Sitar and instrument setup by Lars Jacobsen of Rain City Music

In other words, here's why you should get your instrument here and what's involved. All instruments without exception need a level of work and setup. This has always been the case as for example Ravi Shankar had Nodu Mullick rebuild his Kanai Lal & brother instruments. Very rarely you had a maker like Hiren Roy who did everything mostly perfect. In the case of us here on the other side of the world as a full service luthier as well as a player what I do is get you an instrument that is as perfect as possible.

I have done thousands of instrument setups and jawari, it will be done well!

SITAR SETUP PROCESS

Details about what's done here and what it would cost you to have a trained luthier fix or repair.

1. Polish Traditionally sitars are polished using shellac, the European term is French polishing. From start to finish done properly it should take 4 to 6 weeks for the various layers to dry, especially the color layer. In India however it's done in 1 to 3 days, this leaves you with a thick polish layer that hasn't dried and results in a big mess when you get it as the packing materials leave marks everywhere. Even from the very best makers you'll still get light marks.

All sitars are polished here, including color layers if needed. Very slight 'shop rash' marks usually left alone unless it's severe. This would normally cost $200 to $600 depending on the severity of the damage were you to bring one to my workshop.

2. Fret setting Frets are not all the same curve/height, they usually start flatter toward the headstock. There is another problem that I've never seen makers solve and that is the dreaded "back buzz" where on a resonant body the string will buzz behind your finger on a fret that's pressed on a note. This is because frets aren't always the same height and it happens on all of them, even $5000 boutique sitar makers. A good fret setting is harder to do than a jawari service on a bridge.

Frets also usually have hammer marks, sometimes pitting as well and require machining/buffing and retying fret threads if they're loose.

All frets are adjusted, replaced, machine buffed and crowned as a part of my setup here in the workshop. This would cost between $180 on up were you to bring one to my workshop.

3. Strings You can't do any of the above right without a new set of strings. The reason is that that machines used to draw the wire on Indian sets are old and worn, so over time the sizes become thinner. Strings in India can often be slightly different in size, When you start playing one direct from India it might be fine until you change the strings, then problems with the jawari will show up (assuming it was done of course) so it's best to use the standardized sizes in common use before doing jawari or fret setting.

All strings are replaced here, I use American wire for this. Mapes for the steel and either Millard or Nacorbre bronze wire. If you want Roslau instead that's also possible. A string change would cost you $90 were you to bring an instrument here for this job.

4. Hardware setup This involves grooving nut and bridge slots as well as chikari slots. A common problem is the tone of the chikari strings and the posts are just twisted/angled to improve it. Slots should be mostly straight. On kharaj pancham sitars the bass strings usually need deeper slots to get the few notes on intonation especially for the 4th string. And not to mention the various phantom buzzes and rattles that have to be chased down, anything from loose peg tips to string loops can create unwanted noise.

Hardware setup fully done here, this would cost you $60 minimum were you to bring an instrument to my workshop.

5. Peg Fitting Each peg is removed and sanded, excess length trimmed and beveled. This saves a lot of aggravation as the pegs seat into the instrument over time. Often the smaller end will get stuck in the exit hole which causes them to break as the exit hole should just be a fulcrum/guide to keep the peg in place. Pegs are lubricated and chalked after shaping so they can be turned by hand, all of them! Of course I include a tuning wrench just in case but during the time I learned the wrenches were kind of frowned upon. Still, being able to tune with your fingers is necessary.

Peg fitting fully done. Were you to bring your instrument to the workshop for this it would cost about $120, or $180 with string change.

6. Jawari This is one of the most important things of course so lets talk about it. It is thought of as a mystical process with many secrets that the uninitiated could never hope to learn, this is bolstered by many a craftsperson as well hoping to make hundreds of dollars for 1/2 hour of work. The reality is it just takes practice and the person doing it should know how to play well or be with a player as it's done.

There are 2 general styles, Vilayat Khan/Gandhar pancham (GP) and Ravi Shankar/Kharaj pancham (KP)

VK style is the easiest, part of the reason they're more popular in India. The main bridge is less buzzy, it's hard to screw it up.

KP however is more buzzy and takes more skill and patience to do. The 3rd and 4th bass strings are almost never done well and the 4th string will take about 50% of the time for the total jawari service.

Here in the workshop I generally will set them up with a ROUND main bridge jawari. This is halfway between both styles and allows for extended wear before another jawari service is needed.

Sympathetic strings are usually done OPEN so they're all resonating. You don't want a full open sound on a new sitar however as it'll get out of control as the instrument breaks in but they should respond.

What is this worth? If you were to bring a sitar here to my workshop for a full jawari service it would be a few hundred dollars minimum and take 1/2 to a full day. Some of the boutique makers will charge $500+ and make you leave the instrument with them (hmmm, I wonder why?) It's always good to leave a jawari service overnight to be checked the next day. If you're near me locally you are always welcome to watch everything.

In Conclusion: Perhaps 9 out of 10 people will just be going after looks or wanting something cheap. This is understandable of course but I have always catered to those few that want an instrument ready for serious practice and playing. This is what I personally prefer as well and I've spent most of my life playing and learning all the aspects of sitar fitting and making. So my friends, the prices do reflect this work, this isn't Ebay or Amazon. You can tally up what would need to be done on a cheap sitar from these various places and often it would be much more than what we're charging here and you'd still have an inferior instrument because of mass production and levels of middlemen.

I work with only a very few makers, all who I personally know well and it's the reason I travel to India once or twice a year. Just to connect and we all work together. As long as the basics are covered and good wood is used, peg holes in the right place, etc. then the rest gets done here and we are all happier this way. In India it's hard to sit with one sitar for 3 days to get everything perfect, so I do it here.

When you purchase a sitar or other instrument here I'm happy to set it up to whatever you like. I will give you recommendations based on the type of body/structure for the best tone. A new instrument will need to season and break in, the best way is to ensure you have it in perfect condition and that you'll play it as it ages.

Any questions please email me or call/text/WhatsApp +1 253 678 2605 All inquiries are welcome and there's no obligation.

Here are the Accessories included free with each sitar from Rain City Music

1. Fiberglass case(s) not shown here

2. A full set of strings, same as I use here in the workshop

3. String hook for sympathetic strings

4. 1 DVD from the Sitar Performance series, 18 titles to choose from!

5. Tuning wrench (Narka/Kanati) for sympathetic pegs

6. 3 mizrabs and a fingerpick for your pinky to strum the sympathetics

7. Bling ~ calendar, etc. as available

Please click photo to enlarge