BanSitar

The BanSitar is an instrument conceived and built in England by the stringed instrument-maker Helmut Rheingans. It is a development of the five-stringed banjo
which produces a sound with a sitar-like resonance. The round-bodied wooden version of the BanSitar has the classification 321.312-5
in the Hornbostel-Sachs classification of musical instruments.

History
Helmut Rheingans obtained a sitar in 1972 and gradually developed the idea of a more easily-held instrument, producing a prototype BanSitar
about the end of the twentieth century.
Construction and Versions
The circular-bodied banjo-style BanSitar has a cedar wood or spruce sound-board and has a shaped bone bridge like a sitar. It exists in two main versions.
An acoustic version has two sound-holes on the rim of the body which have horns attached. One horn produces sound for the audience.
The other is a monitor horn for the player.
The second version is an electric version and has a single sound-hole and also a floating electric pick-up.
A third Mandola-style BanSitar also exists.
Music Recordings and Broadcasts
Rowan Rheingans played a BanSitar for the piece Nottamun Fair on the album Weave & Spin by Lady Maisery. On 26 September 2012, this piece was performed live on BBC Radio 3's programme In Tune.
Pete Coe (BanSitar) and Maggie Boyle talk about and sing The Jackdaw
Bruce Reid plays a BanSitar with The Field in The Bansitar Waltz
Bruce Reid plays a BanSitar with Dragon and it is featured on songs from their EP "The Great Divide". You can find the album at the Dragon website www.dragononline.com.au or on the compilation double CD "The Dragon Years" on Liberation Records. The BanSitar is especially prominent on the song "Rainy Day" written by Reid and the other members of Dragon. It can be heard on the song "The Great Divide" as well as Nu Blue Moon but not as prominently as on Rainy Day.

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