STRINGING

The Santoors are usually dispatched by us with the stringing below. For the second and fourth note, thicker strings can be used in order to expand the tonal range to the lower octave of the keynote:

1st and 2nd string wound 0,65 mm
3rd , 4th and 5th string steel 0,45 mm
6th, 7th and 8th string steel 0,37 mm
9th, 10th, 11th, 12th and 13th  string steel 0,35 mm
15th, 16th, 17th and 18th string steel 0,30 mm
19th, 20th, 21st, 23rd  and 24th  string steel 0,27 mm
25th ,  26th,  27th, 28th and 30th string steel 0,25 mm

Tuning

Our Santoors are tuned to the keynote D. According to the chosen key or the raga that you want to play, you can tune the Santoor differently. The well-known Santoor maestro Shivkumar plays his Santoor with a diatonic tuning i.e. all strings of the Santoor are tuned to the chosen scale. This has the wonderful effect that the strings that are not struck reverberate and resonate at the same time. This produces a particularly beautiful and full sound. A further advantage is that you cannot strike a wrong note since all the strings are in tune.This tuning is the most common.

You can also tune the Santoor chromatically. The 15 notes on the right are tuned to the diatonic scale whereas the strings on the left then complete the half-tones that are missing in the diatonic scale (corresponds to white and black keys of the piano).