Hey Guys- Its that time again! Time for questions by Mike and answers by you great people. .lol Well anyways, I noticed that certain scales require komal re. I've been bending up a half step on Sa for a while, but both my study materials say to move the fret. I'm scared to do this because of the thread, and I don't want to mess it up and have to learn how to re-thread my frets (I'll learn that later). So how can I move the frets without "de-threading" the fret?
First, let me say that you shouldn't hold back on learning how to tie frets onto the instrument. It really isn't a big deal and you will be required to do it at the most inopportune time (they always seem to break when you have traveled 100+ miles to sit in with someone).
To move the fret, stand the sitar up on it's langot and simply slide the whole fret up or down as a unit, speading your fingers out to cradle the fret and the fret tying cord evenly. I have found that when holding the instrument in playing position I can make the really small adjustments by simply running my index finger under the main playing strings either above or below the fret itself and nudge it to final tuning. You will notice that fret cord leaves an impression on the neck of the instrument that you can use as a rough guide for repositioning a fret quickly.
Hi Mike,
I just 'walk' the fret if it's very tight, move one end a little, then the other, then slide the string back with my thumbnail if it's in a groove in the finish. It shouldn't come undone, don't worry. . .if it does, there's a diagram on how to tie it on my site for you. . . .
