Not much going on over here, wish I could come up with a hot topic to get everyone peeved enough to post, but I really can't think of much right now.
Does it make much difference what quality strings you use as tarb strings? Won't they all just about resonate just as well?
I don't remember where, but I read somewhere that you should tune your main strings before you tune your tarb strings. I suppose they mean that tuned tarb strings could make hearing the tone on the main string difficult to hear, if you don't muffle the tarbs? I mean, if I'm replacing all the strings on my sitar at once, can't I go ahead and tune my tarbs before I put the main strings on, so they won't be in the way? As long as I muffle them when tuning the main strings, I don't know what would be the difference. In fact, if I have a bunch of loose tarbs, then I tune the main strings, almost seems that when tightening the tarbs to tune I could tension the neck enough to detune the main strings anyway?:-)
OK, is that enough to get everybody chatting for a bit? :-)
Just got back from Waxahachie, death in our family. Long drive there and back and I'm pretty wiped. Just running thru the forum before I call it a day. Yes, go ahead and tune up the tarabs first. Don't have to be to pitch, just put some tension on them. Then do the mains. Not that much difference which you do first.
Russ (Aug 03, 2003 10:22 p.m.):
Just got back from Waxahachie, death in our family. Long drive there and back and I'm pretty wiped. Just running thru the forum before I call it a day. Yes, go ahead and tune up the tarabs first. Don't have to be to pitch, just put some tension on them. Then do the mains. Not that much difference which you do first.
Well, that makes the most sense. I cannot think of any reason to not tighten the tarbs first.
So sorry about the death in your family. Death is change; changes causes pain; face your pain, acknowledge it, but don't let it cause suffering. Instead, acknowledge the good memories, and the blessings of the past.
Thanks Billy. Was a first cousin, but she was always more like a sister to me. She was the one who saw the sitars hanging on the wall in the Pier 1 store in Ft. Worth and told my mom about it all those years ago. So, she will always be associated with my love of sitars and ICM.
She fought cancer for two decades and then gave her body to science so others might have a chance. Can't beat that for dedication.
Well, I have all the strings off my MPS right now, working on retying frets. So, I have a full string replacement job coming up. I left the tarb pegs in so I wouldn't have to figure out where they came from. As I can only do one string at a time, works for me.
The wife of our minister who was also an associate minister of our church, as well as playwrite, counsellor, and bunches of other hats, just died of cancer a couple of days ago. I know she was in pain for a long time, as active as she was. It was with her and her husband, and some others from our church, that I visit Nepal and Tibet with. Her strength under pain always amazed me, since I too struggle with pain. It is because yes, she had a lot of pain, but she didn't suffer. However, for her, I think death was a blessing.
Enough said, I don't dwell on unhappy thoughts.
I hope not to have to retie frets anytime soon. By the way, my tarb pegs do have the notches in them (as well as the main frets) and I can now easily tell which one goes where. But I've taken it even further, and used a sharpee to write down the peg number directly near the end of the peg so there's no question if I can't see the notches well. Unfortunately, since my fiasco of getting the pegs mixed up, I tried to get them in order, but was breaking strings right and left (since its almost impossible to not get kinks in them when taking them off one peg and putting them on another), so I ordered some strings of just the right size from juststrings.com. Hence my question in another topic about whether the quality of the tarb strings makes a difference. I don't see how it could, and at this point, I actually don't care; I just want to get this thing back together!!! These strings were just 2 or 3 bucks for a dozen, so I ordered a couple of dozens! Should allow me several mistakes. . . . .
Hey Billy: There are posts about this somewhere in the archives, but in case you didn't know, you can buy bulk coils of wire from Silverbush Music and www.fortepiano.com. It's much cheaper and a coil will last you years, perhaps a lifetime. Perhaps Lars can hook you up also, as he imports the Pyramid strings.
Well, yeah, technically there are differences in tarab strings, but the differences are minimal. Only in the mains do I hear a real difference. I like forte piano. Lets you specifiy the exact gauge you want(heavier gauges have a louder, clearer tone and don't easily break).
Awww man. . .well, forte piano is better than generic strings from India. . I've had mixed results as far as sitar goes. It is Roselau wire but I honestly like the Pyramids and use them exclusively but let me think about it. .I will eventually have tanpura strings, etc. and will use them as they're the only choice really. .The Pyrmids are more expensive but a better alloy and very consistent quality and also they're cut up, etc. by hand in Germany which makes the price higher. . .I think this has been discussed in detail before though. . .
K.K. (Aug 04, 2003 04:46 p.m.):
Hey Billy: There are posts about this somewhere in the archives, but in case you didn't know, you can buy bulk coils of wire from Silverbush Music and www.fortepiano.com. It's much cheaper and a coil will last you years, perhaps a lifetime. Perhaps Lars can hook you up also, as he imports the Pyramid strings.
Yeah I know, there are several places to buy spools of steel string. The thing is, many of them sell enough on one spool to last a couple of lifetimes. I bought 24 tarb strings, with shipping was about ten dollars. We have some loyalty with juststrings.com, I've bought dulcimer strings from them, my son and one of my daughters have both bought guitar and base strings there, and we've all been ok with them. They do sell single strings, I haven't checked if they sell one in Ma size, but I would imagine they do.
One thing, I have never seen anyone sell single or bulk Pyramids, except Lars with his five string pack. I wonder why? Is this factory manipulation of the market???
Lars (Aug 04, 2003 08:43 p.m.):
Oops, forgot to login. .sorry Billy!
Lars
Seems that the cookies for this forum have been reset for some reason. If you had it set to save your login, you probably had to login manually. Life in the fast lane. . .
I imagine David C. does maintenance on the forum now and then, requiring resets.
Hey, I like the Pyramids for the mains. They really are good. I imagine they don't do spools because it would be price prohibitive to produce that much string of that high a quality. But I'm not as picky for the tarbs. Any halfway decent brand without kinks, picks or rust spots will do for me. Pyramids are fine too. .
Russ (Aug 05, 2003 03:28 p.m.):
I imagine David C. does maintenance on the forum now and then, requiring resets. .
Hey, you're talking to the King of running forums, been doing it for years. . Usually I do something that screws up the cookies, I get all kinds of nasty messages compalining. You guys take it pretty well, much more laid back. Speaks to the meditative/spiritual music we listen too.8)
Yeah, a number of us spend time in the "church of sitar" I think. Your talking to the king of "laid back". Any more laid back and I'd probably fall over.
