piano tuning / Indian music scales...?

[Don Tillman]

   Date: Wed, 19 Jan 2000 07:59:13 +0100 (MET)
   From: Martin Czech <martin.czech at intermetall.de>

   :::This was done on an instrument called the Coral Electic Sitar
   :::(by Danelectro in the 60's) It has a six string neck... and
   :::twelve drones beneath it that had a separate pickup  

   I always thought that a major part of the sound is "snare", ie.
   the strings touch something on the instrument body when exited.
   Something similar to electro slap bass playing.
   Is it a special bridge?

Yes, that's correct.  I've been playing an electric sitar for years(*)
and it's surprising how little the sympathetic strings contribute to
the sound.

Most of the characteristic sound of the electric sitar is in the
bridge, which is made of a block of hard rubber and slopes off at a
gradual angle so that, no matter what amplitude the string vibrates
at, some of the string is always slapping against the bridge.  It's
similiar to the fretless buzz that Jaco Pastorius gets in his bass
playing, but much brighter.

  -- Don

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(*) You're starting to expect bizarre stuff like this from me, eh?
Specifically I have the Jerry Jones copy of the Coral Electric Sitar:
http://www.jerryjonesguitars.com/electric%20sitar.htm

It's very close to the original and improved in several ways.  Also,
check out the "junior" version, without the sympathetic strings:

http://www.jerryjonesguitars.com/baby%20sitar.htm