And so I'm getting set up to play today and

General
#21

Pete: I believe the backside acts as a resonator for a banjo: "bouncing " the sound waves forward, making it louder. (The backside is looser so it can vibrate more) Thus, it’s probably not too bad even with a tear. If it’s a tiny tear, superglue would be a good way to prevent it from tearing more.

Cana: Actually, the place where it tore is the thinner part of the skin (called Daki). The thin daki side of the skin is positioned under the ichi no ito to give a more “complex” (as they say) tone. Anywho, because it’s thinner, that area is usually the first place to tear, I think.

#22

ahh kay ^.^ ill write that down thanks kyle :slight_smile:

would a wood back on a shamisen produce a similar sound?.. it would be alot stronger?

i have a spare resonator for one of my banjos i could maybe make a harness/mount that could let it work.

#23

would a wood back on a shamisen produce a similar sound?.. it would be alot stronger?

You know, I’m not sure! :slight_smile: That would be something to try out for fun! I don’t think wood would resonate as much as skin (and the backside skin is stretched less so it will resonate more), but it would definitely change the tone. Maybe a combination of the two?

#24

oh kyle… this is a job for you and your “epic failure” i’m thinking ^.^
could try out a wood back on there and maybe a skin head thats tied onto the back of the dou not glued to the sides?
would hafta be abit long but hey it might work if u have a spare skin. ^.^

#25

Oh right!! That’s true! To get the tightness for tsugaru, the skin would have to be glued down, I think. However, I was wanting to try making a gottan with the shape of a 5budai shamisen. Though the length of that dou is just a little short, putting a wooden soundboard would certainly put it to use! :slight_smile:

Alright! That’s goin’ on my to-do list! (along with the aluminum koma!)

#26

Could always glue the skin onto the back if u wanted to stick with glue i guess ^^… just dont make the back out of oily wood mr

^^ sounds good

#27

HOW ARE YOU GUYS DOING THIS!?!? AHHHHHH!!!

#28

Oh, Nooooo, I got another heart broken! It happened when I try to change Bachi sticker, Trying take the old one off very carefully.
Just have to tell you to avoid this tragedy on Bachido all.
Kyle, could you please post the photo for me? I will send one right away.

#29

Here it is Kyoko

So sorry to see… :frowning: I think it’s difficult to take off the adhesive seal without tearing the skin. When I put on the plastic bachigawa on my shamisen for the first time, I got it a little misaligned. I tried to slowly peel it off, but it’s so sticky that it was already pulling off fibers of skin as I tried to remove it. Needless to say, I kept it in place. :wink:

Removing bachigawa is much easier when it’s a natural bachigawa (made from very thin natural skin), because you can use a damp towel to dissolve the glue. (A little water won’t damage the skin)

Curious, was that plastic skin or dog skin?

#30

I was shown the ‘hair dryer’ technique when replacing the adhesive protector strip.
Get out yer mums hair dryer and carefully heat the bachigawa by pulling up a little at one corner. after a while it will heat enough to slowly soften the adhesive and keeping tension on it, it will peel back and ‘voila!’, it’s off…

#31

Oh cool! That’s a great idea, Pete! :slight_smile:

#32

Kyle, thanks a lot for your advice and photo attachment! And Pete, thank you for your practical advice! I will try next time.

The broken one is dog skin, and it is going to be expensive if I require the equal sound（ ; ; ）

Anyway, I will take my poor Shamisen to the music store this afternoon and talk about what to do. Maybe they will send it to Kaihoudou in Tokyo and ask for fixing.

Thanks again,guys, for your concern.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott