which gauge strings to use for sitar?
Ajit Pendse
I have a beginner's sitar; the strings used in it are thinner than the one
my teacher uses. is there any particular gauge which should be used
with a particular size of a sitar? mine is slightly smaller than a
full-size one. my teacher has a full-size one.
any feed-back on this topic will be helpful.
I have noticed a small crack in the neck of my sitar along the grain of
the wood (near the dhaivat fret).
what is the best glue to be used?
thank you in advance,
Ajit V. Pendse
Chemical Engineering Department
Louisiana State University
Baton Rouge, LA 70803
PH: 504-767-9063 (H)
504-388-1426 (W)
Sanna-Maria Jokinen VOS
: Hello All!
:
: I have a beginner's sitar; the strings used in it are thinner than the one
: my teacher uses. is there any particular gauge which should be used
: with a particular size of a sitar? mine is slightly smaller than a
: full-size one. my teacher has a full-size one.
: any feed-back on this topic will be helpful.
Hi! Sorry I can't help u with this one. I have just some questions
for you concerning your sitar...I've been trying to get one
for a pretty long time now, but they simply don't exist
here in Finland. So, where did u get yours? And how expensive
it was, etc...Really, anything on the subject *really* interests
me. I myself play the guitar, but I fell in love with the sitar
when I heard the sound of it from some Beatle record.
Any piece of information concerning sitars is welcomed!
Thanks in advance!
*Sanni*
:
:
: Ajit V. Pendse
:
Raman
Jokinen VOS) wrote:
I have the gauge size in my sitar book, however since I'm at college I'll
don't have that with me....I'll get it next time I go home and post the
sizes
Raman Sasi
allen lutins
>don't have that with me....I'll get it next time I go home and post the
>sizes
...i have gauge sizes too, and i *could* have posted them when i sent my
original response, but i still maintain that you should read "A Manual For
the Sitar" in Ravi Shankar's autobiography _My_Music,_My_Life_ before
*touching* the thing!!! ...besides, there is *no* standard for sitar
string gauges - sitars come in different sizes, and smaller sitars use
smaller gauge strings (they cannot handle the tension of the larger gauge
strings intended for larger instruments)...of course, there are also
personal preferences involved, and differences of opinion even among those
who make and sell sitars...
-allen
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
allen "alley cat" lutins alle...@spectra.net
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Raman
lutins) wrote:
>>I have the gauge size in my sitar book, however since I'm at college I'll
>>don't have that with me....I'll get it next time I go home and post the
>>sizes
>
>...i have gauge sizes too, and i *could* have posted them when i sent my
>original response, but i still maintain that you should read "A Manual For
>the Sitar" in Ravi Shankar's autobiography _My_Music,_My_Life_ before
>*touching* the thing!!! ...besides, there is *no* standard for sitar
>string gauges - sitars come in different sizes, and smaller sitars use
>smaller gauge strings (they cannot handle the tension of the larger gauge
>strings intended for larger instruments)...of course, there are also
>personal preferences involved, and differences of opinion even among those
>who make and sell sitars...
> -allen
Hey Allen,
Though I restpect you as a person and fellow sitar player (a well read
one at that),
I got these gauge sizes when I was in India this from N. Ramarao, whom I
was learning from, and who happens to be the seniormost disciple of pundit
Ravi Shankar.
Raman
allen lutins
Manual for the Sitar" in _My_Music,_My_Life_, p. 100). Please bear in mind
that (a) these are for a full-size model and your instrument may require
lighter gauge strings; (b) there is no agreed upon standard, and your style
of playing may dictate that one or more of these be adjusted accordingly;
(c) similarly, no two instruments are exactly alike, and one or more
strings may need to be adjusted because of that.
STRING MATERIAL GAUGE
1 high carbon steel 30
2 bronze 27
3 bronze 25
4 bronze 21
5 high carbon steel 32
6 high carbon steel 33
7 high carbon steel 34
taraf high carbon steel 34
Bruce Hamm
1)Ma - #3 Steel (.012 inches) (N. Banerjee used #4)
2)Sa - .014 or .016 phosphor bronze
3)Pa - .020 or .022 phos bronze
4)Low Sa - .028 -.032 phos bronze
5)Pa Chikari - #1 Steel (.010)
6)Sa Chikari - #0 Steel (.009)
7)Hi Sa CHik #00 Steel (.008)
Sympathetics can be all a combination of #0 and #00 steel
This is for R. SHankar/ N/ Banerjee style. Vilayat Khan style will
eliminate 3rd and 4th strings above - often doubling the 2nd Sa string
and adding a 4th chikari. THere are of course many variations. Smaller
than normal instruments can use lighter gauge strings.
Bruce Hamm
Ali Akbar College Store
http://pomo.nbn.com/home/aacm/
aa...@ix.netcom.com
215 West End Ave.
San Rafael, CA. 94901
1-800-74-TABLA 1-415-454-0581
Ajit Pendse
Thanks to all of you who helped me with information on which gauge
strings to use.
Greg Williamson
string guages associated with each.
The three ways of tuning are :
Kharaj - [Ma, Sa below, Pa below that, Sa below that, Pa above first
string, Sa above that, Sa above that again] - favoured by players who
want to play deep notes in alap eg: Ravi Shankar. There is usually a
pair of hooks to get the deep strings out of the way for fast playing.
