Gottan ごったん ??

Store/Sales
#1

Hello everyone,
Sorry, i am new to this site, and i apologize if i have made in any mistakes or breaches in protocol.
i have a few questions regarding the Gottan on this site, and i would appreciate any help i can get.
After searching around, i have been able to find very little information regarding this instrument, and no other online locations where it is sold. Does anyone have any experience in this? Direction to an online store for this product would be extremely appreciated.
i have found some excellent videos of people preforming on this instrument, as can be demonstrated here,.


The Instrument in this video seems to have more basis in the traditional design of the shamisen than the one portrayed in the picture for this site, which could also be a point of interest. I would appreciate any input anyone here could offer.
Thank you very much

1 Like
#2

Also, to be more specific, does the model in this store have standard guitar tuning pegs as is shown in the picture, does it have Itomaki?

#3

Hi Will,

Welcome to Bachido!

Haha! No, you haven’t breached any protocol or anything. :wink: Yeah, Gottan really isn’t as common as Shamisen, isn’t it. I have a hard time finding info about it as well. The sound of it is really warm and nice.

I will check with Masahiro for you. I believe it has guitar tuning pegs, but he might be able to get one with itomaki, if you’re interested. It’ll probably be a bit more expensive. Please let me know before I ask him.

Thanks! :slight_smile:

Kyle

#4

That would be outstanding, thank you very much. would you have any estimates on the price? i would definitely be willing so long as it isn’t an outstanding sum. I appreciate your help very much, thanks again.

#5

It would be about 20,000 yen. I believe it comes with a soft shell case.

#6

sorry, is that with the itomaki?

#7

If so i would certainly be fine with that, but if not i can go up somewhat further as well.

#8

I think that’s without itomaki, but I will let you know when I get a response. :slight_smile:

#9

Thank you

#10

Aha, sorry to be so incessant, and thanks again for your help, but would you recommend playing the Gottan with a bachi? or a guitar/bass pick as in the above video? or can either be used?

#11

Just heard back from Nitta san. It has guitar tuners.

No worries mate! :slight_smile: Hmmm… I’m sure either can be used. I’m not sure, but I imagine that a bachi wasn’t used when Gottan were commonly played. From what I was told, Gottan used to be instruments farmers (or such) built as a cheap alternative to shamisen. Thus, I doubt bachi were used. Either fingers or a small plectrum is my guess. Just a hunch. If anyone knows for sure, let us know! :slight_smile:

#12

Alrighty, thank you sir. Do you perchance know of anyplace where one could be sold with Itomaki so i could compare? it doesn’t make a huge difference but it is a feature that would be appreciated.

#13

I have no idea where they can be bought. :-S

One thing you could do is take it to a local instrument luthier. They can remove the guitar tuners and make itomaki for it. It’s very easy to do.

#14

A great idea, I cant thank you enough for all the help you’be been :D, i really appreciate it, and will likely be making a purchase within the next few days. Thanks again
(/’_’)/

#15

Like Kyle says, I don’t think bachi are traditionally used with the gottan, but I think you could experiment with a cheap wooden bachi (forget bekko). Look at the biwa, the original bachi-fied instrument: it has a wooden sound board and is played with a monster wooden bachi. You might need to rig up a pickguard, or the soundboard will end up gouged after a while.

#16

Thank you

#17

I found this short introductory article to the gottan:

http://www.ertl.jp/CEST/119_091016.pdf

Interesting reference about the history and such, if you can read Japanese.

To answer your question about the bachi: according to this article, the gottan is traditionally played with the fingers, sans plectrum.

#18

Hello again, sorry, but is the store down? or am i having network troubles? i have been unable the cart from several locations.

#19

Hi Will,

Yeah, we’ve been having some server/site issues. Luke’s been working on it, and should hopefully be back in a day or two.

#20

Oh ok, thanks.

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