Fibersen Review

[Eric_Johnson]

Hello everyone. I’ve been without shamisen for about a month, I think, due to a tragic skin rupture. I’ve tried to be active here in my downtime, but have found it somewhat maddening without an instrument of my own.
I sent it in to be repaired with the fibersen. When I was making my decision, I had a hard time finding in-depth information about the material, but since the natural skin I had only lasted a little over a year, I decided to give it a shot. I’m going to try and document my experience with it here so as to hopefully aid others in the decision. I’ll update this post as I play with it more.

7/7/13 - Arrival
I’ve just returned from a trip out of town and the dou has been waiting here for me since yesterday. I eagerly rip open the packaging to find my shiny functional dou intact. I shipped it off in my somewhat worn washi bukuro, and am pleasantly surprised to find a new one wrapping my dou. Plus I just found my old one in the bottom of the box, nice going guys! A new gomu shiiru was also included unattached. I was happy to see that they color-matched the one that was on there before. Not sure if this was intentional, or if Bachido only stocks the brownish ones, but happy nonetheless. I haven’t attached it yet, I’m seeing how I do without it for a while.

Visually, when I first looked at the skin, I thought “clean”, maybe pushing sterile. It’s much whiter than the old dog skin, and has an even texture. From close up you can see the fibers that are its namesake. The edges along the sides of the dou are perfectly straight, where my old natural skin had rough edges stretched farther along the side. One thing I’m not sure I love is that it is physically thinner, or at least more translucent than the natural skin, and the wood and glue are fairly visible through the skin. Not a big deal though.

First play
I’ve only just assembled my instrument and gotten the strings to hold their tuning somewhat. I play around a bit, and I haven’t gotten as bad as I was afraid I would; hopefully start picking up again in the next few days. My hands start to fatigue pretty quickly though, and it’s getting late so I store it away for tomorrow.

The tone is different than the old skin. It’s much brighter, which may be because the natural skin was aging, but I think it has a slightly different characteristic outside of that, maybe more even harmonics, but definitely higher reaching ones. I feel like it exposes the flaws in my playing more, but I might be making more mistakes since it’s been so long. That will be good for practice, but doesn’t make me feel fantastic short-term. Overall though, I’m very pleased with the sound it produces so far. It is different, but I certainly can’t call it worse. The sawari comes through nicely.

7/8/13
Finally starting to hold its tuning. The calluses on my fingers have gone away, and it’s going to take some time to build them back up. This is the best I can remember my shamisen sounding! I ran through Ringo Bushi and parts of Rokudan, and it’s just sounding great, it’s very clear. The sawari sounds excellent. I’m a happy camper. I’ll play some more later in the evening. I’m feeling a little directionless though, since it’s been so long, and that’s frustrating because I felt like I was just beginning to have some focus again when my skin ripped. Maybe I’ll take this opportunity to check out some of the video lessons here on Bachido which are all new to me.

7/16/13
I’ve been playing with the fibersen for a while now, and I’m starting to get back into the groove of playing. I like the sound, but it’s a little too bright with the bone koma that I have. It’s fine with the ivory and snakewood one that I got from the bachido store. It’s worth mentioning that the bone ones were pushing too bright for my tastes with the old skin. I might want to try a bekkou koma with the fibersen when I have some funds for it. All in all, it plays very well, and I’m a happy customer. I just hope that it’s not a service I have to pay for again for a very long time.

If anyone would like me to answer any specific questions about the skin, I’d be happy to, otherwise I think I’m done here. The fibersen does its job well, and I just hope it does it for a long time to come.

[Kyle_Abbott]

Yay!! Awesome that the dou has arrived safely! From what I know, Nitta san is very generous when including extra goodies (which I’ve learned about from customers), so you could say it’s a Bachido thing.

