Description
The Special Santur with Sharping Levers is a twelve-bridge hammered dulcimer developed in the Tapadum Strings & Percussion Workshop to answer the one problem every santur player knows: the traditional instrument is locked to a single diatonic tuning, and changing key means retuning course after course by hand. A row of mandal levers runs along the bridges, and each one lifts its course by a half-step at a touch — so the key changes while you play, not between pieces.
How the mandal system works
The principle is borrowed from the qanun, where mandals have been in use for centuries, and from the sharping levers of the Celtic harp. Each lever shortens the sounding length of its course by a fixed amount, raising that note a half-step and holding it there until you release it. Because the levers sit at the bridge end, they stay within reach mid-phrase without breaking the hand position over the striking area. The instrument’s traditional voice is untouched — the mechanism only takes the tuning key out of the equation.
Twelve bridges, two registers per course
Like every Persian santur, this one carries its courses across two parallel rows of bridges (kharak), so a single course sounds two different pitches depending on which side of its bridge you strike. Twelve bridges give a wider working compass than the traditional nine-bridge layout, which matters most when a piece moves across registers or when you are voicing a line underneath a melody. The courses are struck with mezrab — light wooden mallets held between the fingers — the technique behind the santur’s rapid runs and its shimmering, overlapping decay.
Who it is for
This is an instrument for players who change key. If your repertoire stays inside a single dastgah, a traditional santur from our santur collection will serve you and cost less. But if you move between Persian, Turkish, Arabic and contemporary material within the same set — or accompany singers who transpose — the mandal row turns a slow mechanical job into a gesture. It suits the performer working live as much as the student who wants to explore modes without first learning to retune the whole instrument.
Repertoire and traditions
The santur sits at the centre of Persian classical dastgah and avaz playing, and the same instrument family runs through Greek santouri, Turkish and Indian practice. With the levers engaged it also carries comfortably into Mediterranean and Anatolian material, into film and ambient work, and into improvisation that would otherwise fall outside a fixed diatonic tuning.
Care and maintenance
Keep the santur in a stable environment, away from direct heat and from swings in humidity — both the soundboard and the seating of the bridges respond to moisture. Check the tuning regularly, wipe the strings with a soft cloth after playing, and use the bag whenever you carry it. Spare strings, mallet sets and tuning keys are in our santur accessories range, and our complete guide to the Persian santur covers tuning and mallet technique in more depth.
Ships with a gig bag, traditional mezrab mallets and a tuning key. Worldwide shipping & 15-day return.
