Kabul 1900 sitar restoration – Pt2
In a first part, you can learn about this particular ancient instrument, baptised the Kabul sitar, and read a description of how to check and repair the body and make the missing wooden parts. At that time, it was already clear that other important parts were also missing: at…
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,…
Dieter Zarnitz website
Dear friends, this year (06/2024) we sadly lost a very special and warm person, Dieter Zarnitz. He was a very talented and inventive musical instrument maker. Passionate about Indian musical instruments, he devoted his time to searching for alternatives to find a better construction and sound for the sitar…
Tom Thumb sitar
A person encounters all sorts of things in life, and so too in the sitar world. I knew that there are children’s sitars (mini sitar or baby sitar) that can also be played, but I had never seen such a gem before. What would you call it? A tiny…
My Last See-Tar
A random photoreport on the making of my latest and last plexiglass See-Tar. Read more about the making here: The See-Tar story … and here: 2 more Plexitars
Juma Mankas
I’ve made a set of mankas and one tarav ghoraj for Zach Ferrara. They are made out of golden dragon snake Juma® blocs. Juma® – the name stands for independently developed and very modern processing material made from a mixture of various mineral base materials, bound in a resin…
Baritone sitar – lute on a visit
Recently, David Keustermans visited me @ Sitarfactory. He came to Belgium to show his latest sitar with some pride, and rightly so. Please read on for more details about his wonderful sitar. David started building it in october 2017 @ CMB (Centre for Musical Instrument Building – Puurs, Belgium),…
2 more Plexitar sitars
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: Comes with a solid AUER CP 12416 Protective case Pro with locks & wheels in beautiful “blutorange” (vermilion) color.
Hybrid Sitar mod
… 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…
Hybrid Sitar, a real Guitar Sitar
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…
The See-Tar
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…
See-Tar, the Plexiglass Sitar
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…