In Japan, I had the great pleasure to stay with the incredibly talented Aomori champion, Fujii Reigen! In our jam session, (in the video, he demonstrates how his chord techniques can back up Tsugaru Jonkara Bushi) I noticed that all of his bachi are very, very thin! Very easy to use and no discomfort!
I have two good quality bachi. One is my favorite, and the other, though good quality, is just uncomfortable to use. So much so that I would risk taking my favorite bachi traveling simply because the other was too cumbersome to use. Well, when I got back from Japan, I remembered the ease of Fujii san’s bachi and thought, “Why don’t I shave my bachi down the same way as his?” So I went to the belt sander, slowly took off a total of 4~5mm and tadaaa!! Instantly far easier to use!
Though I still like my favorite bachi the most, my other bachi is now very comfortable to use and wouldn’t hesitate to use in performance. As I’ve said before, adjusting the shape of your bachi to match your hand profile is a very worthwhile endeavor. Just make sure to work slowly and carefully!
How much did you remove? Did you shave off the sides or the top?