For sitar, all ok. except for chikari and tarab we use no. 1
I am not conversant with Surbahar strings. Rajiv could comment.
Q67
Pranam Guru Ji, My question is regarding the gauge of the strings. I would like to
confirm if the following is fine for the best tone and timbre for UVK Style GP Sitar:
Sitar:
main-3
jod-26
gandhar-3
pancham-3
chikari-0
taraf-0
SurBahar:
main- 5
jod-24
kharaj-22
laraj-20
pancham-5
chikari-2
taraf-2
Guruji mai 0 no lagata hon Kya thik hai
Ustad V. Khan prefered 1 no. as 0 no. has sharp and shrill response
Guruji , surbahar me chikari aur tarab ke tar ke liye 3 no. Ka tar achha hoga ( Laraj
ke tar ke liye wounded string use kiya to 18 no. Nahee to 20 no.)Jo ki bahut achha
respond karta hai ..
Ashwin- any comment about Surbahar strings? I should have asked you in the
beginning itself !!
Pranam Guruji
the standard surbahar (in size)is tuned in “G” note and therefore the gauge of strings
can be arranged in 5,24,22,20,5,2,2 order
I customised my surbahar (bigger in size) to tune it to F# and sometimes to F
And therefore I arrange the strings to
1- 6 no. To my taste, it gives less sharpness than 5 no. and which gives more sustain
and seems ideally good to pull meend for 7 notes
2 – joda 24 no bronze
3. Kharaj pancham . Earlier I used 22 bronze which would get untuned after pulling
long meends. To avoid this I use a wound nickel string. It is used as 4th string in
acoustic Guitar.
4. Laraj shadaj. Earlier i used 20 bronze. The same problem while pulling meend and
replaced it with wound bronze string. It is used as 5th string of acoustic guitar
5. Pancham 4 no. Usually as principle, 1st and 5th string should be of same gauge so
It has to be no6. But i prefer light jawari for pancham and had to shift to no4.
6. No 3
7. No 3
Tarabh – no 3 and first two strings to no. 4
I had to change the gauge of the strings due to its bigger size which is 1 or 2 notes
lower to the standard G note surbahar
What surprises me the most is that Khan Saheb played “Purba” on surbahar which
was tuned to E note. I really wonder what gauges he used. But the jawari played very
important role in his surbahar as the size was just as same as G scale surbahar.
So in conclusion I would say that one has to customise the size, strings, and scale
according to the individual choice.
Pranam
Thanks Guru Ji for the explanation. I preserved few vintage photos of UVK playing
Sitar with upper Tumba. One pic (last) shows young U. Rais Khan playing double
tumba sitar as well. One pic (without upper tumba) is added as you are playing with
Khan Saheb
In fact when Khan Saheb came to Mumbai in 1943, he was still playing sitar with both
the tumbas for some time
What was the jawari like?
My observations would relate to our gharana jawari. And that also of jawari preferred
by Khan Saheb compared to mine. I have no idea of jawari tone of olden times as we
don’t have any good quality recordings. Ustad V. Khan preferred slightly out going
jawari ( May be with his Gyan Margi approach). I am a Bhakti Margi and hence prefer
rounded inward thrust jawari.