I'm thinking about building something a bit on the exotic side. I've been searching for information on the Turkish baglama (saz) and the Persian setar. The long narrow necks and 3 courses seem a natural for a cigar box build. It's been tough to find much information on these instruments. Most of what I have is from wikipedia:
The setar article gives fret placements in cm while the baglama article gives the scale in ratios. I really have no idea how to translate ratios into fret distances. The article also has a link to a what appears to be a fret calculator:
Either it's not working or I don't know how to use it because I can't get anything out of it.
Has anyone made one of these?
Any comments and suggestions would be most welcome.
Thanks,
Roger
Replies
ah .. i may have pooped that link . ok . ill see if i can find a saz template .
lol.. funny . i just informed you also about the html thing .. and forgot to do it myself . lol.Thanks Keith! I was wondering what the problem was. Not very obvious (to me anyway).
The only example of a cigar box saz I could find is Thorsten Hinrichen's "Silvestra" here on Cigar Box Nation. I was able to make contact with him.
I have also found some other information, mostly in Turkish, but some of it is decipherable.
The baglama template appears to be for a Greek baglama, a different beast which doesn't have the quartertones of the Turkish.
how about a template ?
https://www.trixordo.com/en/eshop/diy/fret-slot-templates/baglama-f...
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Do a search, others have built them before. Then you could contact them for info.