a mistake while making a sao

Building/Repair
#1

So i was making the sao for my home made shamisen. the piece of wood i had was way to big and i don’t have a power saw. so after working on it for little over a week, too much wood came off on the underside. how do i fix this? at the moment I am thinking of taking everything up to that deepest point. Then gluing another piece of wood to it to get it to the thickness it needs to be. i kinda drew inspiration of the akatsuki and eclipse. would this be good way to solve the problem without having to start over?

thank you in advance!!!

#2

Hey Mark! Awesome to hear that you are tackling the challenge of making your own shamisen! I am also in the process of making my own shamisen as well (not my first instrument, I have been building instruments on my own for a hobby for about 10 years now or so), so hopefully I can provide some insight to your dilemma. I think it can depend on a few different things. First off, what type of shamisen are you making? Are you making a futozao (thick neck) tsugaru shamisen, or a thinner neck one? Also, what is the current thickness of the piece of wood you cut at the deepest point?

For a tsugaru shamisen, the neck is about 1.375", or around 35mm thick, but it could be a bit thinner or thicker if you wanted. Depending on how deep your deepest point is at the cut on your neck, I think you could definitely go with the glued top like akatsuki and eclipse to fix your problem. Actually, for my own shamisen that I am working on now, this is the route I am taking, and personally, I think it is a way cooler and much better looking option than the traditional solid piece style, and makes for a more unique shamisen. If you want, you can even try and make it extend into the tenjin like eclipse/akatsuki (also what I am doing with my own), though it takes a little bit extra planning. It’s definitely not necessary at all, but is another option to consider if you go this route on your build.

I think a good balance for the topboard can be from .25" (6.35mm) to .3125" (7.94mm) thick. To give you an example from my own build, my tsugaru shamisen neck is currently 34mm thick, with the topboard wood at 8mm. You could certainly go thicker for the top wood than that, though if it is too thick it may look a bit odd proportionally, though it could be done. I think depending on how thick your current neck is now, you don’t necessarily need to start over, if you glue the extra piece on top. Also, for the topwood, you will ideally want a very hard and durable wood, such as something from the ebony or rosewood family, or other similar hardness alternative woods - there are many options available, and you can buy fretboard blanks of these materials from luthier supply shops pretty cheaply and commonly. These blanks generally run from .25" (6.35mm) thick up to .375" (9.525mm) thick. For the length of a shamisen neck, I would recommend looking at bass blanks to cover the length - usually guitar blanks aren’t long enough. However, the width will need to be reduced. Alternatively, you can also find some suppliers that sell thin stock lumber, or ask them the mill a regular board down to the thickness you want if you can’t do it yourself.

What woods are you using for your shamisen currently? You should post some pics of your work and progress! I would be more than happy to provide any additional assistance or answer whatever other questions you have for your build as well, and I am sure others here on Bachido with shamisen building experience would be glad to help out as well. Hope this helps, and looking forward to hear about the progress of your build!

#3

Holy cow that is alot. Uhm first of all thank you for your reply. Second, the damage is on the underside and IT is really cheap wood. It is tsugaru shamisen i am building (with the help of shamisen of Japan).

#4

No problem, I was going to ask if you had Shamisen of Japan, since it really makes shamisen building much easier, and figured you probably have it since it is really the only in depth source out there for making one. Since you do, most everything is really there, so in terms of adding the top wood it comes down really to personal goals with the project and what you want to get out of it.

If you really don’t want to start over on the neck, then adding the top wood may be the best solution to the problem. While it’s generally recommended to use a very hard wood for the top, if the shamisen is already made from very cheap woods, or is your first one or a practice run, then it may or may not be worth the extra time and investment to use the very dense, more expensive woods. You can still get a perfectly working sao with other much more common alternatives, and can still get just as nice of an aesthetically contrasting, and functional sao top. There are tons of alternative woods out there that can be perfectly acceptable for this for your purpose. For example, I built my first shamisen before Shamisen of Japan came out. I was a high school student at the time with little money and almost no woodworking tools, so I opted for a simple and cost effective design. I used cheap red oak lumber from a local hardware store. For reference, red oak has a Janka hardness of 1290 - this is at least half the hardness of commonly used woods for fretboards for stringed instruments. However, I played that shamisen for several years and I never had any issues with that wood hardness for the sao. Granted, the shamisen was very crude, and much bigger than it should have been, but it worked perfectly fine as a tool to get myself started into tsugaru shamisen.

I haven’t played shamisen for years now, but I have decided recently to really study and pursue it seriously now, and as a result, am working on a new upgraded, very high end custom shamisen for myself. Wood choice however is really secondary to actually making sure everything is made correctly and well first, so that you have a usable, playable shamisen you can learn on - if you find that you really enjoy playing, and eventually outgrow or need a new shamisen, you can always upgrade in the future, and having that experience of already making one always is a big plus.

#5

Thank you for all the information. I hope your build Will succes!

#6

A couple of months later, i new piece of wood two or so weeks ago. This time it is a more proper hardwood. And i still have a proper saw to cut the piece. Anyone any goed tips for hand saws?

© 2020 Kyle Abbott