Sitar — Lutherie Encyclopedia

SitarType: instrumentA large, long-necked Indian stringed instrument with movable frets and sympathetic strings, central to Hindustani classical music.## History The sitar is the most internationally recognized instrument of North Indian (Hindustani) classical music. Its origins are debated, with some scholars tracing it to the Persian setar (three-string) adapted to Indian music during the Mughal period (16th-18th centuries), while others see it as an evolution of the indigenous Indian veena. The instrument reached its modern form in the 18th and 19th centuries. Ravi Shankar brought the sitar to worldwide attention in the 1960s through his concerts, collaborations with Western musicians (notably George Harrison of the Beatles), and recordings. This exposure made the sitar a symbol of Indian culture and influenced Western popular music, jazz, and psychedelic rock. ## Construction The sitar is a complex instrument, typically 45 to 50 inches long. The body (tumba) is a large gourd, usually a dried kaddu gourd or carved from tun wood, attached to a long teak or tun wood neck (dandi). The instrument has two bridges: the main bridge (bada ghoraj) for the playing strings and a smaller bridge (chota ghoraj) for the sympathetic strings. The main bridge has a wide, curved surface that creates the sitar's characteristic buzzing (jawari) tone. Movable metal frets are tied to the neck with thread, allowing tuning adjustment for different ragas. A standard sitar has 18 to 21 strings: 6 or 7 playing strings and 11 to 13 sympathetic (taraf) strings running beneath the frets. Strings are steel and bronze, plucked with a wire plectrum (miz…