Is it possible to turn a Gottan into a full on skinned Shamisen?

Building/Repair
#1

So I’ve been looking up some stuff on the Gottan, and part of me got the idea of possibly buying one, and turning it into a full on Shamisen. In theory, it seems possible with the correct type of Gottan. All one would need to do is take off the boards on each side of the Dou, most likely by sawing them off, and put on whatever skin you want. In my case, it’d probably be some sort of Remo fibre skin. In the end, one would theoretically end up with a crude, but definitely playable skinned shamisen

But in practice, has anyone actually tried this? I know it’s only possible with specific Gottan, since some are more Shamisen-like, whereas others are more rectangular in the dou so it wouldn’t sound very Shamisen-like in the end. I’m definitely not the first to come up with this, and it’s not the first crazy idea that’s come to my head xD.
If anyone knows whether it’s really possible, and if anyone’s actually tried it, please tell me about it. Thanks!

#2

Anything is worth a shot. :slight_smile:
The only problem I would see is the height difference of the dou and sao. Basically, the top side of the sao and dou need to be roughly level (disregarding neck angle for the sake of simplicity for now). If the top board of the dou is, let’s say 5mm, removing that means the sao will become 5mm higher than the dou.

If the holes in the dou (where the sao/nakago fit inside) are filed down to be lower so the top sides of the sao and dou are level, then theoretically, it could work just fine. :slight_smile:

#3

Thanks for the reply. I think what one could do to make sure the dou doesn’t become shorter is to cut around the inner area of the boards, keeping the outer areas on though. I hope you get what I mean xD.
Also, it seems as if that’d be easier to execute anyway. The hardest part is actually finding a Gottan, since not all are made to the same standards. However, if i do find the correct type of Gottan, that will be something I will try though!

#4

Hey, now that’s an idea! Yeah, if you just cut the inside part out, you should be able to maintain the same dou height. :slight_smile: Good idea!

Let us know when you get a Gottan and try it out! It would be very interesting to see pictures of your process. :slight_smile:

#5

Since I don’t know nothing about gottan, I want to know in what music is it used… and I guess gottan is really rare instrument, like ichigenkin

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