Mark Schmieder Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 https://www.italiaguitarsusa.com/product/modena-sitar/ I am priced out by the $7K cost of the electric sitar I'd really like, but I do feel if only for the longer scale length that this Italia model will be a step up from my Danelectro Baby Sitar. The challenge is in how/where to buy it. No one gets back to me at the listed resellers, nor does Italia USA, after several attempts since the Thanksgiving timeframe. I thought maybe they'd gone out of business, but they had a showing at NAMM this year. 2 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Winston Psmith Posted March 5 Share Posted March 5 Can't help with the Italia site, but this looks like the sort of upgrade you had in mind - Dano; Red "Crackle' Sitar - Sweetwater 1 Quote "Monsters are real, and Ghosts are real too. They live inside us, and sometimes, they win." Stephen King http://www.novparolo.com https://thewinstonpsmithproject.bandcamp.com Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted March 6 Author Share Posted March 6 Nope; that one isn't as good as the Italia model, which is why I spent so much time late last year examining every possible option, after first carefully reviewing the recently rereleased Danelectro model with the harp strings. There's a bunch of Jerry Jones models on Reverb at the moment, and they are definitely very good, but at insane prices! The Italia is one of the few that isn't 24.75", which makes a big difference for e-sitar. 1 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted March 16 Author Share Posted March 16 I found a number to call, and left a message, asking them to at least leave a message to say whether the buy button on their site works and will result in an order placed and shipped. No response so far. I called some local stores in the region for some other hard-to-find items listed on their sites, and all were gone, plus some numbers were no good. My experience with the internet since COVID started is that most small players have fallen by the wayside or no longer keep their web presence up to date. It's very frustrating. 2 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted March 24 Author Share Posted March 24 I think I am likely to skip the guitar-style electric sitar upgrade and go straight to a traditional acoustic-electric sitar, now that I know about this company that is well-respected at all budget levels and is recently available for order from the USA: https://highvibrationstation.com/the-sitar-buying-guide/ GS Musicals gets recommendations in many places, and great reviews, but is still relatively unknown in the USA. Not sure what I'll get yet, but I am fairly convinced that anything I get from them will be better bang-for-buck and be more of the sound I want than my current Danelectro Baby Sitar or a Coral-type harp-guitar. It's very strange that stores post used Italia Modena sitars for several hundred more than what they cost new, but maybe this is due to Italia not responding to potential customers and direct order being the only way to get them (for the most part, although there is a store in Florida that occasionally posts a new one for sale). Years ago, the general warning was to not buy a traditional electric sitar or an acoustic model under $1500, but that advice was based on what was available at the time for ordering from the USA and/or UK/Europe. I wanted the semi-traditional Pygmy Guitar with sculpted frets a number of years ago but it ceased production (UK-based, I think). 2 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted March 26 Author Share Posted March 26 After way more research tonight, I've decided there's no need to go the electric sitar route. A friend told me years ago that you can't get even a semi-decent acoustic sitar for less than $3500, but people have told me the same thing about Spanish (aka classical/concert) guitars and Flamenco guitars, and yet I found ones I am very happy with, for $750 and $1400 respectively. I'm going to pick one of GS Musical's acoustic models and ask if it can be ordered without the pickup. I've done enough research to know they're one of the top brands. Some other brands didn't pass the smell test after further digging. https://gsmusicals.com/product-category/sitar-acoustic/ Anyway, the article I linked earlier, really does a great job of explaining the most important aspects of sitar buying, sitar styles, tuning, playoing, etc., so I have conquered my years-long intimidation factor that was caused by purists telling me so many things that don't apply to my specific goals and needs. 3 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted March 30 Author Share Posted March 30 Musical got back to me right away, but I'm going to be too busy with gigs and taxes for the next few weeks to feel confident deciding which of their many sitar models to order, other than that I know I will be going for as Ravi Shankar model vs. the other main style (which has less shimmer). 2 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted April 2 Author Share Posted April 2 I just remembered a huge negative for sitars, which is that you must sit cross-legged on the floor. That is something I have never been able to do at any point in my life, without getting charley horse, muscle spasms, aches and pains, etc. 2 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 2 Share Posted April 2 Long ago in Fresno, I owned a sitar. It didn't have sympathetic strings so I couldn't get that signature string resonance that a full featured sitar has. I got it cheap and sold it cheap. Now I have a Strat with an 1 7/8" wide nut and fatback and I put jumbo frets on it and scalloped the fretboard. I'm on a search for an electric autoharp. A friend brought one over decades ago and we put it in front of my guitar amp and ran the output through another amp. Great and easy way to get sympathetic strings without having to bear the extra weight when playing. I haven't seen one up here, maybe Reverb or eBay but probably a bit spendy. FWIW, I used to put a brick on the sustain pedal on my parent's upright piano, open it up and aim a guitar amp at the strings. That's another awesome ambience effect. 2 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mark Schmieder Posted April 3 Author Share Posted April 3 Needless to say, I've put the sitar order on hold until I do more video watching of various postures and playing positions to make sure it's an instrument I can play for more than five minutes before I suffer a week of pain due to my non-nimble thighs and knees. If I conclude that the ergonomics are not for me, I'll try to keep contacting Italia USA at different times of day. They are still in business as they showed the new gold finish edition at NAMM, so it's kind of weird. But I find that most smaller companies are unresponsive since the pandemic started, generally due to still being understaffed. As for scallop adjustments to a guitar or e-sitar, that's why I lined up the Pygmy Sitar many years ago, but like Jerry Jones, they disappeared into the ether before my back-order could be addressed. 3 Quote Eugenio Upright, 60th Anniversary P-Bass, USA Geddy Lee J-Bass, Yamaha BBP35, D'angelico SS Bari, EXL1, Select Strat, 70th Anniversary Esquire, LP 57, Eastman T486, T64, Ibanez PM2, Hammond XK4, Moog Voyager Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
KuruPrionz Posted April 3 Share Posted April 3 7 minutes ago, Mark Schmieder said: Needless to say, I've put the sitar order on hold until I do more video watching of various postures and playing positions to make sure it's an instrument I can play for more than five minutes before I suffer a week of pain due to my non-nimble thighs and knees. If I conclude that the ergonomics are not for me, I'll try to keep contacting Italia USA at different times of day. They are still in business as they showed the new gold finish edition at NAMM, so it's kind of weird. But I find that most smaller companies are unresponsive since the pandemic started, generally due to still being understaffed. As for scallop adjustments to a guitar or e-sitar, that's why I lined up the Pygmy Sitar many years ago, but like Jerry Jones, they disappeared into the ether before my back-order could be addressed. Scalloping a fret board is not difficult and the tools are not expensive. I bought a large rat tail rasp for the initial scalloping and I went deeper than you really need to. An 1/8" or 3?16" is plenty. After I'd gotten the scallops roughed out I switched to using a dowel with sandpaper rolled around it. If you hold the end of the sandpaper when you use it you won't have any problems smoothing out the rasp marks. I started with 60 grit, then 80, 120 220 and 320. One sheet of each is plenty. You should be able to get what you need for under $30. A table top vise on a sturdy table is very useful for many things and this is one of them. You can probably find a good vise on craigslist, maybe even at a yard sale. A clamp will work also on a Fender style neck, you can just remove the tuners and clamp the headstock to a solid table. Use some sort of padding, I like thin rubber but cloth will work too. If you do your own, opportunity won't disappear on you. I'm considering doing another neck and slapping another Parts-O-Caster together. I love playing the scalloped neck, it really frees me in many ways. 2 Quote It took a chunk of my life to get here and I am still not sure where "here" is. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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