I personally don't like this style. Sitars don't sound good played so
deep.
Jhoda - [strings 2 & 3 are both Sa, 4 is deep Pa, no deep Sa] - common
for students.
Gandhara - [2nd string removed - see below] - favoured by the more
virtuosic players eg: Vilayat Khan. The absence of deep strings, and
the extra cikari make for a brighter sound.
Gandhara is my preferred tuning and below are my preferred string
guages. Note that there are only six strings. In this tuning the
second string (Sa) is removed and that peg left empty. Therefore the
string on the third peg is here called the second string and tuned to
Sa. The fourth string is tuned to Ga, creating a fourth cikari
string. It is tuned to Pa in Rags which don't have a Shuddha Ga.
1 - playing string (tuned to Ma) - 0.31mm steel
2 - Sa below 1 - 0.41mm bronze
3 - Ga above 2 - 0.31 steel - same as playing string
4 - Pa above 3 - 0.28mm steel
5 - Sa octave above 2 - 0.18mm steel
6 - Sa octave above 5 - 0.18mm steel
taravs - 0.18mm
I have seen a Jhoda sitar strung in the following manner :
1 & 5 - 0.30mm steel
2 & 3 - 0.38mm bronze
4 - 0.53mm bronze
6, & & taravs - 0.20mm steel
You can see - some are heavier, some are lighter. I think you'll find
my suggested Gandhara tuning will suit most sitars. Unless your sitar
is a real baby one, it won't damage the neck.
For interest here is the guages I use on my Surbahar:
1 - 0.36mm steel
2 - 0.45mm bronze
3 - 0.76mm bronze
4 - 1.18mm bronze
5 - 0.30mm steel
6, 7 & taravs - 0.23mm steel
_______________________________________________________
Greg Williamson
jaya...@peg.apc.org
Maroochydore, Australia
"The revolution will not be televised" - Gil Scott-Heron
Rajan P. Parrikar
Greg Williamson <g...@ozemail.com.au> wrote:
>Kharaj - [Ma, Sa below, Pa below that, Sa below that, Pa above first
>string, Sa above that, Sa above that again] - favoured by players who
>want to play deep notes in alap eg: Ravi Shankar. There is usually a
>pair of hooks to get the deep strings out of the way for fast playing.
>I personally don't like this style. Sitars don't sound good played so
>deep.
Au contraire I have often wished that Ravi Shankar would go on and on with
his alap on the deep strings. They are the brief moments of indescribable
beauty where, via the use of those huuuge meends and gamakas, he distills
the essence of the raga (it is the kind of effect one hears on the Been by
the only master of that marvellous vadya in recent times - Asad Ali Khan).
Needless to say I like the sitar in its 'deep` mode. Btw, I think it was
on Allaudin Khan's insistence that Ravi S added the deep strings.
r
allen lutins
and gauges of sitar strings. I plan to maintain this document (in case
anyone knows of a useful FAQ into which it can be incorporated), so
comments and sugestions are welcome.
SITAR STRINGS by allen lutins 12 February 1996
There is no absolute standard for stringing a sitar, but there
are certain traditions which are adhered to. This discussion
assumes you are playing a standard model sitar; smaller sitars
often require lighter gauge strings than those listed herein.
In this document, the first string refers to the playing string
(the lowermost string when holding the instrument in playing
position). For players unfamiliar with the Indian solfege system,
the notes SA RI GA MA PA DA NI correspond with the Western major
scale notes DO RE MI FA SO LA TI. The tonic (Sa) usually falls
around C# on a standard size sitar.
There are three common ways to tune a sitar: these are KHARAJ,
JHODA, and GANDHARA. Jhoda is sometimes used by students. The
first string is tuned to Ma, the second and third Sa, and the
fourth deep Pa; there is no deep Sa as there is in Kharaj.
Gandhara is preferred by some virtuosos; it involves removal of
the second string altogether, and the substitution of the lower
strings with higher ones for a brighter sound.
Kharaj is the mode in which most players (including beginners)
will tune a sitar. The seven strings are tuned Ma, Sa below, Pa
below that, Sa below that, Pa above first string, Sa above that,
and Sa above that again. Sometimes the fifth string is removed to
facilitate playing the bass strings.
Commonly used sitar gauges for Kharaj tuning are:
1)Ma - #3 Steel (.012"; 30 gauge)
2)Sa - .014" to .016" bronze (27 gauge)
3)Pa - .020" to .022" bronze (25 gauge)
4)Low Sa - .028" -.032" bronze (21 gauge)
5)Pa Chikari - #1 Steel (.010"; 32 gauge)
6)Sa Chikari - #0 Steel (.009"; 33 gauge)
7)Hi Sa Chikari #00 Steel (.008"; 34 gauge)
The taraf (sympathetic) strings are tuned to the scale which will
be performed, and consist entirely of #0 and/or #00 steel (.009"-
.007"; 33-34 gauge) strings.
---------------
END OF DOCUMENT
---------------
Thanks to Greg Williamson (Maroochydore, Australia) and
Bruce Hamm (Ali Akbar College Store, California, US). Some
of this information was drawn from the appendix, "A Manual
for the Sitar" in Ravi Shankar's autobiography, _My_Music,
_My_Life_ (Simon & Schuster 1968). The manual is an *excellent*
beginner's guide to the sitar.