Dilruba

The dilruba is an Indian instrument sharing the same origins as the smaller and fretless Indian sarangi (a very common instrument in Indian classical music). This is the instrument famously used to double George Harrison’s voice with a violin-like sound on the track “Within You Without You” on the Beatles’ Sergeant Pepper album. The dilruba has a neck similar to, but smaller that that of the sitar. Also like the sitar, it has sympathetic strings and the same type frets. The bridge is mounted on a skin that’s stretched over the dilruba’s body. The dilruba has three iron or bronze playing strings and 11 sympathetic drone strings. The playing strings are played with a violin bow or a sarangi bow that is held in the right hand. The dilruba is most similar in construction to another classical Indian instrument called the esraj. The main difference between the two is the tuning pegs: wood for the esraj, and guitar-style for the dilruba.