Which Koma do you prefer and why?
I definitely prefer the Bekkou koma 
I would rather have a mellow tone than that sharp treble sound. The high treble can hurt my ears.
I ordered Zouge because I like treble. Right now I feel like I want to express my music a bit softer so I think I’ll have to get a Bekkou as well. But I still think that I will go with Zouge for when rocking it out. I’m used to Heavy Metal, so there are no treble sounds that can inflict pain anymore 
I had a bekkou koma, but then Kyle stole it. (I’m pretty sure it’s the one on the Bachido header right there lol). Otherwise I’ve never had anything but zouge, and I like the tone I get from it. I’ve never even really consciously thought about the difference. I’ve always paid so much more attention to the bachi that it hadn’t even really occurred to be that there was a noticeable change in tone from the bridge (other than when the heights are different).
This is surely something that I will look into and reinvest in another bekkou koma now that you guys remind me.
Gra~nt!! Remember that koma was constantly breaking your san no ito, so I offered to relieve it from you. You know, to help make your bachi case lighter. 
Oh yeah. For me, zouge all the way. Especially because my homemade shamisen are already quite mellow sounding, the zouge helps balance it out a bit.
Yeah, that’s your excuse this time Kyle, but I’ve got my eye on you…
When I have a tight skin on the shamisen I think I will prefer Bekkou, I like the mellow sound, shamisen has enough treble anyway! Right now it doesn’t make a huge difference but the bekkou one is definately prettier
Kyle the bekkou bandit! for shame
Guys, as you should all well know, Shamisen is an uncontrollable passion of mine. If I have to steal one of Grant’s koma, then so be it!
Karl: All the more reason to need more trebley tone!
It’s interesting. On Bullet FM Valentine’s newest album, there’s a track called “Fever”, and near the end of the song, they intentionally put some very high frequencies (almost inaudible, but you feel it on your ears). Each time that happens I have to preemptively turn the volume down. I asked Luke why they would do that, and he figured, “Probably because most people listening to Metal have already lost their high frequency hearing, so they put in more.”
Haha yup. I was really afraid that I had afflicted tinnitus last year because it was a small gig in a tent and the crowd was awesome and engaged and they raised the volume due to that. At the time it was all good, but the trip home was a bit scary. Fortunately it wore off after a week, but damn you need to be careful
Funny story there. When I was younger all men had to be tested for military service and then they chose a small amount that would have to do the service. One test was hearing. You are supposed to listen to high pitched frequencies. First of they moved me to another room because I was hearing high pitched tones all the times and was mashing that “I just heard a tone” button.
When I got my results afterwards I could see a dip in one ear at a high frequency. I don’t think I’ve lost my hearing though, it’s just that you filter out some sounds because you are used to hearing them.
I had that last year too. My ear was a little… er, “congested” so I went to the doc. He just jammed a q-tip in the with gusto. Though he cleared it, that ear kept ringing for about a month. Of course, Papa and Luke said, “Oh, your ears are ringing because of playing shamisen.” Anyway, I went to the ear doctor where they made me do a similar test: Listen to a range of high frequencies at really quiet volume. I managed to hear all the tones (except one that had to be turned up a bit), so it wasn’t the fault of shamisen.
What I’ve heard from my friend is that there are tiny hairs sticking up inside the ear, which “register” the frequencies. When a certain frequency is too loud, it will flatten those hairs, which will stop registering that particular frequency. Once they are flattened, they don’t regrow. Scientists don’t recommend squeezing Rogain into the ear canal.
it’s just that you filter out some sounds because you are used to hearing them.
In all seriousness, that apparently happens to some married couples. If the hubby/wife nags a lot, the other spouse willunconsciously tune out his/her voice.
Funny about the rogain part (!), but for the married couple a darth vader voice transformer might be a solution!