Hi I am rather new to bachido and to the world of shamisen. I just recently got a shamisen of my own but i don’t know if it is tsugaru or another type. It seems to be a bit small to be a tsugaru shamisen but I don’t know what else it would be. I was wondering if someone could tell me what kind it is. I will upload a picture as soon as I can.
You can look at this link :
It looks more like the Chinese Sanxian - or an Okinawan sanshin
Definitely not a shamisen though.
Yeah, the itomaki look rounded at the ends. That’s a dead giveaway. Plus the ends looks off…
Looks like a hodgepodge. Is this authentic? At first glance I’d say it’s a nagauta shamisen, but then it’s got huge pegs, and a dokake that belongs on a sanshin.
It looks too bulky to be a hosozao/nagauta, which is what I play. How thick is the Sao? I was thinking it could be a sanshin with like a synthetic/plastic skin (not sure what it is called) like in some shamisen that don’t use cat or dog skin.
Where did you get this might I ask?
Only thing is, sanshin are usually round. In this picture, the do has sharp, square edges. Additionally, sanshin, unless they are kankara, are black lacquer. And, when not bound in snake skin, the synthetic membrane is usually printed to look like it, and is usually never white. Not to mention, this is too large to be a sanshin.
This instrument, if it can even authentically be called one, has a sao the slopes as it approaches the do, which is what lead me to believe that it is a nagauta, if not modeled after one.
At first glance, it looks like a nagauta shamisen, that someone decided to put a sanshin dokake on, and put thick tsugaru pegs on it, if not custom made them this way.
The bridge, strings and tailpiece also look out of place; that red tailpiece is too tiny for this instrument! The color of the protruding sao is also different from the main body. (White, when the main sao is brown?) Those strings look terrible! That’s not a sanshin koma either.
My guess is that someone who doesn’t know about shamisens wanted to sell this puppy online, and tried putting random stuff together to sell something that looks like a shamisen.
to me it looks like a sanxian, just a feeling
Just for reference:
Thanks so much I will look into this. I am really surprised to find out that it is not a shamisen. It was a gift so I don’t know where it came from, but that is really disappointing. Here all this time I thought I was just not playing it correctly, I couldn’t get the snapping sound out of it that I heard in videos. Also the strings seemed to be a little too close together. I guess for now I will just learn to play this, then get a real shamisen from the bachido website. Thanks for all of the replies though, this truly is a great forum:)
No wonder hajiki and 4300 were such a pain. The strings were so dang close.
Joe, yeah, that’s why I thought it was a Sanxian first - because of the pegs since the go down at an angle and I don’t think tsugaru pegs do that but I could be wrong, but the doukake threw me off.
But Jack, at least it’s the thought that counts? ^_^;
Your instrument is a true mystery. It seems to be ‘not quite’ a lot of things… I am seriously curious about it now.
My shamisen is a bit hodgepodge in that the Sao wood is kouki, the dou is maple, the top skin is cat, bottom dog, and the dou doesn’t quite fit. It has a mysterious past as it was passed down from an okamisan to my mom to me. My guess though is that all the different parts were because of various repair costs over 40+ years.
That’s amazing. I guess I kind of have something like that too. But since I don’t know the history behind mine, I guess I’ll have to start it’s new history now. (Sorry to sound so cheesy but I don’t know how else to say that)
Your instrument is a true mystery. It seems to be ‘not quite’ a lot of things… I am seriously curious about it now.
My shamisen is a bit hodgepodge in that the Sao wood is kouki, the dou is maple, the top skin is cat, bottom dog, and the dou doesn’t quite fit. It has a mysterious past as it was passed down from an okamisan to my mom to me. My guess though is that all the different parts were because of various repair costs over 40+ years.
Here’s my advice if you want to make this work for now. That looks like a desecrated nagauta shamisen, and here’s what you should do to restore its dignity:
- Remove that sanshin dokake, and get a real one.
- Get a nagauta tailpiece; this should raise the strings off the body a bit.
- Get a nagauta koma.
- Get some new strings.
- Keep the pegs if they work, but I’d advise you to get new, nagauta ones.
- I don’t like that bachi; get a new one. Plastic ones are cheap.
Thanks I think I may do that. Are there specific nagauta shamisen strings that I need to get, or are there universal shamisen strings that work for all shamisen?
Here’s my advice if you want to make this work for now. That looks like a harassed nagauta shamisen, and here’s what you should do to return its decency:
- Remove that sanshin dokake, and get a real one.
- Get a nagauta tailpiece; this should raise the strings off the body a bit.
- Get a nagauta koma.
- Get some new strings.
- Keep the pegs if they work, but I’d advise you to get new, nagauta ones.
- I don’t like that bachi; get a new one. Plastic ones are cheap.
There are different kinds of strings for each instrument, and what you want to do. In my experience, tetron strings are used for all shamisens, but you need to get some for your size shamisen. Tsugaru strings are too thick for a nagauta.
My jiuta teacher used tetron strings for all strings, but the 3rd string was always breaking.
My current min’yo teacher uses tetron for 1 and 2, and a different, harder plastic for the 3rd; it takes longer for the string to break if you use stronger plastic.
I would seek out tetron strings for nagauta shamisens.
Oh cool! I didn’t know there were tetron strings for shamisen. I only knew those for koto =)
I use a nylon for my 3rd string because the third is the thinest and breaks easily. Then I have a silk for my second and first string.
Silk sounds the best, but breaks easily and is a little on the pricey side. Nylon is stronger and is a good beginner string. It’s also cheaper to replace.
My nagauta teacher and the jiuta teacher I briefly worked with recommend either nylon or silk.
I don’t know the sound quality of tetron vs. nylon or silk, but experimenting around might be fun.
I’ll definitely look into the tetron when I’m back in Japan, but I think the shop in near where I am only carry silk and nylon…