Hello everyone I’ve just brought a beginner shamisen and I am having troubles assembling it. The shimo-zao just doesn’t lock onto the dou. I’ve given it multiple tries and believe me I’ve literally used all my strength but still I couldn’t close the gap. I’ve watched all the YouTube videos about assembling shamisen but found nothing useful. ‘Apply sharp force to close the gap’ ye it’s not really working out for me, please help!
Disclaimer: I didn’t buy this from bachido, I bought it from another website and it’s apparently secondhand but the sellers told me it’s in good condition so I don’t think it’s broken at least
I had the same problem with my Shamisen. I just pushed all the way I could and left it be. Then I waited a day and tried it again. I hope this will work for you.
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I’ve heard other people, besides Multimikstar, say to wait a day or two, push again, wait, push again… It can take a few tries when it’s a very tight fit like this.
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Don’t withdraw it between tries. Just push it in as far as you can, leave, it, and try again later.
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Are you sure you don’t have the sao backwards in the dou, though? It doesn’t look like the curve on the sao lines up with the curve on the dou. Is there an imprint on the dou that would show which way the sao went before?
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Yes I did followed the I print of the sao, I will try again, thank you so much for replying 
Hello.
Please be advised that nagauta shamisen are not “beginners” shamisen. They’re a specific subclass of instrument - they just happen to be the most budget friendly.
Anyway.
The angle looks odd to me.
Make sure your orienting the dou properly. Could you add more pictures?
