Maharaja Musicals
Our own workshop, and the largest single range on this site.
The first thing we built was a workshop, not a catalogue. We began with tabla, working directly with craftsmen, because we had learned something quickly: when you buy an instrument from someone else and sell it on, two margins have to live inside the same instrument, and past a certain point you cannot give a customer better quality at a better price. Making them ourselves removed that ceiling. Tabla first, then slowly the rest.
Today the workshop builds harmoniums, tabla, sitars, tanpuras, tanpuris, shruti boxes, bansuris, dilrubas, sarangis, santoors, pakhawajs, dholaks and dhols. It is the only maker here whose range covers nearly the whole catalogue.
What we control. Seasoned Indian woods, teak, kail and mirindi, chosen because they hold their shape through a Delhi summer and a Chicago winter. Reed selection. Tuning to A440, checked again on the day the instrument ships. Bellows tested for air leaks, because a leak you cannot hear in the workshop becomes a sustain you cannot hold six months later.
Before it is packed, we film it playing. The actual instrument, not a stock photo.
Where we sit against the named makers. Honestly: our instruments own the student to serious range on value, and we say so rather than pretending otherwise. At concert level the named workshops take over, and we will tell you which side of that line your budget falls on. That willingness is the point of carrying both.
Browse by instrument: Harmoniums, Tabla, Sitar, Tanpura, Flutes, Shruti Boxes.