Thank you for writing this review! I look forward to the updates. Very true, besides Josh’s review, there’s nothing else really out there.
After you conclude your thoughts, I’d like to put both your review and Josh’s review on the kawahari page (will make fibersen and natural skin two separate pages) so those interested will be able to find it easily. (With your approval, of course)

but I think it has a slightly different characteristic outside of that,

Right! That’s what I notice too. It is satisfyingly bright as fresh dog skin and the sawari comes through clearly. I believe that “slightly different characteristic” is because it’s synthetic. It’s really close to natural skin, but that’s the one thing that separates the two.
However, given that 3D printers are being made to print cellular structures, perhaps there may be a way to eliminate that one difference.

Looking forward to more updates!

[Eric_Johnson]

I probably read Josh’s review when I was deliberating, but I couldn’t remember finding much. That would be fine, I can even write up a summary for you so that you don’t clutter the site with a wall of text. I’m just dumping thoughts here. I’ll also try to do a video when I get back in the groove, but I’m shy and don’t have any real video equipment, so we’ll see.

I think I’m going to be very happy with this if it holds up as well as I believe it will. The first thought I had about the different characteristics of the sound was that the synthetic skin is giving off a more even harmonic resonance, where the dog skin has some more distinct uneven pattern, and this is the traditional tone.

If anyone can convince the world to start printing dog skin, it’s you buddy.

[Kevin_Kmetz]

Thanks for the thoughts on Fibersen Eric. I’m also planning to incorporate it into future Shamisens so I hope to join you and Josh someday with a review of my own!

[Kyle_Abbott]

I can even write up a summary for you so that you don’t clutter the site with a wall of text.

Ah, don’t worry about that. I can have the review be opened in another window, or as a drop-down thingy.
Or perhaps, a summary with a Read Full Review Here button. I think many people like longer, personal reviews.

where the dog skin has some more distinct uneven pattern, and this is the traditional tone.

Hmm, that could be true! Certainly, because natural skin is not uniform, every skin and stretching will be slightly different.

Yoops! Aki just arrived! Gotta go!

[Eric_Johnson]

Updated.

[Kyle_Abbott]

Great update! I mean, sorry to hear you’ve lost your calluses 'n all, but that the shamisen’s sounding clean and nice.

For direction, I would definitely check out
Norm Nakamura’s rokudan challenge,

Karl Hedlund’s Akita Nikata Bushi challenge,

the improv thread Aki made ()

and the metal cover thread Liam made. -

I used to just normally run through the minyo pieces almost-daily, but contributing to those threads have brought more spirit to my practice, as the social element is brought in. It feels more like bringing something to the musical potluck than just practicing by oneself.

[Eric_Johnson]

New update, and a question: Is the washi bukuro important for storage with the fibersen? I’ve been using one, but I don’t know how important it is to protect it from moisture relative to the natural skin.

Update: 7/16/13
I’ve been playing with the fibersen for a while now, and I’m starting to get back into the groove of playing. I like the sound, but it’s a little too bright with the bone koma that I have. It’s fine with the ivory and snakewood one that I got from the bachido store. It’s worth mentioning that the bone ones were pushing too bright for my tastes with the old skin. I might want to try a bekkou koma with the fibersen when I have some funds for it. All in all, it plays very well, and I’m a happy customer. I just hope that it’s not a service I have to pay for again for a very long time.

If anyone would like me to answer any specific questions about the skin, I’d be happy to, otherwise I think I’m done here. The fibersen does its job well, and I just hope it does it for a long time to come.

[Claire_Buchanon]

That’s a good question about the washi bukuro. It seems kinda redundant, but maybe something in the skin or glue might still be moisture sensitive. At the very least it would help protect the dou from scratches.

I’m curious to know how well fibersen stands up to moisture and humidity. I am considering having my antique shamisen skinned professionally but its so humid here in Florida a synthetic skin seems like it would last much longer.

For what it’s worth I think I’ll probably go with fibersen anyway so I don’t have to think of any helpless animals being murdered and skinned.

