I cant find a bachi in any music shop in britain,at all,or on the internet for less than my shamisen cost in the first place. At the moment im using one made out of a shampoo bottle! ANY suggestions,please. I bought my shamisen as a junk instrument and mended with banjo goat velum backed with watercolour paper. I cant understand why the bachi are so expensive.
Closest I got to a bachi was trying to reshape a wooden spoon or spatula a bit but that didn’t turn out real usable . . . also I bought a couple of other similar shaped things at the 1 euro store over the last year but trying them out on the strings was disapointing too . . . care to share a picture of your shampoo bottle work?
Currently I am playing with this little bachi in the picture those are sold in packs of 3 for 1 euro intended for mixing paint of different colors or something 
http://freecarvers.com/bh/lol1.jpg
25$ plastic bachi in bachido store available but if I order I want to make it a bigger order for all I want at once and that runs up a total of more that I can spare at the moment
Thanks for the tip,i will have to extend my search into my local handywork store. Its heartening to know im not the only one having problems. I tried to download a picture but it hasnt gone on,maybe for the best as its not a pretty sight!
Penny, I learned minyo using just my fingernail (pointer finger of the right hand), so to at least get used to doing the fret work, you can still play without even a bachi, though maybe not for tsugaru pieces.
It’s indeed nice to play without a bachi, but of course you then miss almost all the special techniques.
http://freecarvers.com/bh/spatula.jpg
ah thanks to you Penny I couldn’t walk by this beautiful olive tree wood spatula today and might work on that one a bit
I just thought wouldnt it be lovely if a naturally-deceased narwal was washed up onto the beach in whitby. Free,ethically sound whale ivory. But the spatula looks lovely. All these ideas and answers are being a real help,ive even got my long-suffering mum looking for suitable objects.
Update: ive found several likely looking spatulas on the net, and once they arrive i can get sawing and sanding. Some i found actually already look like bachi. Thanks for all the help,folks!
Great (I mean you if you already constructed an at all usable bachi out of a shampoo bottle you are surely more talented at craftsmanship than myself so this may actually lead to something in your case)
(well please find a way to post pictures of your efforts . . . you need to upload the picture somewhere else and then just including the direct address of the picture in a post will make it appear i think this also works with the address you get in your browser adress bar when viewing an uploaded picture full size on facebook . . . or contact me in case everything else fails since I could easily upload pics or clips to my webspace providing you with a direct address you can use to call up those things for whatever use)
Mah . . . even that air shovel player seems to have a reasonably enough shaped bachi at his or her disposal in a world that can be unfair at times at least from certain perspectives so anyway damn that phony player I say as I am having my morning coffee with a splash of jack daniel’s on this first of two days off
seriously though and with regard to my earlier post I will try to include a picture I noticed on facebook shared recently by Vagina Guitars so in case there’s a picture appearing below this post soon facebook pictures can indeed be included on this forum . . . anyway cheers and have a spirited and (or just) splendid weekend
https://fbcdn-photos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-0/22305_634883079977691_5395496073723020421_n.png?efg=eyJpIjoidCJ9&oh=7ea4dcc7c8236ebcf829e588cee94319&oe=559DC7CA&gda=1440617161_04154c0aa8a6be8c8d05eb28294b4ccd
. . . only works if you remove the s in https and remove everything after .png BUT only if instead of png it was saying jpg there so since that pic though is in png and not jpg format it can’t be included at all here . . .
still worth a look though via the displayed link . . .
uploaded this picture of .jpg format from my phone camera to facebook earlier and the view full size option on facebook yields the adress above . . . after removing the s in https and removing everything after the .jpg the address if included in a post on bachido should actually display the picture inline . . .
. . . success and my pleasure I will take and enjoy some vacation now . . .
Ive successfully made a bachi out of a bamboo spatula. Its rockhard and needs planing down a bit,but it has a nice clack that was missing from my previous one.
Despite help i still cant relay images to this page but its a big improvement!! Perhaps BH could forward my bottle bachi photo?
unfortunately I didnt get to working on my olive tree spatula so far anyway I found your shampoo bottle bachi inspiring also for the use of rope as an easy way to thicken the handle which of course is a common challenge that buyers of kitchen spatulas are facing
(feel free to send more pics by email to put on my webspace if thats the most convenient way to share them for you sure my pleasure if i can help make them available online)
Thanks, what a mess it looks!