Making Process

Design Resource

Veena Making

The Craft of Making Musical Instruments

Amruthalakshmi Rajagopalan,Anisha Crasto and J. Antony William

Making Process

The making process of musical instruments is a laborious process. It takes minimum of twenty days to complete the product. The traditional Thanjavur Veena has three parts such as fingerboard, resonator and peg box. Pala maram (called locally)-Jackfruit wood is used to make veena. The entire instrument is carved on a single block of wood. A pot-like shape of the Veena is made out using round chisel called Kolavu uli. The resonator of Veena is made by scooping the wood and then a circular wood piece is made to cover the resonator. The seven metal strings are tied at the end of the bowl to metallic fastenings using metal rings. This helps the musician for accurate tuning. The metal frets of 24 are fixed on the finger board of veena using the mixture of beeswax and charcoal powder. These metal frets are made out of brass. The pegs and knobs for the strings are made of rose wood. These are fitted to the instrument using beeswax. Finally the embellishments of veena are made using lac colors. The performance of finished veena is tested by the musicians of Thanjavur before being sold in the market.

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Veena Making