Dieter Zarnitz Lute-Sitar #1 (1988)

Neck & body of Dieters first lute-style sitar is made from maple. The tabli (soundboard) is spruce, pegs are ebony, headstock & decorations from rosewood.

A speciality of this sitar is a slightly wider neck resulting in more meend (lateral pulling of the main string) range than most other sitars of Dieter. The taraf string bridge being hidden underneath the main bridge is a very unique design feature that makes its outward appearance even closer to that of a lute.

The currently used main bridge is from snakewood. It is strung up as Kharaj Pancham sitar and has 13 sympathetic strings. Bass-Pa and Bass-Sa strings are flatwounds. In the recording it is tuned at C, it sounds very well in Csharp too.

SPECIFICATION	MEASUREMENT
Total length	132 cm
Scale length	85.3 cm
Bridge height	2.9 cm
String height over last fret	10 mm
Neck width	9.6 cm
Tabli diameter	37.7 cm
Toomba circumference	106 cm
Weight	2.2 kg
Meend range (at C# tuning)	S → d ; P → R (higher)

*This is Dieter Zarnitz‘ original photo of his first creation taken most probably right after its completion*.

*Its current appearance*. *Notice the change of the woods colour over the years*: *while the rosewood became much brighter, the maple & spruce have darkened considerably.*

*Beautiful ebony pegs that work perfectly*

*This finely ornamented snakewood main bridge houses the taraf bridge made of horn.*

*Massive one-piece ebony pegs are standard on nearly all of Dieters instruments.*

*These drilled soundholes on top of the neck were added later. In the old photograph they are missing.*

Dieses Bild hat ein leeres Alt-Attribut. Der Dateiname ist 6-1-1024x682.jpg — *Thirteen ribs of maple*

A few pictures from Dieters workbench. I am not 100% sure that the sitar seen in construction here is indeed #1. But anyway you can see a part of his sitar-making-process and also get a glimpse of his beautiful construction-drawing. I might add the complete drawing at a later stage: