looking for shorter length dilruba/esraj

[matthew]

Hello all-

I would like to learn to play either the dilruba or esraj, and from what I have seen they are very similar instruments (can anyone point out any significant differences that I should be aware of?) but the ones I've seen on ebay ( there are a couple ebay sellers based in India who see to have very good feedback) are all about 39-41 inches long. I would like to find a shorter length instrument, and would like to ask you if you know where or who I can contact to find a good shorter length dilruba or esraj.

Thanks

[ragamala]

I would like to find a shorter length instrument

In the absence of any more knowledgeable reply, here goes...

Why? is the first question that comes to mind. A shorter instrument is bound to have inferior sound - for that reason you might prefer to buy dilruba rather than esraj as the sound tends to have more body (I think there's another thread somewhere on this).

I've seen miniature dilruba advertised on the web - see Bina site
http://www.binaswar.com/miniature.htm

but frankly I wouldn't expect this to be much more than a toy.

If you have some good practical reason for wanting a smaller instrument why not consider sarangi?

[OM GUY]

I would like to find a shorter length instrument

In the absence of any more knowledgeable reply, here goes...

Why? is the first question that comes to mind. A shorter instrument is bound to have inferior sound - for that reason you might prefer to buy dilruba rather than esraj as the sound tends to have more body (I think there's another thread somewhere on this).

I've seen miniature dilruba advertised on the web - see Bina site
http://www.binaswar.com/miniature.htm

but frankly I wouldn't expect this to be much more than a toy.

At 21" you can be sure it's a toy.