The ultimate raga-rock tool returns—at a price less affluent seekers can afford. NEW ! includes custom LEVY case! Jerry Jones Model Purchased from 12Fret Toronto. Musician retired and never used. Similar Model used by Rolling Stones Ron Wood ( Paint It Black) Walter Becker and Donald Fagen of Steely Dan s “Do It Again”?)

When the Coral electric sitar appeared in 1967, it was not outlandish to think Indian classical textures might become as common as Appalachian or African sounds and rhythms in pop and rock. “Paint It Black” and “Norwegian Wood” soared on sitar-based hooks. And The Byrds' “Eight Miles High” helped demonstrate that the fusion of raga and rock could be a quite intoxicating—and very lucrative—hit-making brew. Dano saw promise in the concept and released a simpler streamlined version, sans sympathetic strings. That Danelectro sitar lives again as the Baby Sitar. Raga Rock Revisited Danelectro isn't the first to revisit the electric sitar concept. Jerry Jones built gorgeous versions of the original Coral. More recently Italia added a Coral-influenced model to their Modena line. But neither was or is inexpensive—especially relative to the limited use most will have for the instrument. The new Baby Sitar, however, achieves affordability via the same design simplicity that put the original within reach.

Classic electric sitar sounds, with traditional guitar playability Features 6 strings tuned in standard guitar tuning Vintage-styled and -voiced Lipstick pickup delivers classic Danelectro sound Gotoh Sitar bridge creates the iconic buzzing sound Vintage-style aluminum nut Volume and tone controls NEW ! includes custom LEVY case! Jerry Jones Model

Purchased from 12Fret Toronto. Musician retired and never used. The key to the Baby Sitar is the Gotoh “buzz bridge.” It's a small, subtly harp-shaped piece of plastic that's burnished to a texture approximating bone. It has six gently scalloped “saddles” ranging from about 43 mm in length for the lowest string to about 48 mm in length for the highest string. The manner in which the strings vibrate over the bridge creates the buzzing sitar sound, not unlike a real sitar or tamboura.

The Baby Sitar has a few other design advantages over a conversion, depending on your perspective. The pickup is situated a little closer to the bridge than it would be on a conversion—which provides more trebly, sitar-like attack. The baby sitar is also incredibly compact and light, so taking it on a gig or tour for a song or two isn't much additional hassle.

For all its idiosyncrasies, the Baby Sitar is very well put together. The fretwork is flawless; the neck is dead straight and feels great. Even details like the glue-on binding (which was often sloppy on the early Danelectro reissues) are without flaw.

Unless you're a fearless Brian Jones-level musical adventurer, it takes a minute to get comfortable with how the Baby Sitar wreaks havoc with picking and touch dynamics that work on a 6-string. But the less-immediate way that individual notes rise and decay are the essence of the Baby Sitar sound. If you have the rhythmic precision of Skunk Baxter or Steve Howe, you can play a pretty ripping lead on the Baby Sitar. If you don't, the Baby Sitar is no less satisfying or useful. Lazy, languid lead lines sound fantastic—particularly with a little delay and reverb to enhance the droning qualities of the instrument. The same goes for folky, arpeggiated chord melodies. The Baby Sitar excels at doubling guitar parts in this context.

One of the coolest ways to extract more sitar-like exoticism from the Baby Sitar is to use alternate tunings heavy on fifths, octaves, and doubles. Here, again, you'll run into limitations in the Baby Sitar's design: Slack tunings render the buzz bridge ineffective. But there are work-arounds. I used E-A-E-A-A-E for many of my sessions and found a lot of room for melodic invention amid all the droning, swirling goodness. Open E (E-B-E-G#-B-E) presents even more melodic possibilities and infuses chords and melodies with a cool blues-raga feel.

The Verdict You have to be open-minded, sonically curious, and into unconventional six string expressions to get the most out of the Baby Sitar. Extracting the best sounds demands a little musical resourcefulness. But if I may risk sounding a little like, well, a guru, this instrument will yield unexpected—and very cool—rewards if you dedicate yourself to the search.

JANUARY-2016SITARFEATURED-STORIESGEARSWEETWATER Danelectro Baby Sitar danelectro.com
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