I’m planning on building a shamisen sometime in the near future, maybe even this summer (doubt it though, since I’m a broke college student). The material for the dou/sao/tenjin will probably be either oak or maple, since these are sturdy woods which I can get in my area for pretty low prices.
So here’s my question: Should I make the itomaki out of a really hard wood, or would that damage the tenjin? I’m hoping to make the itomaki out of either ebony, or a more adventurous-looking hard wood, such as purpleheart or maybe even palm (which might look pretty cool - it’s light brown with a bunch of dark brown streaks). On the Janka scale, purpleheart and black palm rank around 2500 and 2000, respectively. I’ve heard that itomaki should be hard, but I wonder if such a discrepancy between the hardness of the two woods could damage the maruana.
Oh, and one more thing: What type of wood would (hehe, “wood would”) be the best for bachi making?