Tabla preferance

[KC NYC]

http://cgi.ebay.com/PROFESSIONAL-TABLA- ... 35a46ae90d

Mount this for 1/2 a G.

[Lars]

I miss all the fun over in this forum....and should I comment on this most recent post? I think I'll leave it to someone else to elaborate but did someone say...er....um CONTAINER SHIPPED? Wow, amazing. I get better sets air shipped with fiberglass cases for that.
I think the Mukta Das tablas sound really good, I usually just get them on order for people. I have some very good friends who play for a living and while the sound gets thumbs up, the weight is very light on all the ones I've had through here, they like the heavy wood. So many good options for tabla players out there, you guys are lucky
The Djinn Fizz post was spot on too.... good observation.

[tablafreak]

Id go with Mukta Das. You cant go wrong for the price.

[Djinn Fizz]

http://cgi.ebay.com/PROFESSIONAL-TABLA-DRUM-SET-COPPER-BAYAN-by-Sajid-NEW_W0QQitemZ230391736589QQcmdZViewItemQQptZLH_DefaultDomain_0?hash=item35a46ae90d

Mount this for 1/2 a G.

Like a lot of folks around this forum - you seem to be hell-bent on
playing Rajasthani Roulette with your money in order to avoid
spending money in the USA. Some people have this almost perverse
compulsion (despite all the horror stories from more experienced
forum people who have been burned by Indian webites) to send
your money to India, in the belief that you will somehow "beat the system".

As you said, AACM, Keshav Music and Rain City all stock Muktadas tablas,
and in the event that they arrive damaged any of these vendors will
replace them. But you want to buy tablas from some faceless guy named
Sajid that nobody here ever heard from - knowing full well that if they
arrive and are crap, you won't be able to return them and get your money back.

What the heck. I say go for it. And then let us all know how it pans out.
Win or lose - we all here get to benefit from your experience without having to risk five-hundred smackers.

[KC NYC]

*But you want to buy tablas from some faceless guy named
Sajid that nobody here ever heard from - knowing full well that if they
arrive and are crap, you won't be able to return them and get your money back***

What you said above is your assumption. All I asked was who is this misterious gentleman by the name Sajid, who makes such expensive instruments.

I own two tabla sets and one extra dayan. Both were purchased locally from people I personally know. The extra dayan that I bought last month was purchased on Ebay from Inni Singh who's a member of this forum and has a good reputation. Keshav Das, Kala Kendar and other suppliers buy instruments from him and list them on their websites. The cost was around $100 total including FEDEX insured shipping. I thought that a 6" MD dayan for that price was a great deal (including a soft padded bag).

Stop assuming, you DO NOT know me.
Cheers.

[Djinn Fizz]

*But you want to buy tablas from some faceless guy named
Sajid that nobody here ever heard from - knowing full well that if they
arrive and are crap, you won't be able to return them and get your money back***

What you said above is your assumption. All I asked was who is this misterious gentleman by the name Sajid, who makes such expensive instruments.

I own two tabla sets and one extra dayan. Both were purchased locally from people I personally know. The extra dayan that I bought last month was purchased on Ebay from Inni Singh who's a member of this forum and has a good reputation. Keshav Das, Kala Kendar and other suppliers buy instruments from him and list them on their websites. The cost was around $100 total including FEDEX insured shipping. I thought that a 6" MD dayan for that price was a great deal (including a soft padded bag).

Stop assuming, you DO NOT know me.
Cheers.

Don't take it personally. I was making something of a generalization
about some members of this forum, though you seemed to fit that profile.
BTW Kala Kendar does not get instruments from DMS anymore. And if you really
got a 6" MD dayan with shipping for only $100.00 then you got the deal of the century.
Inni Singh's price for a regular MD dayan is $82.87 and shipping is $39.00 based on today's exchange rate - for a total of almost $122.00. A good price all the same, but remember that all dealers out of India have a no returns policy and the Ebay sellers out of India almost never offer insurance. BTW Fedex does not offer insurance when shipping out of India. You may have assumed that your shipment was insured, but it wasn't. UPS does offer insurance; getting them to pay on a claim is a horse of another color. It's hard enough to get UPS to pay on a claim in the USA. In India, forgettaboudit! Indian dealers will make a phone call or two to UPS about your claim and then give up. It really is like a form of gambling. You gamble that Fedex idiots won't ruin your stuff. And in the event that it is ruined during shipping, the dealers gamble on the liklihood that after a few weeks of you emailing fruitlessly in hopes that they will settle a claim, that you will give up and stop bothering them.

If you buy a tabla from Rain City and it arrives with a broken skin or dented bayan - they will replace it. Online Indian shops will not, so to my mind it's not worth the risk. Personally, I only buy my stuff in-person when I'm in India. As to whether I know you. Don't be paranoid.... but who knows? Just maybe I do.

Cheers.

[Lars]

Um, hey Djinn&tunic you forgot the padded gig bag in the cost..... This is all a good subject for discussion though with well thought out opinions given....

[KC NYC]

I just double checked, it was $110US total.
Cheers. He's listing one right now on ebay as well, didn't check the cost, it's 5 1/4" i think.

[gurdip]

BTW Kala Kendar does not get instruments from DMS anymore. Cheers.

Well, I guess I should respond here, since our name is involved somehow....

