Horn bachi

Building/Repair
#21

Amanda, I am working on a Tsugaru style bachi now and did just that. I drilled a hole from the butt side and filled it with lead. I don’t think I would do it this way again. It is difficult to drill a long straight hole and although the balance is OK is is still back end heavy. Even with all this it will end up being light. I would suggest going in from the side like the way you see the wooden bachi an make a thin piece of wood to fit over it.

To give you an idea how much weight you need, I am again using ebony. The completed bachi would have been around 75g. This was reduced to ~67g when I drilled out the hole. The typical Tsugaru bachi is going to be ~125-150g. That’s a lot of weight and reason why they use lead.

#22

I have a gaming mouse which means it has a cartridge that you can pull out and insert weights into. This is to let every individual decide how much their device should comfortable weigh.

I just had an idea about having some kind of such mechanism in a bachi, perhaps at the end of the handle, where you could adjust the weight.

#23

thanks michael, my wood one has the side part, i’d either use a router or a drill press i think, having a reference weight other than my wood one helps a lot.

#24

Finally I have a short video of me demonstrating the horn bachi. Sorry the audio quality isn’t the best, nor is my playing…

#25

here is the link

#26

wow great job! it sounds amazing, great style aswell, how did you learn to play those kind of songs??? Do you read the music as you play???

#27

Is the bachi really supposed to be that huge? Looks really nice!

#28

Liam, I have been learning jiuta shamisen under a teacher. I don’t think I would manage well myself without one. I do read the music as I play. I don’t have a good head for memorizing this stuff and it allows me to focus on learning the techniques of playing rather than what note comes next.

Karl, yes the jiuta bachi is HUGE compared to a Tsugaru one. You should see the bachi some of the biwa players use, they look like they are fanning themselves.

#29

Wow, you sure don’t grasp the size of the bachi from the picture (even compared next to the wooden bachi) ! :stuck_out_tongue: That’s yer big boy bachi.

Michael, it looks awesome, and I think you play very well. A good sound through and through. :slight_smile:

Is the horn connected to the ebony with a tongue/groove joint?

#30

Kyle, yes it is, from a single piece of horn cut down the middle.

#31

Love your playing Michael! Thanks for this post and for the video/audio example. Very interesting to see the horn bachi and to see it in action makes it so much more comprehensible. Appreciate the sharing spirit! Domo!

#32

Wow, really a cool looking bachi! I’ve never seen an all black one before - it’s pretty bad-ass.

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