Bought a shamisen with unexpectedly broken skin

Building/Repair
#1

I bought a second-hand student tsugaru shamisen on Yahoo Japan Auction. I had to rely on a funny automatic translation for the description of the auction, so I missed an important detail concerning the skin. The skin peeled off and it was not shown in the pictures (it must have happened after the pictures were taken). The shamisen is still in Japan; it arrived to Noppin’s warehouse (the service I use to buy on YJA) a week ago.

I have various solutions to solve the problem:

  1. I can ask Noppin to find a professional in Japan who can replace the skin before shipping the shamisen (they suggested it to me).

  2. I can ask them to leave it as it is and enquire myself from various instruments makers in my area, if one of them is ready to take up the challenge.

  3. I can go like a boss and try to replace it myself. Allons-y! :smiley:

I really don’t know what to do. I bought this shamisen because it was the cheapest tsugaru that I could find with a sawari, and I wouldn’t like to pay a lot of extra money to have it repaired because, well… I don’t have a lot of extra money in the first place. What do you think everyone? If someone want to share another solution I’m all ears :wink:

#2

Did the description say that the skin was peeled off? It sounds like you should be able to get your money back really.

#3

The problem is that it was said in the description, but it was badly translated. Noppin uses Google translation, and when I read the details I didn’t understood that the seller was talking about the skin (especially because it was not shown on the pictures). Technically, it’s my fault because I wasn’t careful enough :confused:

#4

Hi Elodie,

If I were you I would have it sent to you as it is and buy a cheap piece of goatskin and craft glue, soak the skin for 1-2 hours then put glue on the drum, stretch the skin over the edge of the drum as much as you can (or make holes in it and tie to something with rope), put something heavy on top and let it dry for 2 days.
It wont be anywhere near as tight as it should be but then you can start learning and you can get a feel for how tight the skin needs to be. You can get it re-skinned professionaly when you have some more cash, but at least you can start playing now! Who knows you might not like it anyway :stuck_out_tongue:

#5

Thanks for the tips, Liam! :slight_smile:

I wonder… If the skin is not damaged and only comes unstuck, would it be possible to re-glue it then?

#6

I guess so but it will have lost its tensions if it came off all the way. I think you could re-soak it if its still in one piece and then stick it on! Hey you just saved yourself even more money :stuck_out_tongue:

#7

Kyle’s book (Shamisen of Japan) details the skinning process very intricately with step-by-step instructions if you want to go the DIY route.

#8

Getting a pro to skin it in Japan will cost you close to 3 or 400 dollars.

#9

That’s approximately how much I was expecting for re-skinning a shamisen in Japan.

I have Kyle’s book and already read that part carefully. I’m going to follow these instructions loosely with less traditional materials ;p

#10

Go for it Elodie! you can probably do it for under $30, all mats included, and it may not look pro but it will be very playable until you have the money to get it reskinned down the road. :slight_smile:

I didn’t have any problems stretching mine- Kyle’s instructions made it easy. But I’d just suggest picking up 2 skins in case something happens while stretching the first or your other side breaks at some point. ;V

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