Neal;
Own an Mangla? If so, loosen the strings and remove the bridge. See the bare spots on the tabli? That's so the bridge has full contact with it. The more full the contact, the more energy is transferred. Better the sound. If its not flush, I would sand it a bit so that it is.
Not an official member of the Culture Club, but yes it's a Mangla. This is where I ran into some trouble recently. The feet were not at all flush, so I sanded it a bit to achieve a better contact, and lo and behold - the sound of the jawari had changed (duh, Neal). So I couldn't take too much off the feet for obvious reasons, so I went up to the jawari surface to correct the sound. .big mistake. I have been talking to Lars as to see how to fix this mess, so stay tuned. I was pretty bummed for a couple days when it happened, but I guess that's the only way to learn. - i.e. to dive in and get your hands dirty. Neal
Neal;
Own an Mangla? If so, loosen the strings and remove the bridge. See the bare spots on the tabli? That's so the bridge has full contact with it. The more full the contact, the more energy is transferred. Better the sound. If its not flush, I would sand it a bit so that it is.[/quote]
I think maybe this question is because of a drawing the the Junius book depicting the feet as curved with 4 corners touching? I believe the intent was to show that the legs were matching the curve of the tabli but the illustration was a little out of proportion. . . .Better to have it all touching for optimal transmission of the string energy.
Lars
I have had the same thing happen, you need to get a very light sand paper(very light) lay it on the face of the sitar where the bridge will go, must looen all the strings & get them out of the way slowly move the bridge feet across the paper at the same time , each time eye how it sets on the sitar and appears flush. this is the best way to do this if you haven't had mush practice doing this type of job, and I still like to do it it this way its a bit more fool proof. I've done about 10 of these to date so like myself we live and learn. . . . . .Peace
My magic question is, where on the tabli should the jawari feet be placed.
I would just like to know if there is any formula to where the jawari should be according to the length of the strings and the scale.
I have asked before without geting any answers, can anyone help me with this.
I guess it would be easy to place it where it was when it came from the shop, But then again i have seen sitars with a loose jawari and a comment from the sales people that this is n adjustable option. place it where you think it sounds the best.
Personaly i think it must be with the sitar as with other stringed instruments with a bridge. that here is a "formula" on where to place the bridge to obtain perfect intonation and tuning.
Jan: If you're more of a visual learner, Ashwin Batish's "Tweaking Your Sitar" video explains this very well. He shows how to set up the bridge and the frets for correct intonation, and lots of other tweaks. You might be able to find a used copy on ebay.
