Shruti Box

The long version, including which key and which size, is in our guide, How to Choose a Shruti Box.

A shruti box is the simplest instrument we sell and the one people become most attached to. It is a wooden box, a set of reeds, and a bellows. You open the drone notes you want, pump with one hand, and it sings underneath you for as long as you keep going.

That is the whole instrument, which is why what it is made of matters so much. There are no frets to fudge, no strings to blame, no technique to hide behind. A shruti box is nothing but reeds and airtightness, so the difference between a good one and a poor one is the difference between a drone that blooms and one that wheezes.

What to listen for

Sustain. A well-built box keeps sounding for a good while after you stop pumping, and stays even when your bellows strokes are not. That is a sealed body and well-matched reeds doing their job.

Leaks. The commonest fault in a cheap box, and the hardest to fix later. Every box we send out is checked for leaks before it ships.

Size against voice. Bigger boxes drone deeper and louder. Singers most often want medium. Deep male voices, meditation rooms and yoga studios usually want large. Small is for travel and for anyone playing close to their own ear.

Choosing between ours and MKS

Our own workshop boxes are built in seasoned teak, in small, medium and large, plus an espresso finish and one Super Premium model in pine. They are the value benchmark here, because we build them.

MKS Concert boxes come from Monoj Kumar Sardar of Kolkata, a harmonium house. That matters more than it sounds: a shruti box is a harmonium without a keyboard, so harmonium-maker reed skill is precisely what you are buying.

All of them are tuned to A440 and carry thirteen notes from C to C. A#2 to A#3 and G2 to G3 can be ordered instead, so tell us which you need when you order rather than assuming the standard.

Who buys these

Vocalists who want a drone that never needs retuning mid-practice. Yoga and meditation teachers who want a sound that fills a room without electricity. Kirtan groups. Instrumentalists who want a reference pitch that does not drift. If you are choosing between a shruti box and a tanpura, the honest difference is this: the tanpura is a richer, more complex drone and a far more demanding object to own, tune and ship. The shruti box gives you ninety per cent of the function for a fraction of the price and none of the maintenance.

Customise your shruti box

Every shruti box we sell can be adapted before it ships. Ask us when you order and we will confirm the cost and timing before you pay anything.

• Tuning pitch. These ship at 440 Hz, standard concert pitch. 432 Hz costs nothing extra and adds a few days.
• Note range. Standard boxes run C to C. Other ranges, such as G to G or A sharp to A sharp, are a custom build at around $50 more and roughly three weeks, because the reeds are sourced separately.
• Two octaves. A second octave is $60 and takes about four weeks. It is only suitable on the large 16 x 12 inch box. Sustain on smaller boxes is naturally shorter, and a second octave shortens it further, so we do not recommend it below that size.
• Foot pedal. $129, and it fits every model we sell. It holds the drone hands-free while you play another instrument. We sometimes have them in stock, otherwise they take about a week to come in.
• Size and sustain. Larger boxes hold the drone longer and give deeper bass. If sustain matters more to you than portability, go up a size.