High quality synthetic shamisen- Real? Or too good to be true?

Store/Sales
#1

I hope Kyle won’t mind me posting this link from another website in Japan. The site is in English.

I found a website from Japan that claims to make high quality synthetic shamisen. This is what their website says:

’ Our Japanese [Nagauta] Shamisen’s body is covered with synthetic leather crafted by highly skilled craftspeople, and it has a very high-quality lvel. "

I emailed them about it and this is what they replied after I asked them a question about synthetic skin:

"Hello

Thank you for your inquiry.
Our synthetic skin is good quality and the sound is good.
Of course, it is depending on person.
But, you don’t need to worry about breaking skin,because It is hard for breaking.
So,we recommend that. If you have any questions, please feel free to ask us.

Thank you,

OTO"

They have all three shamisens: Tsugaru, Jiuta, and Nagauta. They only have youtube clips of their Nagauta and Jiuta shamisens but not their tsugaru. The Nagauta and Jiuta shamisen’s sound doesnt sound clunky and dead to my surprise. The Jiuta shamisen sounds like…well…an actual Jiuta shamisen.

Link to their shop: http://japanese-shamisen.com

Nagauta link/video clip: http://japanese-shamisen.com/nagauta/

Jiuta link/video clip: http://japanese-shamisen.com/jiuta/

What do you all think? Worth it? Real or too good to be true?

#2

Synthetic skins have been around for a long time - at least 30 years, and tend to be slightly cheaper than cheap dog skin. Their big advantage is that they aren’t affected by changes in humidity. I used to busk in Japan, and so played outside a lot - often with the sun beating down on me, and occasionally in light rain. Natural skin doesn’t last long in these conditions, so I eventually switched to synthetic skins, as the only practical option for me. The itinerant shamisen players known as “goze” had their shamisens skinned with layers of Japanese washi paper for the same reason, though I haven’t heard of any of the early Tsugaru players doing this.
Now for the ‘cons’:
The synthetics don’t sound nearly as good as natural skins – in fact, I’ve got an old shamisen with a split dog skin on it that I‘ve stitched up, and it still sounds better than my synthetic skinned shamisen. I can’t stress this enough. For those of you that feel bad using dog skin and think a synthetic will give you a similar sound, it doesn’t. It sounds cold and plastic, with none of the warm, complex timbre of natural skin.
Surprisingly, with proper care and some luck dog skin can actually outlast synthetic. The synthetic skins are made up of thin layers of different materials, and while they will never split the way natural skin does, they all eventually peel away from the body of the shamisen. This has happened to every synthetic skin I’ve ever had, but I’ve got friends who have had the same natural skin on their shamisen for many years.

Lastly, I want to say that the site seems expensive. The last time I checked synthetic skins were the cheapest option, so I can’t believe that those karin shamisen are worth $2000. Kyle’s are a much better deal.

#3

Listen to the guy. I bought a plastic bachi from this same store when I was just starting out and ignorant for $90! Kyle WILL get you a much better deal, (and much better shamisen)! My advice, avoid that site.

#4

Gabby, is the reason you feel synthetic skin would be better because of that it is more durable?

I bought the Level 4 Tsugaru Shamisen from Bachido and I’m not worrying about the skin even though I’m a beginner. Of course I take as much care of it as I can, meaning putting the body into a paper bag and then a plastic bag on top of that. And don’t hang it by a wall that is next to the outside, because that wall will get really cold and affect the skin. The same applies for the wood, it can shrink due to the cold. And wash your hands before playing :slight_smile:

The current price is 1630$ for the Level 4 Tsugaru Shamisen here at Bachido, meaning even less than for the synthetic on at that site. For that you get to try out the sound and quality of dog skin. Should it break, you can always put a synthetic skin on later. The dog skin is more valuable, so you should get that in my opinion since since these two shamisen are about the same price!

#5

Okay, okay, I’ll be honest. I thought it would be better because it’s more durable. Im just reaaaaally afraid of natural skin snapping on me and having to get it replaced because it’s super expensive. I have an Okinawa synthetic skin sanshin…maybe that’s why I thought it.

I just really want to make my shamisen worth it, you know. I didnt know where else to look.

To be honest, I really didnt get much information from that site and I trust Kyle more :slight_smile:

@ Jonathan: Thanks for the heads up!!

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