Buying A Sitar Part 2

Everybody is different when it comes to buying an instrument. Some are willing to spend a lot of money, and others want a bargain. I fall into the latter category.
When I bought my first sitar, I thought I would get something fairly cheap, since I was just learning and wasn't sure if I would stay with it. I had never seen a sitar before in person, so to speak. I mean, they can't be that expensive, can they? I googled around, did my "research" and found a number of places on-line that had sitars upwards of $1000 USD (see my links section). I emailed everyone who had a sitar for sale, many in India. Everyone was more than happy to sell me a sitar, but few would tell me much about them or what to look for.

Sitar Teacher Wanted

I arranged for a "sitar" teacher (who was really a guitar teacher). He suggested I buy a bina from a store in toronto called "kala kendar". I bought the only sitar they had left. To their credit they tried to suggest that I wait for another shipment with more selection, but I persisted. The sitar I bought was the cheapest Bina sitar. Some of us loveingly refer to these sitars as "standard issue Bina". It was about $350. I was happy! I thought, in no time I'd play those Ravi Shankar-like twangy sounds that I loved so much.

Occidental Sitar

At this point, I found my next teacher, who is now a good friend [INSERT LINK TO MAJID]. I brought the bina to my new teacher and soon found out that it was barely tunable let alone playable: the frets were so loose they moved when you touched them; the pegs didn't fit in the holes properly, so as you tightened them, they would slip and lose the tune; the sound was more like a cigar box than a sitar -- and if that wasn't enough, it was too small for me! Remember, I had no idea what to look for. In retrospect, I cannot blame the dealer. Although he refused to take it back even to trade up to a better model, it was my own damn fault. I was cheap and impulsive. I had acquired an "occidental" sitar!

It was really frustrating for my teacher because he would have to stop the lesson every 10 minutes or so and re-tune my sitar. He couldn't stand the sound! I spent a lot of time fixing frets, changing strings, re-fitting pegs etc. At the end of the day, the sitar was better than when I got it, but it sounded awful. Finally, I sold it for a loss and it hangs on someone's wall gathering dust. I sold it so fast, I didn't even have time to take pictures to show what a bad sitar it is. Don't worry. Just do a search on ebay and any sitar you see for less than $400 is probably an "occidental" sitar.