Sitar, Standard, Dark

As is the case with many others who purchase their first sitar, I became enchanted with the sounds of Indian music in the 60's, but never seriously considered buying one until recently. I did extensive on-line research and reading to learn about the instrument, and to determine the best course of action in making the purchase. There are many places on the internet which contain warnings about buying generic student sitars from re-sellers who are neither Indian instrument specialists, nor inspect and fine-tune each instrument before it is shipped to the buyer. Upon further reading, it became obvious that these warnings, for the most part, pertained to the initial setup and playability of the instrument, and made the assumption that the student player would not have the knowledge needed to accomplish this. Nevertheless, spurred by these concerns, I emailed nuLime with several questions. They responded quickly, honestly, and completely. This, along with the confidence that I could accomplish setup adjustments myself, prompted me to order this 'standard' sitar from nuLime. I made the right decision. The sitar arrived undamaged, and after some adjustments to the bridge and frets, plays perfectly and sounds excellent. If you possess even a minimum amount of knowledge about other stringed instruments, you should be able to handle the setup required to start playing in short order. Thanks to nuLime for their prompt response and commitment to customer service.

This is my first sitar purchase, I've a lot of experience with other stringed instruments (Guitar, Banjo, Bass, Mandolin, Ukelele, Balaliaka, etc.) so I figured I could play around on the sitar until I find a teacher. (I live in Northern California). I'm not a sitar expert of any sort but I can tell what condition instruments should come in, having 9 or 10 stringed instruments. The sitar was missing a string, and being a novice I'm not going to attempt to put in another string. The sitar cannot stay in tune, It's been a week, so I'm just going to assume that because the strings are very long they are still stretching out. Don't take this as a negative review, I absolutely LOVE this instrument. I sit and play until my legs are numb and my back is in pain. It is ridiculously fun. Tuning it was hard the first time, but now its easy. This instrument isn't as intimidating as everyone has said it is. Do not be too afraid, if you have previous experience with stringed instruments, give it a chance!

This sitar is absolutely lovely. It sounds magnificent, and its very fun to play. Besides not staying in tune (its not that bad, retune every 10 minutes or so, the strings are probably still stretching out!) and the missing string, it isn't showing any problems.

And for those who need some tips, I'd suggest getting a rug to sit on, and some comfortable clothes to play in, and I use the underside of a kid's mat to put the sitar on, since it slides while playing on the carpet. And the first days I was playing the sitar my legs always ended up in pain, but they're starting to stretch out. Give this instrument a chance! It's very worth it.