Georgian Panduris. $75.
I've been intrigued by the panduri ever since I traveled to the Republic of
Georgia in 2006 and heard one of them being played by a blind busker in a subway
station in Tbilisi. A three-stringed lute with a bowl-shaped back and typical
shovel-shaped profile, the panduri is one of Georgia's most popular folk
instruments and is often heard accompanying the country's distinctive style of
polyphonic singing. Like the Russian balalaika, it's typically tuned DAD,
although it usually has nylon strings and is strummed with the fingers rather
than a pick. It's more often heard in chordal playing rather than melody,
although accomplished players can get a variety of tones and complex rhythms out
of the instrument by varying their right-hand attack.
Of course I hoped to buy a panduri before I left Georgia, but not speaking the language or knowing what the instrument was called, I had no success in tracking one down. The two I'm selling here are instruments I've acquired here in the States; I have a third one that I plan to keep.
Please keep in mind: I think these panduris were made for the tourist trade and are intended more as wall hangers than functional instruments. They will make a pleasant sound when strummed with open strings, but neither has a proper fretting system and it would take some work to turn either one into a functional instrument, although one is closer to being functional than the other. Either that or they correspond to some tuning/fretting system I don't understand, and if you can figure it out you're a better musician than I am.
Neither panduri has a fretboard as such—the wooden frets are laid into the top surface of the neck. Making them functional would entail removing the frets, planing down the neck, and installing a fretboard with 12 correctly spaced chromatic frets—certainly not beyond the skills of a competent luthier, but a process that'll cost you more than I'm asking for the instrument. Barring that, a panduri certainly looks nice on the wall and makes for a great conversation piece. I have two in stock:
Of course I hoped to buy a panduri before I left Georgia, but not speaking the language or knowing what the instrument was called, I had no success in tracking one down. The two I'm selling here are instruments I've acquired here in the States; I have a third one that I plan to keep.
Please keep in mind: I think these panduris were made for the tourist trade and are intended more as wall hangers than functional instruments. They will make a pleasant sound when strummed with open strings, but neither has a proper fretting system and it would take some work to turn either one into a functional instrument, although one is closer to being functional than the other. Either that or they correspond to some tuning/fretting system I don't understand, and if you can figure it out you're a better musician than I am.
Neither panduri has a fretboard as such—the wooden frets are laid into the top surface of the neck. Making them functional would entail removing the frets, planing down the neck, and installing a fretboard with 12 correctly spaced chromatic frets—certainly not beyond the skills of a competent luthier, but a process that'll cost you more than I'm asking for the instrument. Barring that, a panduri certainly looks nice on the wall and makes for a great conversation piece. I have two in stock:
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No. 1 has only 7 frets, whose placement seems more or less arbitrary. I
thought perhaps it was supposed to have a diatonic or pentatonic system, rather
than a chromatic one, but the intervals these frets produce are unfamiliar. It's
29.5 inches long; it appears to have a spruce top. The back seems to be carved
from a single piece of hardwood, possibly oak although that's just a guess, and
has a dark finish. The action is nice and low with the current bridge placement;
again the 3 strings attach to a wooden endpin. It's plain in appearance, with no
decorations apart from fret marker dots. See
more photos, call 425/772-0231, or
for more information. $75 plus shipping.
- No. 2 is a little closer to playable in that it has 12 frets, some but not all of which are more or less in the right place. It's 27.5 inches long; the top appears to be made of straight-grained spruce or a related wood; the hardwood back is made of 7 staves and has a natural finish. It has multiple soundholes and attractive woodburned decorations: stylized ram's heads as fret markers and a triskelion of dragon's heads around the soundholes. Traditional wooden friction pegs; strings are secured on a single wooden endpin. I moved the bridge in a vain effort to establish correct intonation; you can see where the bridge originally sat. Action is high; the bridge may need to be cut down a bit depending on where you place it. See more photos, call 425/772-0231, or for more information. $75 plus shipping.