DIETER ZARNITZ INSTRUMENTS | Sitar #5 (1994)

This series features the instruments created by german luthier and sitar-enthusiast Dieter Zarnitz (1934-2024). Check them all out here: matyasitar.de/...
Here is the fifth lute-style sitar made by Dieter in 1994.
My old friend late Dieter Zarnitz was a self-taught german luthier of the highest order.
Besides repairing and optimizing many musicians instruments he himself made seven sitars, one surbahar and three tanpuras during his lifetime. Their unique feature is that he did not use gourds (made from pumpkins) as resonators as in traditional indian sitar-making but made the resonator and the tabli more akin to western or arabic style lutes. They are true beauties with slightly different voices than traditional sitars.
In his last will he asked that his instrument-collection shall be handed over to me. I have decided to document his unique instruments for posterity and in this way find them good new homes with musicians in the future.
Mono recording with a single ribbon microphone.
Raga Bhairavi: alap & drut gat
Listen to more instruments made by Dieter:
• Dieter Zarnitz Instrum...
A sidenote for the Rasikas:
With most of the instruments recorded in this series i barely spent more than half a day before recording. I tried to keep them as close as possible to the way Dieter left them. In most cases i had to re-do the main string jawari and realign some of the strings to what my hands are used to. Many details such as string spacing, neck width & thickness, bridge height, string gauges/material differ sometimes drastically from the sitars i am playing regularly. Please excuse any rough spots & glitches. I tried to get inspired by the instruments itself so that they lead me to an adequate recording of their voices and create short miniature-raga portrayals . Sometimes that worked out better than other times.