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Vintage threads from the first ten years

Strat/Sitar

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10/3/2005 12:50 AM
Kremlo	Strat/Sitar Hello I have a stratocaster that the B and High E sound almost like Sitar strings! Is this something to do with the nut! Neck is adjusted properly and the string height is at 5-6/64ths at the 12th fret! Thanks Kremlo

10/3/2005 9:51 AM

Sitars sound the way they do in part because their bridge is relatively flat. Think of the saddle as being the point of highest elevation on a bridge where the maximum string pressure is applied (defining what gets to vibrate freely and what doesn't). The bridge on a sitar provides very little contrast in elevation between the highest and lowest points, and also distributes the string pressure across a wider area than a more conventional type of saddle.

One of the results of this is that the vibrating string "bangs" up against the bridge, damping out certain harmonics in a particular manner over time, giving the classic sitar sound.

I mention this because there are several sources of a sitar-like sound from a more conventional electric. In all cases, though, they share the common feature of one point being only a tiny bit higher than another point, with the height difference being less than how far the string vibrations/wobbles extend. One is the nut, another is the bridge and the third are the frets.

If the nut is too low, relative to the frets, you can get a drone-like buzzing. Sometimes, that can occur because the amount of neck relief and string tension don't complement each other. The neck may have a slight backwards bow in it to offset the pull in the other direction from medium-to-heavy gauge strings. The goal is that between one pulling one way and the other pulling in the opposite direction, the enck ends up straight. I had a problem like this in an old archtop. I had switched to light gauge strings and over time the neck started to buzz more and more, despite high high up I was moving the bridge saddle. What was critical here was not the height of the bridge, but the height and curvature of the middle of the neck, relative to the nut.

10/3/2005 9:02 PM
Kremlo	Thanks I will try to add a little more relief in the neck and see how that goes! Kremlo

10/7/2005 4:23 PM
jaysg	It's definitely the nut cut for the high strings. It may be that the angles aren't quite right. You want the string to break at both ends of the slot. It's also bad if the slot is too wide at the fretboard and/or pinching the string at either end. I think Kinman has a nice setup explanation on his website that covers this.

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