Our first order of MD Tabla sets came thru Inni, back in 2005, after I personally visited Mukta, inni acted as our exporter/agent for our intial order. When there's a lot of money involved, there's also some risks for both Mukta and Kala Kendar; somthing that i'm willing to pay a little extra for.
FYI this was also the first time inni met Mukta aswell, we were both doing some research.

All of instruments since then have ALWAYS been from Mukta Das DIRECTLY, no middlemen involved. This way we get fresh goods, from the maker, without extra 'shelf time' with someone else, and of course without the extra expenses of "passing the buck", so to speak. It takes years to establish a good reputation with a maker/supplier, but the payoff is great. By us promoting Mukta Das, he in turn sends out some of his best work. Just like any organization/company, suppliers are more than likely to keep their Big/Best customers happy.

As far as the other information of Kala Kendar not getting instruments from DMS is concerned, again not true. We still will purchase DMS made instruments, from Inni; of course they would have to be made by him.

It makes you wonder how much bad information is out there

Until then, have fun!

[Djinn Fizz]

BTW Kala Kendar does not get instruments from DMS anymore. Cheers.

Well, I guess I should respond here, since our name is involved somehow....

Our first order of MD Tabla sets came thru Inni, back in 2005, after I personally visited Mukta, inni acted as our exporter/agent for our intial order. When there's a lot of money involved, there's also some risks for both Mukta and Kala Kendar; somthing that i'm willing to pay a little extra for.
FYI this was also the first time inni met Mukta aswell, we were both doing some research.

All of instruments since then have ALWAYS been from Mukta Das DIRECTLY, no middlemen involved. This way we get fresh goods, from the maker, without extra 'shelf time' with someone else, and of course without the extra expenses of "passing the buck", so to speak. It takes years to establish a good reputation with a maker/supplier, but the payoff is great. By us promoting Mukta Das, he in turn sends out some of his best work. Just like any organization/company, suppliers are more than likely to keep their Big/Best customers happy.

As far as the other information of Kala Kendar not getting instruments from DMS is concerned, again not true. We still will purchase DMS made instruments, from Inni; of course they would have to be made by him.

It makes you wonder how much bad information is out there

Until then, have fun!

Equivocate much? Seriously, I never imagined that my statement about this
was "controversial" per se. I guess the only way anyone will know the truth of this is if Inni weighs in. Though for the life of me I don't see why it's all that important one way or the other. I do know for a fact that Inni told several visitors to his store over the last few months that he no longer was doing business with Kala Kendar. Can't fathom why Inni would say this if it weren't so. Again, can't see why it should matter to anyone really.

About KK being able to buy direct from Mukta without using a middleman; well that has to be good news for the consumer. I was wondering how you could afford to sell Muktadas tablas without case, cushions, covers or hammer for a mere $560.00 USD and still manage to scrape up a little profit.

[KC NYC]

was the very last sentence sarcastic? i don't see a smiley after it so i had to ask.

[Djinn Fizz]

I've amended the post with a smiley. Hope that puts you at ease brother.

[kalyan]

My 2 cents,
Hari das Vatkar and Mukta das are both at the top of their class but very different, as for the AACM we have been selling MD products and have for at least the last 9 years ( as long as I have worked here) MD is one of Swapanda's main makers so we have a long standing relationship with that shop. The reason that we don't sell many replacement MD heads is that they don't seem to last in storage as well as the heads that we get from Shyamal Das , the MD heads are so delicate that they tend to buzz if they have been sitting for a while, or if people are picking through them, or the weather changes too drastically.....etc.. A little buzz does not bother me but many customers understandably don't like it after going through all work of changing a head. We do buy and sell MD heads Its just that we recommend the Shyamal heads because we get less complaints. I just wanted make it clear that the AACM in no way badmouths MD products I personally love their drums and heads I just feel more confident sending out Shyamal heads because they are more durable. I usually try to put the MD heads on our shells here right away when the arrive so they will not sit around for a long time. I hope that clears up any confusion

Kalyan
AACM store

[annamalayaar]

hy guys.many friends bought tabla set from "BUTHO MINATHI" ( i' not sure is correct the spelling ) from kolkata and wow!!!very beautiful sets and high quality sound.
personally i bought a 4,5 kilos dayan 5,75 size from mukta for 90 euro ship including to italy and the sound is good, but the bayan ( my friends have same opinion ) is not good quality.
if you have information about MINATHI of kolkata please let me know i'm curious about tabla makers in kolkata.
Bye

[Hamletsghost]

My Dear Tabla Enthusiast

Try this old string:
viewtopic.php?f=3&t=4933

From just strictly a sonic - "front of the house" sound perspective. Muktah Das is unbelievable. - You will have to go a LONG way to "beat" this sound (sorry just had to )
As I indicated I have miked up hundreds of different tabla sets over the last 30 years and the Muktah Das set our Bhajan groups tabla player got last year is, in my humble opinion, one of the finest instruments of ANY type I have ever had the good fortune to run sound for. It is really THE tabla set. (I am sure there are others I have and would be very impressed with - but this one was a peach).
If you are looking to part with your hard earned roops stick with the worthy vendors frequently mentioned here on the forum. Kala Kendar - Ali Akbar College - Keshav - Rain City - etc. even if it cost's a dollar or 2 more THEY WILL STAND BEHIND YOUR PURCHASE.
PLEASE DO NOT go with anyone else unless you have personal knowlege of their reputation - YOU WILL GET BURNED - and this is a large purchase.
Good luck & happy drumming. We look forward to hearing the follow up.

Hamletsghost