[Eric_Johnson]

Well, my understanding is that the fibersen is affixed with super glue or something rather than whatever the gooey mush is they use for traditional stuff. Or maybe that’s super glue now too, who knows. I’d still keep it in a cloth fukuro at the very least.

I’m hoping it will hold up in the humidity, there’s plenty here too.

I don’t think you’d be disappointed. The fibersen seems perfect for a high quality student-level shamisen.

P.S. I think the dogs are used for food, if that helps you feel any better.

[Kyle_Abbott]

I think it’s a superglue-like gel, definitely a pain to scrape off when reskinning as it doesn’t dissolve in water. In any case, a washi bukuro is unnecessary for fibersen, except for fashion points.

In fact, I’m starting to doubt how necessary it is even for natural skin. I’ve always used a washi bukuro but am now starting to think about going without. I keep the shamisen wrapped in a nagafukuro anyway, how many layers do ya really need? Nitta san doesn’t even use one.

I recently found that Santa Cruz has 70~80% humidity (which really surprised me. It’s so cool here that I never noticed it!) so we shall see what happens.

In any case, you’ve got nothing to worry about, Eric. According to Nitta san, you can play it in the rain.

[John_Bullard]

Thanks for the information about this. Looks like I will be ordering the Fibersen Shamisen as my instrument to use in concert. I like my instrument to have a pop and overall strong tone. Glad to see the Shamisen advancing over the years.

[Shmoolik_Kalabasa]

To anyone with a fibersen skinned shamisen plus another,

could anyone post a side by side audio/video comparison of a fibersen, plastic, and real skin playing, hopefully using the same level of shamisen (a basic level shamisen would be really helpful since im sure lots of people have plastic basic shamisen) to see the difference? I know there’s the video of kevin playing one but i’d love to hear a more thorough comparison of all three, playing the same tune, on the same recording gear.

For me personally it would really help deciding how i want to upgrade from my lvl 1.

[Eric_Johnson]

When did this get stickied? Gosh I’m bad at keeping up with forums. Sorry Shmoolik, I only have my one fibersen shamisen. I can tell you though, that I don’t really miss the natural skin. It’s a different tone, but unless you have a natural skin one right next to it and are scrutinizing, it sounds just as authentic. Both are a huge improvement over the plastic skins on cheaper models (is this what’s on the level 1?) which a friend of mine had and I never liked the sound of. Assuming the fibersen lives up to its promise of a longer life, I see no reason to go back to natural skin until I have a very high grade shamisen to put it on. After living with it for half a year now, I would comfortably recommend fibersen for any student such as myself. I’ll probably always keep one handy.

Also, no, Kyle isn’t paying me for this. But he could, that would be fine.

[Claire_Buchanon]

I just shipped my shamisen out yesterday to be skinned in fibersen, and this review really helped me decide on synthetic vs natural. It remains to be seen how everything turns out but ultimately with a decent and reliable alternative available I can only see natural skins going the way of the dodo bird.

[Kyle_Abbott]

When did this get stickied?

When I realized that this great article was lost in the forum! I was going to add it to the Fibersen page months ago, have just been so busy. But until I get it on the correct page, I think I will keep it stickied, 'cause folks are often curious about it.

Cody: Shweet!! Let’s hear a video recording of it on your Gidayu shamisen!

[Jim_M]

Is the fibersen available in the US or is re-skinning in Japan the only way to get it?

[Kyle_Abbott]

Hi Jim! Welcome to Bachido! Sorry for my late response. For now, the only way to get Fiberskin is to have it reskinned in Japan.

[Adrian_Crovetto]

Kyle: Have you done kawahari with fibersen before? Also, have you looked into getting some to maybe have a few test runs on this side of the Pacific?

[Kyle_Abbott]

Adrian, I wish I could, but the manufacturer of Fibersen doesn’t allow the material to be sold. It must be skinned there. It’s a shame, I wish I could get my hands on it.