I think Pete Blair is right.
The softer the wood is the sooner grooves will be created in the sao. In japanese these grooves are called kanberi.
This is the reason why very good saos for shamisen are made from very hard and heavy red sandalwood (Pterocarpus santalinus) or a little bit softer Indian rosewood (Dalbergia latifolia).
One more reason for using very hard wood for the sao is that the harder the wood is the better is the sound.
good point about the grooves ! It might be a problem, except if you make some type of thin ebony fingerboard.
Thatâs interesting, and really something buyers of used instruments should look for and ask for pictures. Would suck to order somethingt that looks really nice, but has a crappy sound due to the stringâs vibrations getting nullified by the groove.
I honestly have never heard that the strings wear grooves into the wood. That is interesting and definitely should be something to consider when looking at used instruments, as you say Karl.
Speaking of how hard different types of wood are, what are some of the woods that you builders have tried? I have seen lots of Padauk going on here, which has a hardness of somewhere between 1700 and 1970, but what are some other woods that are good to use when building?
When it comes to buying the wood I am having difficulty understanding measurements. Sorry I know nothing about woodwork! What does it mean when it says for the Dou 8/4 wood (2) -22cm long x 10cm wide? I can understand the cm bit but whatâs 8/4?
iâm having the same issue with this type of classification, you can find some explanation over the internet, but i must be dumb i still donât get it !
8/4 is the classification used for measuring the thickness of lumber. It just means that the lumber is 2 inches thick, its sometimes a little less than 2 inches but not by much.
Does anyone have a diagram of a shamisen which shows the name and location of the parts? Just think it would help to have one in my workshop so I can visualise where the part Iâm making goes.
you need Kyles book : D
I have Kyles book but I could not see a diagram showing the whole shamisen with the individual parts labelled, what page is it on?
oops i assumed it would be in there, iâm waiting on my copy
any help? or too simple?
Thanks, thats a start, I can research some of the small parts and add them to it. Thanks for the help : )
no probs, weâre all in this together!
One of my used shamisen had groves deep enough that it wouldnât sound right on the common positions. I was able to refinish the surface and it is just fine now. I couldnât see just how bad it was by the pictures because the grooves really arenât that deep. A soft wood like cherry will wear down quickly, especially with synthetic strings. It would be a shame to deal with that problem after going through all the work to make one yourself. I would definitely recommend a fret board of a much harder wood.
Iâve completed two shamisens, using Kyleâs book. The first was my âtesterâ, and I made it out of spalted Cherry - because it was available, and because I like working with Cherry. The just-finished second instrument is African Padouk; it will be delivered next week to my daughter in Japan.
She has been using the tester for her shamisen lessons while the more-serious second instrument was built. To my knowledge, it has performed capably - âmuch better than my plastic practice shamisen.â People have observed that it sounds âtoo prettyâ, but thatâs probably due to having no azuma sawari.
I donât doubt that a Padouk fingerboard will resist wear better than Cherry, but that didnât bother me for my first âtestâ instrument. I could plane down the Cherry fingerboard surface a bit and glue on (e.g.) a Rosewood face, if necessary.
Facebook photo album here: https://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.232311823458892.57576.100000402275864&type=1&l=e1c40f4a65
Dan, welcome to Bachido!!! Any photos of your shamisen?
Itâs really very interesting to make shamisens.
My daughter with my spalted cherry âtesterâ shamisen:
Shamisen class recital:
Nice pictures Dan! The shamisen looks great.