In recent years Ken Zuckerman has made significant contributions to the development of India’s traditional instruments through various innovations and inventions. The innovations include the integration of precision geared tuners into the traditional pegs of the sarod and tanpura, wooden resonators, which have increased the volume and tonal quality of the sarod and a sarod bridge add-on which allows for micro adjustments of the bridge placement. His recent invention, “Shanti”, is the world’s first mechanical device which automatically plays an acoustic tanpura, giving both musicians and audiences the pure acoustic sound of the tanpura in both practice and performance settings.
Geared tuners
Planetary gears (4:1 ratio), implanted into the traditional sarod pegs
Finished pegs inserted into sarod. Special thanks to Daniel Bradley for finding a way to implant these planetary banjo tuners into the traditional sarod pegs and turn this idea into an elegant and superior tuning system!
