- 5 stars: 0 (0%)
- 4 stars: 1 (100%)
- 3 stars: 0 (0%)
- 2 stars: 0 (0%)
- 1 star: 0 (0%)
This instrument is very nice. It arrived in only a few days to the US from India!
The bridges are good, most of the strings resonate perfectly. There are one or two string slots with minor imperfections on the bridge -- but certainly nothing that would make the instrument unplayable, especially considering that this sitar has a total of 20 strings with only 2 strings not resonating the best. Again, though, it is still completely playable.
I have had a few strings break, but I have learned that this is common. One of the chikari strings broke, but this was very easy to fix. Two of the sympathetic strings broke, but again, this wasn't too hard to fix. No other strings have broken -- I have had the instrument for about a month.
The frets themselves are sturdy and tied on with strong string. The method they tied the string on is also very sturdy as well as aesthetically pleasing.
The decoration on the instrument is absolutely beautiful -- you can tell that it is handmade, but handmade by a knowledgeable person, and that only adds to the beauty. The gold strings that tie the frets are a very nice contrast to the black wood. The instrument is black, not a very dark wood. Because of this, the white inlay work is also a very nice contrast to the black wood.
The fact that all of the 7 main strings have guitar-style tuning pegs is absolutely wonderful. This makes them all very easy to fine-tune. The sympathetic strings have the traditional wood pegs for tuning, which is also fine -- they tune a lot faster than the guitar peg, but it requires a little extra effort to fine-tune it. Again, this isn't a problem.
The fine-tuning beads are nice as well -- the tuning bead for the main playing string (the one on the bottom) is carved into the shape of a swan, the bead for the second playing string (one up from the main string) is simply a bead, but it is still a nice piece -- it fits well with the rest of the instrument.
The sitar is an electric sitar. The sound that comes from the pickups is OK, but I prefer the sound of playing this instrument acoustically. It is definitely loud enough to play acoustic.
All in all, I would rate this as 4 stars out of 5. I am not an expert, but I think that an expert would be able to distinguish this instrument from a 5-star instrument. This instrument is very playable, especially if you are just beginning. There is a little room for improvement, but that is only if you want to fine-tune the instrument to be the best it could possibly be.
That being said, you could very easily get a "5-star" type sound out of this instrument. It is very easy to get the sympathetic strings to resonate, and the main string produces a very nice sound.
Overall, I would say that playing this instrument is very enjoyable. Anytime I sit down to play this instrument, it is a joy.