A sitar can have 18, 19 or 20 strings

A sitar can have 18, 19 or 20
strings. Six or seven of these are
played strings which run over
curved, raised frets, and the
remainder are sympathetic
strings (tarb, also known as taarif
or tarafdaar) which run
underneath the frets and
resonate in sympathy with the
played strings. The frets are
movable, allowing fine tuning.
The played strings run to tuning
pegs on or near the head of the
instrument, while the
sympathetic strings, which are a
variety of different lengths, pass
through small holes in the
fretboard to engage with the
smaller tuning pegs that run
down the instrument's neck.
The Gandhaar-pancham sitar
(used by Vilayat Khan and his
disciples) has six playable strings,
whereas the Kharaj-pancham
sitar, used in the Maihar gharana,
to which Ravi Shankar belongs,
and other gharanas such as
Bishnupur , has seven. Three of
these (or four on a Ghandar-
pancham sitar or "Vilayat Khan"-
style aka Etawa gharana), called
the chikaari, simply provide a
drone; the rest are used to play
the melody, though the first
string (baajtaar) is most used.
The instrument has two bridges :
the large bridge (badaa goraa) for
the playing and drone strings and
the small bridge (chota goraa) for
the sympathetic strings. Its
timbre results from the way the
strings interact with the wide,
sloping bridge. As a string
reverberates its length changes
slightly as its edge touches the
bridge, promoting the creation of
overtones and giving the sound
its distinctive tone. The
maintenance of this specific tone
by shaping the bridge is called
jawari. Many musicians rely on
instrument makers to adjust this.
The bridges are fixed to the main
resonating chamber , or kaddu, at
the base of the instrument.
Some sitars have a secondary
resonator, the tumbaa, near the
top of the hollow neck.
Materials used in construction
include teak wood or tun wood
(Cedrela toona ), which is a
variation of mahogany, for the
neck and faceplate (tabli), and
gourds for the resonating
chambers. The instrument's
bridges are made of deer horn,
ebony, or very occasionally from
camel bone. Synthetic material is
now common as well.
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Sitar construction styles
There are three popular modern
styles of sitar offered in a variety
of sub-styles and decorative
patterns. The two popular styles
are the "gayaki style" sitars
(sometimes called "Vilayat Khan
style sitars") and the full
decorated "instrumental style"
sitars (sometimes called "Ravi
Shankar style sitars"). The gayaki
style sitar is mostly of seasoned
toon wood, with very few or no
carved decorations. It often has
a dark polish. The inlay
decorations are mostly of mother
of pearl (imitation). The number
of sympathetic strings is often
limited to eleven but may extend
to thirteen. Jawari (bridge)
grinding styles are also different,
as is the thickness of the
"tabli" (soundboard).