Cleaning and Maintenence

Building/Repair
#1

Hello Bachido Community,

So a while ago I was able to pick up this beautiful used Shamisen from a local music store. I want to get to playing the instrument, however I would like to completely clean and take care of it before I begin learning how to play.

http://imgur.com/f2ygsda

I would be very appreciative to know what the wood is made out of, if that’s possible, and if there is an effective way to clean it and get all the oils and debris off of it.

Following this I was wondering if someone could let me know what material the zagane are made out of as I would like to get this rusted/greening look out of them and make them shiny again.

http://imgur.com/AkGSnAu

Also, if anyone knows a good way to clean the skin of the Shamisen as the previous owner placed stickers on the skin for some reason. If it’s better to just get a new one that might be my only option.

http://imgur.com/iqi5mSW

Lastly I was wondering if anyone knew what these numbers/characters mean as it might mean something important.

http://imgur.com/8JLqbp9
http://imgur.com/k22jVif

Thank you all for your time, I appreciate any answers that can help me take care of this beautiful instrument.

#2

Unfortunately the cleaning (about 10 hours) was the only good job I managed to do as for restoring this shamisen . . . :wink:

Seeing there was also a physically dented area on the 3 position of the neck from earlier finger presses I eventually dared to go through with some mechanical cleaning also.

Yours is looking much better already though and in general I have no clue about woodworking so what I did may be far from best practice even though I would say it worked out fine.

Anyway I started using the finest sandpaper I could find but it was still a rather rough one about grade 1200 (I think) so very soon I proceeded to using finest grade steel wool which was readily available at a local art supplies store.

After that I used “Estalin” dark furniture oil which was one of very few choices available in stores around here.

Actually a guitar repair shop had also recommended that oil and earlier I had also consulted with a violin maker whose special cleaning & polishing lotion would have costed about 100 euros for a tiny bottle though.

Again you may not need a mechanical cleaning on the wooden parts at all but fine grade steel wool is also what I used to make the metal parts shiny again.

Should you use sandpaper or steel wool on the wood parts of the neck be careful NOT to also round the edges of where the neck parts meet keep them sharp as they are or you’ll have visible gaps when you join them again.

Also I used the steel wool dry and not wet and you will definitely want to wear some protective mask even in case you only plan on doing some little work.

1 Like
#3

Good work!

Can we call it Post-Shamicamp motivation?

#4

Thanks and no I did this a longer while ago and oh well the good work stopped about there as for trying to restore that shamisen so I also didn’t bring it to camp cause although I built in some funny electrics the instrument got almost no acoustic sound in its current state and I was on a ticket only with hand luggage . . . overall the string action characteristics are sort of unusual and make it somewhat uncomfortable to play which is the main reason why I have not really played often . . . anyway and whatever though there is after camp motivation absolutely for another try to make the best of it :slight_smile:

#5

Hi Sean,
To answer a few of your questions, the neck looks like koki, or a similar hard wood, and the body looks like karin. It’s a nice Tsugaru shamisen – a cheaper one would have a karin neck as well. I think there is some information about those woods somewhere on this site.
I wouldn’t try to clean the skin too much and don’t wash it, whatever you do, or it could end up tearing when it dries. If it still sounds good, then keep the skins that are on it for now. Putting new skins on will probably cost you as much as you paid for the instrument. To protect the skin, you might consider buying a bachigawa from the shop here, and some new strings while you’re at it.
The characters on the stickers were likely put there for identification the last time it was skinned. The one on the body says “Greg-sama,” so it was owned by someone named Greg. The sticker on the neck might have been put there by the skinner to make sure it got back on the right body after skinning.
It looks like a decent instrument - good luck with it!

#6

wow, i was about to make my post, my box of wood arrived today in much the same state!, seeing this gives me hope i can fix it

#7

Hello all,

Thank you all for your responses! I’m sorry I’ve taken so long to reply, I have been a bit busy so I’m getting to these posts now.

I’ll try some of the suggestions that have been posted and will try to get some pictures posted after polishing and cleaning.

Thanks again.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott