Banff Shamijam, or; A "Thanks" to Catherine

General
#1

Yesterday I met up with Bachido Member Catherine Thompson, and I got to play her hand made Shamisen. The feel was incredible, and the tone was so unique. She made her Shamisen skin from Calf skin (If I remember correctly,) and the feel was so different! The sound was very gentle, but very clear, and the skin felt very soft against the bachi.

We also played with a various assortment of Komas she made, and discussed the resonance of different woods, such as birch, rosewood, and my personal favourite (and my brand new koma,) Deer bone. Though I’d share a few pictures. Looking forward to playing with my new Koma all day today!

Thanks again, Catherine!

http://imgur.com//wlT0Lwm
http://imgur.com/FHqgYDZ
http://imgur.com/fkBVrO4

#2

Awesome! Catherine is my hero! What a beautiful instrument and she plays with the spirit of nature!

#3

Kevin, my goodness, what a very sweet thing to say. I’m all a-flutter.

And Travis, it was so great to meet you. Thanks for coming over. Also, thanks for your observations on many things including the different sounds of the various koma and the action at the upper end of my sao. I spent a couple of hours yesterday with some shamisen tweaking. The action is a little lower now and what a difference. Much easier to play and bachi triplets have become effortless.

By the by, how does the deer bone koma sound on your instrument? Lifetime guarantee of course! Though in the spring and summer you might need a GPS to find me. :wink:

Cheers!

#4

Talk about deer bone koma…
One of my mothers friends is a stone smith and jewel smith and he gets all kinds of rare materials because of his job so back in the day he got an offer to make something from the tusk of a mammoth and he got to keep the rest of the tusk. So we talked about how awesome koma it would make :smiley: and he might be willing in making me a mammoth tusk koma!
Sounds awesome enough. He also has a tusk of a walrus which might also be a awesome koma material :smiley:

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