Sarod Tuning and Maintenance
© Brian Godden 1/1 /1981
Sarod Tuning and Maintenance
© Brian Godden 1/1 /1981
 |
Sarod Stringing Chart 1st peg.........ma....................#00steel Sarod Stringing Chart 1st peg..........ma.................#00 steel Note: In the USA steel music wires are given
single digit codes as shown below Click for string gauge conversion chart |
The Maintenance of the Sarod
1: The Sarod should be kept in a case
or under a cloth cover
2: The Sarod strings should
be changed regularly depending on how often they are used.
A Sarod that is played daily should have all the strings changed every 3 months,
and the main four playing strings, every month.
3: The finish should be rubbed down with a soft dry cloth after every playing to
maintain the shine. The strings should be wiped of after every use. Do not use
furniture polish on a sarod. The fret plate should be polished with a soft cloth
after every use, to keep it clean and smooth for slides.
4: With use, the jawari bridge will develop grooves in the bone surface under
the strings. The tone will deteriorate and sound buzzy. The Jawari strings will
become difficult to tune, as the pitch of the notes will sound ambiguous. It is
then time to have the bridge resurfaced, This is called Sarod
Jawari. It should only be done by a professional.
4: The skin and pegs are very fragile and must be protected form any kind of
knock.
5: The Sarod skin is sensitive to atmospheric moisture. It will be tighter in
the summer months and looser in the winter. The skin will need to be changed
after time, depending on how much use it gets, and the climatic conditions.
A sarod that is played every, day will need the Sarod
skin changed every
3 to 5 years. It is a highly skilled job and should be done by a professional.
6: Sarod pegs can begin to slip after a year or so of use. When changing the
strings it is a good idea to lightly chalk the pegs with carpenters or sidewalk
chalk. Do not use blackboard chalk as it has wax in it to prevent
squealing, and this wax will ruin the peg. If the pegs continue to slip, they
will need to be filed to correct the taper and to remove any lip ridge. This
should be done by a repair person.
7:High action or buzzy notes when sliding. The action height depends on the
straightness of the fret plate. Normal action height on a Hemen sarod with a
good straight plate, is between 1/4" and 3/8" on the "Ma"
string above the fret plate where it meets the skin. Some cheaper sarods come
new with an action height of up to 1/2". This is usually because the plate
is thin and light and has some dents. These dents or waves can cause buzzes when
sliding on any of the 4 main strings. if the action is too low the height can be
raised by adding bone shims to the bottom of the bridge until there are no
buzzes. If the action is too high and still buzzing, then the plate can be
removed and worked on to fix buzzes, but that is not always successful. It is
very hard to remove dents from the plate. You can hammer a dent out, only to
have it transfer somewhere else. If you can get it to transfer away from the
playing area, then you have a cure. I have spent a lot of time repairing dented
plates, with about 80% success rate. It is very frustrating to fix a dent, and
then put the plate back, restring, and find a new transferred buzz somewhere
else. Older sarods can have high action because of bending upward of the neck.
This can be fixed when re-skinning. The back of the sarod where the string
anchor plate is attached can be planed down about a 1/4", and this can
lower the action by about 1/8" at the top of the plate.
