Hello!
I bought a Shamisen a couple of days ago from a shop in Kanazawa and brought it back to Belgium.
it’s so much fun to play on a shamisen!
But I have a small concern: I noticed a small line on the lowest part of the sao.
the line follows the woodlines, and it looks a little bit like a crack? Could it be just the lacquer?
Just to be sure I wanted to ask on here.
What do you think? Should I be concerned about this?
Thank you very much!
Jonas
You were out in my neck of the woods! Neat. Always good to see folks coming out to Hokuriku.
To me, it doesn’t look like anything to worry about. They seem too shallow to be worriesome in the short term. It is hard to tell from just pictures though…
Did you buy it used or new? Jiuta or Nagauta, right?
ah, it was in a store called Shamisen no Fukushima that I bought it.
Upstairs it was possible to try out the shamisen and learn Sakura.
So in a sense my shamisen is new, because it wasn’t owned by anyone else except the shop. But it has been played on since it was a shamisen used for trying out upstairs.
Thank you for your advice!
This shamisen is a Nagauta!
Hello! I’m new here… So, I wanted to put only Sakura on my username… but… I cannot!!!
I don’t play shamisen, but it doesn’t matters…
Jonas… Wow! Is your shamisen nagauta? So you can play nagauta pieces!! Wow! Can you also sing nagauta? I know it’s a bit difficult to sing… I tried, but I don’t know… I want to learn jiuta, but… I’ll see. I have a friend who plays jiuta… he’s from Kyoto and we chat together on Skype
ah, it was in a store called Shamisen no Fukushima that I bought it.
Upstairs it was possible to try out the shamisen and learn Sakura.
So in a sense my shamisen is new, because it wasn’t owned by anyone else except the shop. But it has been played on since it was a shamisen used for trying out upstairs.
Aha! I haven’t been there yet; but I’ve seen their shop while wandering around.
Anywho, Shamisen no Fukushima craft what they sell, so I’m sure any damage is superficial. Keep an eye on it, but I wouldn’t worry too much.
This shamisen is a Nagauta!
As expected! The hatomune is a dead give-away.
I neglected to say so earlier, but hello Jonas!
Hello! I’m new here… So, I wanted to put only Sakura on my username… but… I cannot!!!
Hello to you too Sakura! So many new faces lately.
Hello! But what’s the hatomune?
So… For nagauta… Yesterday I listened to a nagauta pieces I don’t remember the title and I’m very impressed. It’s very unique! But the player is Always the singer of a nagauta piece? Toug I don’t know…
Thanks!+Sakuraharu
Thanks for the link! I found it very iinteresting!
I listened sakura sakura on a shamisen… but I don’t know… I know sakura is a piece for koto and there are variations on it. But, Jonas, do you want to learn only the main theme? It’s a curiosity…
We’re going to be in Kanazawa in October - probably around the 16th or so for a couple of days because my husband’s sister lives there. A shamisen shop called Sekiya is near her flat and it now turns out that the owner lives in her (the sister’s) building! We were thinking of going there during our visit. http://sekiya-gakki.net/ Has anyone been there?
If anyone in Kanazawa wants to meet up when we’re there, let us know. (Also we’ll be in Sapporo later in October).
We’re going to be in Kanazawa in October - probably around the 16th or so for a couple of days because my husband’s sister lives there. A shamisen shop called Sekiya is near her flat and it now turns out that the owner lives in her (the sister’s) building! We were thinking of going there during our visit. http://sekiya-gakki.net/ Has anyone been there?
If anyone in Kanazawa wants to meet up when we’re there, let us know. (Also we’ll be in Sapporo later in October).
I’ve been to that shop once before! Bought a few music books and some strings back when I first got started.
I might be available to meet up, October is a pretty busy time for me though.
Excellent! I’ll report back on the shop (my husband says they were nice on the phone and his sister said they were also kind in person) and let you know the precise dates when we’ll be there. Always interesting to meet more shamisen people!
I was just concerned something might have happened during the flight back , but it’s barely anything worriesome now.
Ah Sakura Haru, I cannot sing Nagauta but I would love to! Oh and what do you mean with the main theme?
Thank You!!! I love this community!!! So many nice people!!!
For the main theme, I mean: sakura is a piece made for koto and it was adapted for jiuta or nagauta shamisen (thoug I listened a tsugaru performance). I listened lots of sakura versions and there is one with variations on the main theme… The main theme is the initial part… while the variations are changes from the main sakura theme…
Jonas-san,
The wood has ‘checked’ meaning it has dried and contracted, opening a tiny crack between growth rings of the original log/tree. This is a common defect in lumber and was not caused by rough handling - it is natural, a by-product of wood drying. I am somewhat surprised a checked piece of stock was used on such a visible location, and one that fingers touch, but I would not fret about it (groan).
I do not think the check will be a problem - both ends of the check are visible and end well inside the margins of the piece, so no chunk of wood will just split off. If the check is rough and grabs your fingers in a nasty way, a simple fix is to use a piece of beeswax or a child’s crayon of the appropriate color and rub it into the crack, building up a fat deposit of wax into and around and up and over the defect. Then carefully and slowly scrape the wax down to the level of the surrounding wood - use a popsicle stick or similar, something that is softer than the sao wood (don’t use a knife) that can scrape. Done right, this fix will completely hide the check. The sao looks like a very dense hardwood - you are unlikely to damage it further working carefully.
A luthier would do something similar but use a melted shellac stick to fill the defect - shellac is harder than wax, but also harder to work with than wax.
Knowing that the wood has checked once, you should be careful of quick or extreme changes of humidity. Going from Kanazawa with a relative humidity of ~80% to Brussels where it can be 80% in Summer down to something more like 15% indoors in a heated space in Winter. Take the same precautions you would with any wooden instrument - there are many ways to maintain a steady level moisture level around your stored shamisen.
Ganbatte,
Saburo
June, if you haven’t understand, let me know, because I found a video on YouTube that explain what I said
aah! thank you everyone!!! Tomo-san, I’ll try the crayon trick sometimes!
Sakura, I don’t think I understood completely could you please show me the video you found?
Ah… I don’t remember very well what video,
However, it was a jiuta shamisen…
I’ll let you know when can find the video