Does anyone have any input about Parampara tabla sets offered through sitars etc ?? I noticed that the lacing passes over from the right. Davids book mentions the lacing passing from the right might indicate Bengal construction indicating thin material for lacing and skin. They claim that the skins are from Bombay. . .not even close to Bengal region ? Any comments would be greatly appreciated.
Thanking you in advance. . . .Ray
Hi Ray,
It's my website so maybe I can help here. . .yes, the skin and straps are from Bombay so that you don't have the problems associated with Calcutta leather. But the lacing, syahi, etc. are done Calcutta style. . .
We also air ship them from India so there are no hidden mold problems and kept in a controlled enviroment while here.
One of the members of this forum has been here and played them so maybe he can give you some feedback. . . .also anyone near the Seattle area is more than welcome come by and try them out!
Hey Ray,
We (my wife and I) purchased the first set of Parampara Tablas from SitarsEtc. We had purchased a "High Quality" tabla set from another web site. What we found was this: the other website (X) sent us drums that were obviously used in the store as the Dayan had sweat drips all over the top, the case was fiberglass but had no lining whatsoever just bare plastic packing film. The overall sound was not quite "in" with my sitar (C#) and a bit dull. We never complained as we felt the set we purchased from "X" was the highest quality we could obtain. We have been musicians for a long time (over twenty years) and have a great deal of experience with music stores, so we weren't too put out that the instrument had obviously been played in the "shop" by many hands, actually this usually makes an instrument even better sounding but this one was dull. .
After several lengthy conversations with Lars we took the leap and purchased his standard set. I am not exaggerating when I say the overall experience just blew "X" away. The case was just beautiful, handle on the top instead of on the side making it much less cumbersome to carry, fully lined with extra padding, just a really quality case like what one might expect on a high end guitar. The tone was what really blew us away as the instruments were right "on" C# out of the case. The heads were just as pure white as can be imagined. The Bayan was noticeably heavier than the previous set and deeper in tone. We gave the other set away (it cost us $500 plus shipping) to our Yoga Guru's son as he was quite keen on playing and has a great touch for the music. I can't wait to get my new Sitar from Sitars Etc as well.
Good luck Ray
I'm not familiar with Sitars etc. But I just had a very positive experience myself with ordering tablas through Mr. Prafulla Athalye on tabla-player.com.
I'm most impressed with the quality. .and cost, customer service, and the time it took to order was enough for me to recommend his service (for Sadanand tablas out of Bombay)
Just wanted to let you all know that some bio data and pictures of the makers at Parampara is now up if anyone is interested?
Lars
http://sitarsetc.com/Parampara
Just notice that the pic, is someone hiding a mastermaker, gopal das? (bottom left, eyes closed)
C 4 rself.
http://www.sitarsetc.com/Parampara.htm
then
http://www.buckinghammusic.com/tabla/das.html
then
http://www.indianmusicalinstruments.com/professionaltabla2.htm
Good observation. . . It's Gopal Das in the picture, Sushil and Bablu also do work for him and others as well as making tablas specifically for my shop using different heads. They are free-lance craftsmen. . .
Lars
