guitar-sitar.

Hybrid Sitar, a real Guitar Sitar

Sitar Factory Posted on by

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

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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

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Drawings

1 Parda lane raised

2 Parda custom shaped

original shape (Rikhi Ram)

hybrid shape (Sitar Factory)

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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

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White Tanpura

Sitar Factory Posted on by

Inspired by the white sitar mod i’ve painted this tanpurabody also in white using Bio Pin™ waterbased organic white paint and Colortone™ high gloss waterbased finish. The patri, jawari and mankas are all made from Elforyn™, a modern synthetic ivory substitute. So also this one became a real “organic & vegan” instrument,… 100% suitable for vegetarians… 🙂 … and she looks very neat too.

Sound sample:
Play White Tanpura

Right to left hand modification

Sitar Factory Posted on by

Modifying a sitar from right-hand play to left-hand play…

It is not easy to find a suitable sitar if you are left-handed and want to engage yourself into the world of sitar playing. There are good left-hand sitars for sale, but they are very rare and if you find one than there is still the price tag. So, why not modifying a regular sitar from right-hand play to left-hand play ?

Is it always possible ? Unfortunately the answer is no. Since the modern times sitars are more and more build a-symmetrically. In order to improve the meend-playability, the neck of a sitar is mounted slightly (… or more… and more) tilted. This is for our purpose the main downside…

Another one is that the kutis are to be changed from “upside” to “downside”. It will work, but on the new “downside” the holes will be too big. So, the kutis, and thus the tuning of the instrument might become some unstable. Practically, in many cases this will not become a very big issue. It is more of a theoretical matter but at some extreme cases…??

Next to the kutis comes the langoot (tail mount). This very important piece has to be shifted over the center to the right. No big deal at first, but before acting make sure that the wooden tailpiece which is mounted on the inside of the tumba is big enough to reach this new position because the peel of the gourd alone will never hold the high forces induced by all the strings on the langoot.

Last but not least the pardas are to be reversed too. Also here some luck is very welcome to prevent a lot of extra work. If the parda lanes are not nicely even and flat, one risks that on a certain moment the strings are starting to touch the adjacent parda. If this happens, then there is a big chance that you’ll have to reshape all of the following pardas… On this sitar, we decided not to reverse the pardas since they are pretty symmetrical from origine. Finally, the string position notches on the jawari are to be changed and the cikari pins symmetrically reversed. New strings are mounted.

The result looks a little strange because the jawari had to be shifted out of the tablis center, but this instrument is pretty good playable. So, very soon now the first lesson can be arranged…

Travel Sitar Mods (3B) … the white sitar

Sitar Factory Posted on by

After finalizing the structural rough woodwork on the travel-sitar’s body (see Part 1 = Travel Sitar Mods (3A)) the final acts are: completing the body finish and preparing and installing the sitar’s hardware such as godi (jawari), machine heads, strings, pardas and eventually an electro-magnetic pickup.

I’ve painted the body in white using Bio Pin™ waterbased organic white paint and Colortone™ high gloss waterbased finish. The patri, jawari, cikari machine head mount and cikari posts are all made out of Elforyn™. So it became a real “organic & vegan” sitar,… 100% suitable for vegetarians… 🙂

Installing 7 Schaller™ Mini M6 machine heads and 20 bronze pardas N°6.

Main strings gauges :
1) Baj tar : steel, 0,30mm (N°3)
2) Jora tar : nickel flatwound, 0,46mm (N°26)
3) Laraj tar : nickel flatwound, 0,56mm (N°24)
4) Gandhar tar : steel, 0,30mm (N°3)
5) Pancham tar : steel, 0,30mm (N°3)
6) & 7) Cikari tar : steel, 0,23mm (N°0)

Some details :