Heyya normally wouldnt buy online but some of the prices on ebay are quite nice… bit eager to get a tsugaru shamisen, Could someone add me to skype or msn msnger and take a look with me on ebay? i’m having trouble identifying tsugaru and jiuta… and the text is in broken english…
If you post the eBay link here for the instrument(s) you’re thinking of, then someone here can just check out the link and post their feedback for you right here…
true, but ive done somthing like that before with my banjo forum xD;; and someone was mean enough to snipe me
Ended up buying it, it seems a great price 170quid in seemingly great condition with all the bells and whistles the skin looks good etc
it may be jiuta or tsugaru ill post pics… when i can figure out how, or hmmm will post the old ebay link now seeing as i bought it.
http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/221042041707?ssPageName=STRK:MEWNX:IT&_trksid=p3984.m1439.l2649#ht_11965wt_1163
probably wasnt smart to buy in a snap, but i do need models of each shamisen anyway and for that price it really was a bit of candy.
the skin seems to be yellowish in places, could be age… waterdamage maybe… or just discolouration
Sellers profile is spotless its 100% good feedback and they say its in excellent condition…
So i kinda had to aim almost blinded and shoot really.
Let me know how I did,
please and thanks
Cana
Hey cana,
looks like a jiuta (middle neck) to me (someone please correct if im wrong).
yeah the skin is damaged but its was never gonna last forever anyway.
I got a similar deal for a middle neck shamisen with a broken skin, looks like u got it for a good price, nice one!
Cana,
I think you did well for the price - it is a pretty decent instrument, and looks ready to play. The skins look a bit funny, but, for example, a new set of tuning pegs will cost you around half of what you paid for the whole instrument, so you definitely didn’t get ripped off.
it is a jiuta in good condition and you can still play tsugaru pieces on it.
Yeah, it looks like a jiuta shamisen. And wow! Sawari, kouki wood, and skin that isn’t broken? That looks like an incredible deal.
Definitely interesting skin. The teet marks are unusually big and off center) and the texture actually reminds me of goat/calf skin (though it’s hard to tell). But anyway, I’m sure it’ll sound great, and it’s still worth the price even if you wanted to get the dou reskinned. 
Quick quick! Make a bid before I do! 
Hi Cana,
You got a great deal on a nice shamisen. I have bought several used via auction sites. Yours is a chuzao minyo type shamisen. I find that 80% of chuzao shamisen are minyo, not jiuta. You can tell it is minyo by the azuma sawari, peg design and koma. The other thing to note, which is common for minyo shamisen, is that they are often shorter. This one is listed as 94 cm where a standard jiuta shamisen is 100 cm long.
Michael, what do you think the skin is? Really aged cat?
Kyle, I would say so. Those look like real nipples. On close inspection there appears to be a few areas where the skin has worn through. Seems consistent with really old cat skin.
One of my old shamisen has perfectly good dog skins that are 19 years old!
It’s interesting how big they are. That must’ve been some bosomy cat!
:-O!! 19 years!!! Grant and I often marveled on how his skin lasted 7 years, but 19 years!! Wow, what a record! How do you protect it??
^.^
Oooo All good news im quite flattered to be responded to by so many prestigious people.
As the text is italian… selling it from japan… selling it in euros its abit odd,
Minyo is my favorite type of japanese music
Are you sure its 94 cm though? on the info it said case 94 cm… but im not even sure if its a case where the instrument is in 4 parts or where its whole…
This is all really great news thank you everyone
For my first purchase into the shamisen world How did i do?
I got absolutely everything i would ever want on a shamisen for a price even i could afford.
Thank you all for your responses Really cant wait to play it, and learn more about my shamisen.
Hmm when i get it i will have to name it ^^
Anyone have any suggestions… and lol kyle will my shamisen need a bra(s) or censorship in anyway?
I have only had it about 6 months myself. I got it off Ebay from someone in Utah. They didn’t know anything about it. I believe the shamisen is ~40 years old and was well played and well taken care of. It didn’t look like it was played that much after re-skinning though. I keep my shamisen inside a paper bag inside a plastic bag with the kiri wood dou ita then inside a case when I am not playing them.
By the way I live in San Diego where the humidity is about perfect, not too high nor too low.
I have only had it about 6 months myself. I got it off Ebay from someone in Utah. They didn’t know anything about it. I believe the shamisen is ~40 years old and was well played and well taken care of. It didn’t look like it was played that much after re-skinning though. I keep my shamisen inside a paper bag inside a plastic bag with the kiri wood dou ita then inside a case when I am not playing them.
By the way I live in San Diego where the humidity is about perfect, not too high nor too low.
oh wow ^^ im from San Diego,
weird world… lived there 17 years of my life till i moved to england :3… then to wales… then to england… then to wales… and now back to england… im 18 now…
This shamisen i have now says 1980 on there… o: so im not sure if that means my shamisen is 32 years old… or not
Hi Cana, enjoying the UK? Quite a change in weather from San Diego.
The used shamisen on ebay are typically 30-60 years old. I now have two at ~40 years old. Once they are reconditioned they are just as good as a brand new one.
This one looks like it was taken care of as the wood edges still look sharp and the metal fittings still look like gold (they are likely gold plated). It is a well made shamisen. The only thing is the skins look tired and they are probably 10 years old or more (possibly much more). It doesn’t appear to have a bachikawa which I would recommend to help further its life.
To give you an idea how well you did I purchased one form ebay very similar to this at 2X what you paid.
I am save the whole freezing my tail off lol
everyday these brits complain of it being to hot
(when there was snow on the floor but i am half brit so i guess complaining and “queing” is in my blood)
Yay <3 im very happy to hear i did well.
hmm ill hafta look into a bachikawa, i didnt realise it didnt have one. Would also like a Dou Gomu Shi-ru and a pink yubikake, (maybe a pink neo) and a maybe a pink version of the padding on top of the , rather then the yellow one (it seems abit worn… but i might not mind it once i see it in person)
Really cant express how excited i am to recieve it <3
Let me know if you guys think ill need anything else, Also will be looking into your book abit more Kyle (sent yeh loads of skype messages a couple days ago)
Great buy Cana! I was looking at this one yesterday, and was surprised it was so cheap!
It seems like a Min’yo shamisen skinned for Jiuta. Pretty multipurpose in that sense (woot-woot!), but one thing that bothers me is the skin: in regards to the aged cat skin thought, its super unusual for cat skin to last more than a year (and that’s seriously pushing the limit). I’ve never seen dog skin or cat skin with nips that large. Get some censor bars on those things! WOOF!!! 
The seller states that it is new skin, so the discoloration makes things sorta strange.
It might be interesting to write to them and find out a bit more about the exact material since most of the shamisen that they offer (and have offered in the past) have this discolored skin…
Really interesting, but still an INSANE deal! You’ll have to let us know how things go when you get it and give it a test-drive! (^…^)/
Good luck with it!!!
hehe thankies ^.^ will do
lol could maybe draw a bra on them…
not sure what upsize my shamisen will be though D:
I do agree with everyone the skin looks strange… But if in person its not as bad as it looks and it is still in playable condition i wont mind ^.^ either way i got an extremely good deal on a shamisen
Never knew multi shamisen types existed, it was extremely hard identifying this by myself at first… the skin was large around the edges like a tsugaru in some pics… and itomaki looked about right for a tsugaru shamisen in some of the pictures
the info says the case is 94 cm… not the instrument thats whats weird…
really cant wait to get it.
A tsugaru shamisen with kouki,ayasugi,azumasawari,bachi,case and strings cost like 3000 USD ITS USED a New one cost 8000 Dollars