Maybe one of you could help me with a problem I'm having. When I play a high Sa (17th fret? I'm not sure when I'm not holding my sitar) it makes an unpleasant cold- sounding buzz. I thing it is vibrating against the Re fret just above it. (Re sounds clean and clear). I'm thinking of taking off the Sa fret and remounting it with a tiny bit of wood or paper under it so that it's just a little higer. Does this sound like the right strategy? Thanks in advance for any suggestions
Hi Bob,
If it's only buzzing on the Sa then it's more likely that the Re fret is a little too high. If you adjust the SA then you may end up moving the problem to the next lower fret and so on. . .see if you can look closely to make sure. The makers adjust the fret height with a hammer so you could lightly tap the RE fret so that it goes down a little and see if that cures the problem. But on do it in small amounts and check each time so you don't create a bigger problem. I'm not sure of the best type of hammer but I'm guessing a small rubber headed one would do the trick so you don't scratch and dent the contact surface. . . . . .hope this helps. . .
No Bob, you can leave it on but 'gentle' is the key word. You also have to look at the fret to determine the best place to hit it so you don't mess up the curvature. . .I have a fret hammer from www.stewmac.com
that has a plastic and hard end, something like that would work. It shouldn't take much to fix. . .also you can check the celluloid on the edge to make sure there is no lump or abnormality in it that would cause the fret to be higher.
Pluck the SA and do a meend and see where the buzz disappears and appears to determine where to correct the heighth
Another thing I forgot to say was that perhaps your bridge heighth is too low also? Stick your thumb between the last fret and the MA string, that's the gap that should be there. . . . .On some sitars it will be higher but shouldn't be lower. . . . .I need to add a disclaimer here that this is all for information purposes only so you don't swear at me if it doesn't work like you intended, heh heh. . . .
Lars
