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Tuning and Stringing the Very Small Dilruba or Esraj

by David Courtney working tools

NOTE – If you came di­rec­tly to this page from a search engine, you may find this information inapplicable to you.  Kindly go to “Stringing and Tuning the Dilruba and Esraj: Introduction“, to begin.

The craftsmen in India are known for the ext­reme variety of in­stru­ments they make.  I have never seen a dilruba or esraj this small, so I have not bothered to figure out the cor­rect gauges for the strings.

I will still do what I can to help you.  If you measure the length of the string from bridge to bridge, and email me the de­tails at david@chandrakantha.com, I will try and figure out some workable gauges and email the info back to you.  Since this is an unusual size, I would also appreciate it if you could tell me what­ever you know about your instrument.  Info such as, when it was built, and where it was made, etc., would be ext­remely useful for me in helping others.

Peace and Solidarity

David Courtney