The sitar is a long necked, fretted plucked instrument and the sound most people picture when they think of Indian music. Under the carving and the gourd it is three things: seasoned wood that will not move, movable arched frets that hold position under heavy bending, and the jawari. The jawari is the wide curved bridge, filed by hand, that turns a plucked string into the shimmering buzz that makes a sitar sound like a sitar. It is the whole instrument, and it is invisible in photographs.
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Kharaj pancham or Ravi Shankar style? Kharaj pancham adds lower sympathetic strings for a deeper, fuller resonance. Ravi Shankar style typically carries a second gourd and a different string layout. If your teacher plays one, buy that one. Otherwise either will serve you for years.
Does the carving change the sound? No. Carving and celluloid work are for the eyes. Tone lives in the wood, the construction and the jawari. Buy the appearance you love at the sound grade you need.
Do you need a concert instrument to start? No, and we will say so. A properly set up student sitar from a good workshop will take you years. What it must never be is badly set up, because a sitar that fights you teaches you nothing.
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The sitar is the instrument most people picture when they think of Indian music, and the one where the gap between a cheap instrument and a good one is widest.
What you are buying, underneath the carving and the gourd, is three things: seasoned wood that will not move, movable arched frets that hold their position under heavy bending, and jawari. The jawari is the wide curved bridge, filed by hand, that turns a plucked string into the shimmering buzz that makes a sitar sound like a sitar. It is the whole instrument. It is also invisible in photographs, which is why serious buyers shop by maker.
Kharaj pancham or Ravi Shankar style? The two common configurations. Kharaj pancham adds lower sympathetic strings for a deeper, fuller resonance, associated with the Vilayat Khan lineage's sound. Ravi Shankar style typically carries a second gourd and a different string layout. If your teacher plays one, buy that one. If not, most students do well starting on either and the difference will not limit you for years.
Does the carving change the sound? No. Carving and celluloid work are for the eyes. Tone lives in the wood, the construction and the jawari. Buy the appearance you love at the sound grade you need, and do not pay for decoration believing it is tone.
Do I need a concert instrument to start? No, and we will say so. A properly playable student sitar from a good workshop will take you years. What a student instrument should never be is badly set up, because a sitar that fights you teaches you nothing.
Travelling or playing amplified? Look at electric sitars. Solid or semi-solid body, a pickup, no fragile gourd in a flight case, and no feedback battle on a loud stage.
Compare makers on Sitar Brands. Kanai Lal & Sons, MKS, Rikhi Ram, Jayanta Sengupta and Hiren Roy through Barun Ray all appear here, alongside our own workshop instruments.
Questions we get asked
Student or professional sitar?
You can hear it and see it. Professional instruments use German strings, better brass frets and finer jawari, and the difference is in sustain and how the note blooms.
What is jawari?
The curved bridge surface that gives a sitar its shimmer. It is filed by hand, it is not on any spec sheet, and it is the single biggest reason two similar sitars sound different.
Can I do jawari myself?
No, and we would not recommend trying. A fraction of a millimetre changes the sound and over-filing cannot be undone. Your teacher will know who does it locally.