Traditional Sitars
Acoustic sitars in both Ravi Shankar and Vilayat Khan styles, from Kanai Lal & Sons, Monoj K Sardar and our own workshop. Each one is strung, fretted and set up in our Delhi workshop.
Choosing yours
Ravi Shankar style carries a second gourd and the lower kharaj strings, giving a full instrumental voice for long alap and heavy meend. Vilayat Khan style drops the second gourd for a brighter tone closer to the singing voice.
Match your teacher's instrument if you have one. Fingering and repertoire follow the style, so the choice affects what you can learn more than how it sounds.
Decoration is partly cosmetic and partly a signal. Gulab patta, kaddu patta and angur patta carving take longer and usually accompany better wood, but a plain instrument from a good maker beats a decorated one from a poor maker every time.
Tuning and setup
We string every sitar to its designed gauges and cut the jawari by hand. The jawari is the curved bridge surface that produces the buzzing overtone, and a badly cut one makes a good instrument sound dead.
Expect to retune on arrival, over a day or two rather than all at once. Sympathetic strings are tuned to the raga being played and break more often than main strings, so keep a spare set.
Questions we get asked
Ravi Shankar or Vilayat Khan style?
Ravi Shankar style has a second gourd and lower strings for a fuller instrumental voice. Vilayat Khan style is brighter and closer to the singing voice. Match your teacher, since fingering and repertoire follow the instrument.
How many strings does a traditional sitar have?
Usually seven main and thirteen sympathetic strings in kharaj pancham tuning, or six main in gandhar pancham. The sympathetics ring in response to the melody rather than being played.
What is jawari and why does it matter?
The curved bridge surface that creates the sitar's characteristic buzz. We cut it by hand before dispatch. It wears with playing and needs recutting after a year or two of serious practice.