Lol totally feel you Ben … I wore out my F5 refresh key on the EMS tracking page waiting for mine. Don’t let that in/out of customs thing drive you insane lol.
I would say, you’ve gone through a lot of trouble to get an awesome shamisen (seriously, how many of us can say our shamisen was made by an artist woman that lives in the mountains of Thailand?!), go that extra mile for a proper bachi. It truly makes a big difference.
Have fun man so stoked for you!! And please post pics the pics on her website show some very cool and unique crafts(wo)manship.