How to get Hibiki skin in germany

Building/Repair
#1

Hi, i’m from germany and at the moment i’m building my first tsugaru shamisen using Kyle’s book. It’s going on well so far, but now comes the part with the skin. I really would like synthetic skin and saw hibiki skin on bachido.com. But i found no source for this in germany :confused:

Where can i buy hibiki skin and what glue do i need for skinning? (sure its different glue as for natural skin) Anything else to consider? (things which are special while skinning with artificial skin)
Are there alternative products?

#2

Hello Unk.

Skinning with synthetics is a delicate and precise process, that requires specific (and very expensive) tools and a vast amount of knowledge for you to achieve the precise tone.

Furthermore, even if you do master the techniques (spending time and money on Shamisen education in Japan), and invest several thousand USD in the tooling, I don’t think you will find only the skin readily available for sale, especially synthetics of any kind, unless you have a relationship with a Japanese Luthier.

For anyone not thinking about starting a Shamisen business, the best way to get a beautifully sounding skin on your Shamisen is to send it to Kyle in the US, or to their partner in Japan to have it skinned. The cost is not that high ($200~250) plus shipping back and forth.

An alternative, if you are OK with animal skin, is to buy cheap Goat Skin, give it the proper treatment, invest about $100 in DIYing a set of traditional Kawahari tools, and invest some time to acquire the knowledge.

This is not meant to discourage you, but skinning a Shamisen is not, by a long stretch, as simple as you think.
I wish you the best of luck.

#3

Thank you for your reply. Till now, nothing was “simple” making a tsugaru shamisen from a piece of “tree”, so i also didn’t though it simple to skin it :wink:
So the “clamps, frame, rope” thing only works for natural skin and for synthetic skin its a completly different process?
I think then i will go for natural skin, as i’m very interested in making “all of it myself”. If i would have liked to just have a good sounding shamisen, i would have bought an instrument from a pro maker :wink: For me it is all about the process of making it.

#4

That is correct. You cannot reach the level of grip required by synthetic skins without the modern skinning machine. For leather, you wet it uniformly and slowly, then you can stretch it easily enough with the wood+rope machine, and the leather will dry and tighten to the final tension.

Synthetic skins don’t have a “soft” state like leather, so you are entirely dependent on the machine to stretch it to the final tension. You need an extremely strong grip, pads with anti-slip properties that are strong enough but won’t rip the material at potential POFs, and general sturdiness to withstand perpendicular pressure against the gripping mechanism from the Dou pushing against the skin.

Therefore, animal skin is the way to go, as it’s not that hard, and not that expensive, to build the Kawahari wood components, and, in my opinion, it’s much more rewarding as a process than the synthetic one. Just make sure you study enough about the process, and take the time to enjoy it. Goat skin is cheap enough, and rice glue is so easy to clean, that you can fail without consequence.

#5

ok, that are definitly enough reasons for going with natural skin. So goat is an option. I’ve read that calf is also an option. How thick should the skin be? Around 1mm?

Is it really nessary to get noriko clue for tsugaru shamisen? Or could mochiko clue work too? ('cause i could not find noriko powder)

I also read about skin clue for this (some even use tidebond), or old brown glue.

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