The first thing I do with new mizrabs is pretty obvious - I take a pair of pliers and adjust them. They should not pinch of be painful. All that's needed is that they are seated securely and do not move about. If the latter is an issue, they do make so-called "double mizrabs" which have an extra bit of wire gong round to prevent wobble. I've never had to worry about those.
Staying in tune - requires properly prepared pegs and proper chalking. Many if not most sitars have not been set up properly as that is not the field of expertise of most sitar makers.
The only way I would but a sitar in the US would be through Musicians Mall USA or Rain City. MM in particular do an expert setup for every instrument they sell. They've been around for 40 years and were formally associated with the Imrat Khan school of music. If I were to buy a sitar from anywhere, I would add the cost of shipping and setup as part of my budget.
Virtually all sitars are built in messy little mom-and-pop shops and according to the specs of the sitar company. And many of them have issues, such as loose wood chips inside the tumba (very annoying).
My solution was to do a great deal of research and then commission an instrument directly from a highly reputable mom-and-pop sitar maker in Miraj. This is how I ordered my surbahar. I could visit the shop via Skype during the construction and monitor everything. And the price was far less than in the States. Surbahars cost more than sitars but even so, my total cost for a custom-ordered instrument - designed to my specifications and fully carved by a true master of woodworking - including case and air freight was only $1,200.
