Dark stained toon wood, high polished shellac surfaces, 6 playing strings (tonal range of three octaves), 7 playing pegs, 12 sympathetic strings, inlays made of celluloid and mother of pearl imitation, plain base of the neck, synthetic bridges, brass string holder, no upper sound box. The sympathetic strings are guided into the neck at an obtuse angle over tear-proof mini-bridges, reducing the tendency of the strings to break.

The angle at which the bridge surface (jowari) has been sanded down has great influence on the sound of every sitar. If the curvature of the surface permits strong partial vibrations of the string on the bridge, a buzzing sound rich in overtones is created, which is called an open jowari. Ravi Shankar made this sound popular and Westerners often feel that this is the typical sound of a sitar.

A so-called closed jowari creates less overtones, however, its sound is more clear, concise and singing. Most Indian sitarist prefer this sound today. As a standard feature our branded sitars therefore have a somewhat closed jowari.

If played regularly and intensely, the strings dig grooves into the surface of traditional horn or bone bridges in course of time due to abrasion and thus change the relative openness or closedness of the jowaris. If sanded down later in a specific manner, the original sound can be restored or the instrument can be adjusted to a different sound. Since approximately the turn of the millennium sitars feature modern plastic bridges as standard. Their tone quality is at least equally good as traditional horn bridges. However, they show considerably less signs of abrasion and therefore don't require legg sanded down so often.

The founder of Kanailal & Sons, Kanailal Bhowmick, is a native of the present day Bangladesh and started his career originally as a carpenter. After India became independent and divided, he moved to Calcutta and trained with the renowned instrument manufacturers Hiren Roy and Radha Krishna Sharma. Principally since the turn of the millennium, his own shop in Howrah, a neighbouring town to Calcutta on the other side of the Ganges, has acquired a good reputation among musicians because of its high quality sarods and sitars. Kanailal Bhowmick runs it with his three sons Subhas, Mintu and Ashutosh, ??Kanailal & Sons are not directly related to the legendary sitar, surbahar and rudra veena manufacturer Kanailal & Brother, who closed down in 1995 due to a lack of succession.

Measure: length 121 cm, width 34 cm, depth 30 cm, weight: ca. 2.8 kg
Each instrument is individually hand-crafted and might differ from our description.