Nice Shoes Sitar Front View.
Dark is the theme that was intended. Multiple woods are used. Mahogany, padouk, lignum vitae, cocobolo, rosewood, walnut all mixed in here.
Nice Shoes Sitar Head Stock.
I added a black delrin cap on the rosewood string nut. Cocobolo border frames the mahogany and the trim is faux tortoise shell. All the pegs are rosewood.
Nice Shoes Sitar Headstock Profile.
A rosewood piece on the end of the neck was needed. Note the brass nail head accents on the fine tuning beads.
Nice Shoes Sitar Headstock Profile.
The vertical side wall of the neck is a design feature I came up with to allow an even grip of the peg shafts in their respective holes. It also gets more air inside the neck for a little more resonance, I expect.
Nice Shoes Sitar Headstock Profile.
That Hoover Dam string nut sets the main strings at graduated distances to the frets. With different string materials and tension, doing so gets those strings much more in tune.
Nice Shoes Sitar Neck Detail.
Featured here are elements that set this sitar apart. Brass chikari posts, brass taraf string eyelets, machined frets set on a cantered ramp with 3mm. faux tortoise shell runners and really nice rosewood pegs all contribute an instrument I'm proud to show off !
Nice Shoes Sitar Pick Guard.
I'm really happy with this combination - dark wood with tortoise shell and cocobolo thumb tabs. That lignum vitae bridge looks good there as well.
Nice Shoes Sitar Tabli.
The tabli carving is my copy of a 1960's Kanai Lal instrument. I changed a few leaves and the odd flower bud. This design still reads as floral even at a distance. With regret, I had to install a strip of red sand paper as a traction bed for the fine tuning duckie. Note the added mics.
Nice Shoes Tail Piece.
Knowing that microphones would be part of the design, I made this tail piece extra wide. The strings draw straight back from the bridges and are combed through to the brass tail pins. This grooming design allows room for the tuning beads not to collide with each other and with all the string loop windings below the cocobolo cross piece, no bleeding fingers or shredded instrument case will occur. There is wood reinforcement inside as well so all this hardware is secure. The aluminum mounting bracket was kit bashed from a cable tv coax wire connector.
Nice Shoes Sitar Down The Neck.
This pic shows the cantered fret tracks. With this design, the fret / string angle is achieved with having to severely bend the frets. This makes access to the frets very smooth and comfortable.
