Has anyone tried using Cherry wood to construct a Shamisen? If so what type? I like Black Cherry wood (American) but it has a medium density and I am worried it might be too soft, I do not know if European Cherry wood has a higher density.
For some reason I just love the idea of making my shamisen from Cherry wood but not sure if it is actually practical.
Any input or suggestions would be gratefully received.
black cherry wood is about 930 on the janka scale
the traditional woods are:
Karin wood (Red Oak) = 1260-1290
Shitan wood (Alstonia scholaris) = 1700 approx
Kouki wood (Red Sandalwood) = 2940
i think cherry would be too soft and prone to warping as much as it’d look so good. I think most fruit wood in general is pretty soft.
Karin wood (Red Oak) = 1260-1290
Shitan wood (Alstonia scholaris) = 1700 approx
Kouki wood (Red Sandalwood) = 2940
Hmm. Is this correct for those first two? According to wikipedia Red Oak grows mostly in North America.
Somewhere here on bachido i noted the following:
Karin - Pterocarpus macrocarpus (Burma Padauk)
Shitan - Dalbergia cochinchinensis (Rosewood)
So, who is right? :E
i use a combination of:
http://workshoppages.com/WS/Misc/Wood-Hardness-Chart.pdf
http://ejmas.com/tin/2009tin/tinart_goldstein_0904.html
http://piemonte.di.unito.it/Atomi/JANKA.ASP.html
for my researches.
I think it all comes down to what species is specific to the names. I just went by what i could commonly find and look up on wiki XD
You’re the one who’s probably right, i just stumble along in my own world
Tegan and Amanda,
I have been researching this very topic, only with Honey Mesquite, for a few days and I found http://morlanwoodgifts.com/storefront.asp?pageno=76 to be a great comprehensive resource for the Janka hardness scale.
Well , i read about the very very hard wood needed on shamisen for ages, but there is one thing that bothers me. We always talk about the warping of the wood and especially the neck, but this instrument have a light string pressure on the neck and on the skin, it would be hard to warp it i think. You should see how guitars holds in place with 2mm thick sides , back and top, and very unstable wood for the neck, 80kg of pression between the neck and the bridge and everything works fine, if you craft it good.
So, of course cherry wood is less dense than karin or ebony, but it would be interesting to hear a cherry shamisen, if it sounds good and if it is stable or not .
I know nothing about woodworks, but a cherry sounds very good and romantic for me. Maybe it is difficult to work but It will be good to try it. Hope this not sound silly but Tegan, if your heart tells you to do it at least try it. If it doesn´t work at last you try it, and surely you learn a lot.
If you are not doing the divided neck, why not insert a metal rod like with steel guitars? That would make it possible to make shamisens with less exclusive materials.
I mean seriously, if there are a lot of people who want to make their own instruments as their first shamisen, it doesn’t matter the craft is done as the proffessionals.
exactly ! The most important thing is not the construction method, but if the instrument is well built and sounds good, everything else is virtually useless.
Karl, the bad part of the truss rod is that you have to make a fingerboard, you can try to make it almost invisible, but it requiers to make the neck first, then glue a fingerboard. but it can be done and looks great.
A French luthier has made a sao with that type of method, i don’t think there is a truss rod in the neck tho.
you can even see this is a three piece neck.
He used pine wood for the neck, and wenge for the kinda fingerboard. too bad he didn’t make a proper dou.
I agree totally, there, if you want to do it and feel it’s right then give it a try? It’s what im doing with my bachi and koma
If there really isn’t that much tension and pressure on the wood then Karls suggestion sounds interesting.
I DO have a feeling that those woods are chosen for their resistance to the humid temperature changes that japan seems to exhibit (not having been there i can’t judge) and insects and such.
I was thinking about that too Amanda, it might just be cultural and local thing in order to have a durable instrument in local weather condition.
for a very very long time european luthiers made their instruments with only local woods such as spruce, maple, cherry tree, walnut etc… and you can still play 200 years old instruments that are in great conditions and still plays great.
it was something i have thought about for a while after making a harp kit with maple and spruce, years ago a psaltery made of pine was under a LOT of tension with metal strings and lasted years
and pine is only 380 on the janka scale 
!
^.^ finally other people thinking like i am… but outloud!
I was thinking these silk strings i have must not be able to warp wood, I’ve also thought of using a trussrod but how about another idea of new kind of truss rod? should it be needed.
Along the back of the sao visibly could be a big metal pole flush with the wood and it just sits in there snug… but! when mitsuori neck is taken apart you can just side it out ^^;;
I actually haven’t destroyed any of my guitars so I haven’t thought about the fretboard 
But you’re saying that you have to make the “hole” from one side and then add the fretboard as a lid? Hmmm. That should work as well.
Also, temperature is one of the issues I’ve heard. If you make guitars for the Scandinavian climate you need to let the wood dry longer and not be used until after the winter. The frets will otherwise get loose because the wood gets more tightened and smaller.
I’ve heard stories of people who have gone to Spain and bought really expensive acoustic guitars, only to find out that they are ruined after the first winter in Sweden. So that might be worth checking out if you import wood.
Because of the Gulf Stream, the part of Sweden I live in is quite similar to Hokkaido when it comes to climate so maybe some of the Swedish trees can be used.
Cana, what you talk about seems to be hard to do, and what do you do with the long truss rod after disassembling the sao?You can’t put it in the little shamisen case 
!
Karl ,yes it can actually be done from the back of the neck before you carve it, but the bad thing is that if you have to make a repair and replace the truss rod, i don’t see how to do it without making another neck, but i might be wrong.
Weather in Spain is very very dry, it’s not surprising that the guitars made in spain are breaking when going into Sweden. I’m learning lutherie very close to spain , so it’s very dry here, and i must admit that i’m a little scared for my coming home close to the Alpes, where the weather is humid, i’ll have to work hard to have a good air in my shop!
Anyways the most important thing is to use well dried woods so they can be as stable as possible, and the musician himself has to take good care of his instrument, a very good hardcase also helps when you need to take your instrument out in the cold humid winter.
wouldnt be thaaat hard, just use a very smooth tipped router in the shape of a dome that goes straight down the spine of the sao, what im talking about is a metal rod that sits on top of that ^^… your right it wouldnt fit in a mitsuori case though unless it folds in two
Getting the router to go straight along a pretty round shape would be hard though…
Well my heart says cherry wood, I think my playing will be so bad I doubt the sound will matter! Just need to source the wood now. I like the idea that the wood changes color over time so it’s almost like getting a new shamisen over time : )
Only problem with a softer wood might be that the first string creates grooves in the Sao. Mine is Kouki and they can still need to be planed back smooth eventually if you play a lot.
In the image you can just make out a groove forming.
