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: 

Baglama

Setar

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:

turkuler

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

You need to be a member of Cigar Box Nation to add comments!

Join Cigar Box Nation

Email me when people reply –

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.

    • When posting comments, after you type what you want, then click the HTML Editor, to post your comment. Then it will post. Otherwise, it doesn't show in comments.

  • Do a search, others have built them before. Then you could contact them for info.

This reply was deleted.