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Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
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Author:  dberkowitz [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
In 2012 I was commissioned to build my take on Linda Manzer's double neck sitar with sympathetic strings for a client in Germany. I asked Linda for permission to dabble in what I felt was her world. After several years of research, design, building, tearing my hear out, etc. it emerged last summer. I kept the photos under wraps for an article I penned for Fretboard Journal that just came out in their new issue, 36. Here are photos of the guitar.

Specs: It's built on my F body (15.5" lower bout), 25.5" primary scale. 13 secondary or sympathetic strings, venetian cutaway, bound sound hole and peg heads, ebony bindings, Ryan armrest, wedge body, and a modified Elliot pinless bridge, and an a custom anodized aluminum tailpiece designed with the help of Brad Way who also did all the CAD work and 3D printing to test it. It's outfitted with a dual channel K&K system comprising of two sets of paddles for each bridge, and going out through a TRS stereo cable to a Grace Design Felix preamp-DI.

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Author:  meddlingfool [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:33 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Neato!
Author:  DannyV [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 4:55 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Wow! wow7-eyes Love to take that for a spin............ if the strings were on the right way. Haha

I could see where a wee bit of thought would go into that. Well done.
Author:  joshnothing [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 5:48 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
That looks to be about as complex a build as one could attempt. And you executed it beautifully. Great work.


Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
Author:  klooker [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:09 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Wow! Very cool.

Looks like I'll be picking up Issue 36 of Fretboard Journal.

Thanks for sharing.
Author:  Ruby50 [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:10 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Very interesting from all angles - and so beautifully conceived and executed. How many people play something such as this?

Ed
Author:  Chris Pile [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:18 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Oh, man! That one is AWESOME!
Author:  dberkowitz [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:25 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Ruby50 wrote:
Very interesting from all angles - and so beautifully conceived and executed. How many people play something such as this?

Ed


As far as I know, just Pat Metheny and my client. I don't know that Linda's made any other double neck sitars, although she has made several sitar guitars without the sympathetic strings -- Tony McManus has one I believe. She's also employed the buzz bridge on some of her multi-neck creations.
Author:  sdsollod [ Fri Aug 12, 2016 7:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Unreal... Amazing.
Author:  Steve Frady [ Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:20 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
I love the "backstrap" on the peg head. I do the same thing on my guitars. Do you scoop out the back of the neck a little bit so the "backstrap" doesn't sand away?
Author:  Quine [ Mon Aug 15, 2016 11:58 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
That's the nicest one of those things I've seen (and the first one of those things I've seen). Sure looks pretty. How about a sound clip?
Author:  Don Williams [ Mon Aug 15, 2016 12:19 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Well, I was wondering when this would get finished...and it looks stunning!
Curious about the saddle pieces though... what material David?
Author:  Hesh [ Mon Aug 15, 2016 1:29 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
David that's about the best looking and coolest Luthier built guitar I've ever seen! What a tremendous accomplishment, you should be very very proud!
Author:  dberkowitz [ Wed Aug 17, 2016 6:44 am ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Steve Frady wrote:
I love the "backstrap" on the peg head. I do the same thing on my guitars. Do you scoop out the back of the neck a little bit so the "backstrap" doesn't sand away?


Yes.

Don Williams wrote:
Well, I was wondering when this would get finished...and it looks stunning!
Curious about the saddle pieces though... what material David?
All the bone on the instrument is Camel bone that I processed from knife handle blanks. I needed bone in dimensions not commonly available -- both in thickness, width, length. The sympathetic bridge is a single piece of bone, and was a very difficult to voice. The primary bridge has individual saddle pieces. I needed an almost 5" long piece for the nut on the sympathetic neck.
Author:  Alan Carruth [ Thu Aug 18, 2016 4:52 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
So far as I know, the person who has done the most with sitar-style drones on guitars is Fred Carlson, and he's been doing it for almost forty years, iirc. His 'Sympitars' have hollow necks with strings inside, like a sitar, or viola d'amore. His wife used to make Hardanger fiddles, which use the same arrangement, and I remember seeing one of her 5-strings back around the mid-80s, if memory serves. Fred seems to have concentrated on harp guitars of late.

All that said, your's is a great looking instrument, and a worthy addition to the flock.
Author:  DanKirkland [ Thu Aug 18, 2016 5:27 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
I want to see the bracing on that thing! Looks awesome!
Author:  dberkowitz [ Thu Aug 18, 2016 6:45 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
DanKirkland wrote:
I want to see the bracing on that thing! Looks awesome!


Nothing remarkable about the bracing. My standard 6 string bracing, beefed up a bit because the torque of the increased string height from 1/2" to almost 1". There is a massive headblock to accommodate the necks. In retrospect, I could have lightened them up some, but the width of the sympathetic neck dictated the width of the block, and it being my first effort, I didn't want it to fail. There are some CF buttress blocks as well, but that's it. The bridge plate is larger in front of the saddle line because of the nature of the bridge sitting forward to accommodate the saddle pieces. That's about it.
Author:  lactose [ Fri Sep 02, 2016 6:39 pm ]
Post subject:  Re: Sitar Guitar with Sympathetic Strings
Beautiful. I always wondered how difficult it was to make those "jawari" saddles.
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