Koma

Building/Repair
#1

Hello lovely Bachido forum people.
I’m in the process of making myself a Tsugaru Shamisen. It is almost done but alas I won’t be able to finish it until early January when I will do some final finishing, oiling and then attempting to put on the skin.
In the meantime I’ve been having fun making Koma to while away some time while visiting new friends in the eastern Kootenay mountains near Invermere in BC.
Love making them. Have no idea if they’ll work or at least which design will work best. I’ve been trying out some different ideas and thought that, if you’ll forgive my self-indulgence, I ought to put up some photos. So here 'ya go. Cheers and happy holidays! Cath
Any criticisms (a teeny weeny bit nervously) welcome!






#2

Forgot to mention that I have been using various material combinations of bamboo, rosewood, jatoba and deer bone. Also, if I may, an excellent source for bamboo could well be your best, kendo practising, friend. Broken shinai are an excellent source I’m finding.

#3

Wow they are really different and good looking! It would be cool to hear a comparison towards traditional ones when you finally try them out.

I take it they are “hollow” underneath? They look a bit larger but if the edge is thin then it might make no difference at all.

#4

Hi Karl,
yes they are hollow underneath to varying degrees. I actually don’t know how much hollowing there would be on a traditional koma, not having one as an example. I think that maybe a lot of them are longer than usual (or should be). Can’t wait to try them out in early January. I will for sure record what they sound like. Mental note: put a ruler in images for scale!

#5

Awesome! I especially like the one with two seperate bases and the one with dark wood laminated in the middle.

Great idea about using old shinai as a bamboo source. I can’t believe I never thought of that considering how many old beat up ones I have laying around.

#6

Ah, a fellow kendoka! Most excellent. Thanks for the comment Cody. I’m interested to see if the one with separated bases ends up collapsing on me. Might have been a good one to try out on the 21st of Dec otherwise known as Mayan apocalypse day.

#7

I’m interested to see if the one with separated bases ends up collapsing on me.

Meh, probably not since the wood is hard and they look really sturdy. It’s a pretty gutsy design though :wink:

Might have been a good one to try out on the 21st of Dec otherwise known as Mayan apocalypse day.

Ah I hope not! I still have to finish my shamisen before the world ends! Fingers crossed lol

#8

Hey Catherine. Your profile says you live in Banff, if you are coming back, I’m in Canmore, and would love to buy a Koma from you, if you are interested in selling any. I’d love to hear the difference between my Bekkou and a deer bone. Also, your Komas look fantastic!

#9

Hi Travis,
Yes indeed. I’ll be back in Banff in early January doing a music residency at The Banff Centre. It starts on Jan. 7 but I’ll likely be back a few days earlier.
Please get in touch if you’d like to try out some of my Komas.
Thanks for the kind words!
My email is catherine.fiain@gmail.com
The breadth of this Bachido community never fails to amaze me.

all the best
Cath

#10

Lovely koma, Cath! I particularly like the two tone koma on the top right. :slight_smile: The middle one (with the center of the base cut out) will be very interesting to hear.

My only comment is that some of the saddles may be a bit thicker than they need to be. :slight_smile: However, that may yield an awesome, neverbeforeheard tone!

Awesome crafting! :slight_smile:
Kyle

Btw, I’ve heard that Travis can make a stellar cappuccino. Just sayin’.

#11

o wow, you certainly have an eye for them!
i think my fave is the one that looks like the two ovals with the darker bridge in the middle. (from the top)

#12

Thanks for the kind and encouraging words Amanda and Kyle! Also, Kyle, thanks for the comment about the saddle thickness. I was a little nervous about making them too thin. I can still take 'em down a little.

Might try making a couple more with the centre of the base cut out. Shall dutifully report on the results in January. Nice to hear about the cappucino/Travis connection. I like coffee too!

#13

I’ve actually been all about the coffee press lately, however I shall bring coffee when I come to try out and purchase a Koma! I’m incredibly excited about hearing the difference. Do you currently have a Shamisen to play?

#14

Holy, no pressure eh, batman!
Sounds like a lovely get together, Koma and coffee.
I don’t have a shamisen … well, I should say that I have one but at the moment it’s only good for air shamisen. Will finish it soon after I get back I hope. I now have another reason why I can’t wait to get back to Banfffff!

#15

Having recently been occupied with koma construction, I’m enjoying this thread. Nice work, and lots of interesting designs.

#16

Absolutely beautiful! Really impressive craftsmanship!
My assumption would be that the “feel” rather than the tone, is what will be the main difference from a traditional koma.
We surely can assume if you followed the same standards as a traditional one, you could get a similar sound, but I doubt there would be a “better or worse” analysis that could be performed.

Boy I would love to try those babies out! They look great!
I agree with Kyle, I like those too.

#17

Thanks again for all the kind words! Grant, what you say makes sense to me which also makes me think to the whole issue of musical right and wrong as in, for instance, there are no wrong notes, just notes, which seems to often fry the minds of musicians of various ilks. (Jazzers excepted here … mostly … some of them anyway)

Silly meanderings aside… I think that I will add a little Koma page on my website (fiain.ca) with the thought that if people want to try them out (after a rigorous testing process on my part involving throwing them off of high trees, tying them to the feet a giant sized squawking rocky mountain ravens [in a humane way of course] etc. etc. ) perhaps we can work something out.

I’ve made a few more with the centre parts cut out and also laminated ones. With all the good advice I’ve also refined the saddles somewhat. Thanks for all the feedback!

I’m almost out of materials where I am now though, so will have to wait until I get back to Banff, where my stuff is, for more explorations.
Cheers and Happy New Year!
Cath

#18

I agree these komas really look special in a cool way and in case we don’t hear each other again by then happy new year to you too . . .

#19

I have a couple of questions about koma and thought that I might as well post it here while we have this going.

Do different Tsugaru Shamisen players have different ideas as to how far apart the grooves should be in a koma? Kyle’s most excellent book suggests 9mm apart. I suppose that variations would be fairly small as elements such as neck width would put a limit on things.

And another… and here I’m really showing off how much a shamisen beginner I truly am. Does the grooved out part on the underside of koma generally go from one end to the other or just under the bit where the strings would rest?

Any thoughts on these two things would be most welcome.

Thanks again!
Cath

#20

Hi Catherine
I previously posted this picture in :

When I made my bamboo komas, I was generally copying the one on the top. It was a gift from my daughter’s sensei, who plays hauta shamisen, but I’m not sure what kind of shamisen the koma belongs to. You can see the hollowed out underside; the koma is extremely thin and light. It was also cracked in a couple of places, and I repaired it with superglue. I didn’t make mine quite as thin.

I asked a similar question about the koma notches in this thread: . I didn’t get a very definitive answer. The koma pictured above has notches at 12mm, which is perfect for the tsugaru shamisen if the outer strings hug the tenjin walls (kuroaze). However, if the upper string (san-no-ito) is pushed toward the middle (as recommended in the book, pages 82-83), a closer koma notch spacing (e.g. 9mm) is needed. In that case, it would seem appropriate to make the notch spacing unequal, to conform with the uneven string spacing. For example, 11mm/7mm instead of 9mm/9mm. If you aren’t sure, you can always put in multiple notches for the middle and/or upper strings.

Another thing - I copied the construction of my “example” koma by setting the saddle into a notch in the bamboo, rather than gluing it on top of the vertical “posts” (per the book). I previously made a koma using the book method, and I’ve had to reglue the saddle to the base twice.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott