P. & Brothers Deluxe
The Full Deco Deluxe is the top of the line sitar from P. & Brothers. It is an absolutely harmonious instrument with an especially round and well-balanced sound at a high professional concert standard.
Compared to . & Brothers' Full Deco model, the upper sound box and the base of the neck are decorated more lavishly (angur patta). It is made from the best available timber and with the highest possible level of perfection. The . & Brothers Full Deco Deluxe sitar is thus ideal for musicians with a highly developed sense of quality who care for a rich, concise and singing sound with very good sustain and a great dynamic range. This idea of sound has become generally accepted in India when microphones and amplifiers became common on concert stages. The slightly thicker sound board (tabli) which is particularly important for this kind of sound, however, initially also dims the sound somewhat, requiring a longer break in time before its tone fully unfolds. The unscrewable upper second sound box (tumba) is made out of pumpkin and with only a minimum of weight distinctly adds a little more resonance, mainly in the lower frequency range.
Sound sample played on one of our P. & Brothers Deluxe.
Stained medium brown toon wood, high polished shellac surfaces, 7 playing strings (tonal range of four octaves), 13 sympathetic strings, rich inlay work of celluloid with stained brown engravings, base of neck fully carved in angur patta style, removable upper pumpkin sound box (tumba), plastic bridges, blossom pegs. Two hooks at the uppermost fret allow an 'unhooking' of the two lowest playing strings, preventing them from legg stricken unintentionally whilst playing fast and vigorously in a medium or high register, which would then create a dark or blurring sound. 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 openess 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 millenium 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.
P. & BROTHERS is a very small, relatively little known family business in its third generation in Calcutta. Originally, the company was founded in Dhaka, in today’s Bangladesh. After India became independent and divided, the three sons of the founder Gopal Karmakar moved to Calcutta. Initially they worked with other musical instrument manufacturers and finally opened up a joint business under the present name in 1953. Among their customers were, e.g. Nikhil Banerjee, Kartik Kumar and Manilal Nag.
Today, Suman Karmakar is running the business, a grandson of Gopal Karmakar. Especially in a small company like this every instrument is made and checked with great individual care. As we have been continually working together with P. & BROTHERS since setting up India Instruments in 1994, they supply us with rather high quality instruments at a relatively favourable price.
P. & BROTHERS is specialised in excellent sitars and tanpuras. Suman Karmakar has been taking advice from Hiren Roy's son Barun Roy, and his sitars come as close to Barun's as one can get. After 2010 P. & BROTHERS has also taken to making wonderful harmoniums, and we carry their harmoniums since 2015.
Measure: length 126 cm, width 36 cm, depth 30 cm, weight: ca 3.2 kg
Each instrument is individually hand-crafted and might differ from our description.