Parts of Sitar (Please see image below or click here)

1. Head The top portion of the finger board is called the Head. The Head has 5 main pegs fixed to it.

2. Finger Board There are two pieces of the finger board. One upper and the other lower. The upper part is a flat piece of wood joined with the other hollow piece of wood. The upper parts contains 11 holes for sympathetic strings.

3. Neck It is a small piece of wood in the shape of a human neck. It joins the gourd and the finger board.

4. Gourd It is a big dry pumpkin hallowed down from the inside.

5. Sound Board It is a kind of wooden plate of wood fixed on the top of the gourd. It is the main part of the Sitar which produces vibrations in the sound.

6. Pegs The pegs are ordinarily made of Shisham or Teakwood. Two sizes of pegs are commonly used on the Sitar. One is big the other is small.

7. Frets Are made of nickel plated brass-rod tied on the finger board with nylon threads. Their sequence is from the upper to the lower part of the Sitar.

8. Nut Is and ivory piece fixed on the upper part of the finger board. Cuttings are made according to the number and size of the strings.

9. Bridge Two sizes of bridges are used on the Sitar. One is big and the other is small. The big bridge is used for the upper strings while the small one is for the sympathetic strings.

10. Beed Is made of ivory or bone. It is placed between bridge and end-pin and is used for the fine tuning of string #1.

11. End Pins They are ivory pins fixed on the Toe of the Sitar for tightening the strings. 12. Strings There are seven strings on the Sitar on the upper portion for playing. Out of these, four are made of steel and three are made of bronze. In addition, there are eleven sympathetic strings under the frets. source: www.cwrl.utexas.edu/students/caka/instrument.html