I had already spoken about that with some of you in a previous post, I finally decided to play left-handed. Would someone have any advice to help me to reverse the kamigoma of my (nagauta) shamisen ? How is it fixed ? Can I take off easily ? Should I cut and resolder it ? That’s the kind of problems which I am confronted. All your help is still needed. Thank you in advance, apologizes for my newbie questions and my poor english.
I have been thinking about this as well since I am also left handed. The kamigoma should not be very hard to remove but you will have to re-glue it afterwards.
Basically there are two ways to change it:
Pull the kamigoma off and use some pliers and/or a vice to carefully bend it around backwards. It would be a good idea to gently heat it with a torch so the metal doesn’t get stressed. Then just clean it and glue it back on.
Pull the kamigoma off and make a new one out of a thin strip of brass. You could lay a piece of paper over the old one to trace out the outline and make a template. Then just flip the template over and draw the outline on another similar piece of brass, cut it out, and bend it. If you go this method then make sure you file down any sharp edges so they don’t cut the strings.
Thank you, Cody. Your advice is precious. I’ll try, though I am a very bad handyman and I’m a little scared to do silly things, but we must start, don’t we ?
Otherwise, would it be possible to remove the kamigoma, cut in two, move to the frontal part and resolder all by a craftsman, which would avoid the folding ? If you don’t think it is appropriate, i’ll try one of your solutions. Thanks again.
Well it’s possible to do it that way, but it would be a lot more difficult. It would also leave a visible solder line.
It’s hard to tell how thick the brass is from the picture but bending it would probably be the simplest way. Just take your time and be careful not to let your tools scratch the metal.
Thanks, Cody. I’ll try.
Hmm… bending it around might work, but I don’t think the underside is curved the same way the top side is.
My two cents: See the thin, flat strip of metal inside the itogura (pegbox) just under the ichi no ito? I would snip that off so the kamigoma can slide to the left. Then, I’d use a file to shave down any excess metal, if any, on the right side. That should be very safe and easy.
I see, Kyle… Whatever is the solution I will have to remove the kamigoma. Is it glued or nailed ? Anyway it will be difficult not to distort it. I’ll try. Thanks to all of you.
It’s definitely the best idea to remove the kamigoma before working it, just to be safe from damaging the wood. I think nagauta kamigoma are glued.
Gently pry it back and forth. If it won’t budge, you could try putting something hot on it. Heat usually break down glue.
Thanks Kyle. Next week I’ll have a little time to take care of that. I’ll let you know.
They generally use a rice glue or something similar for shamisen construction. This allows them to easily take things apart without damaging the wood. The kamikoma should come off easily with gentle prying. Use a sharp knife. Do not use a torch to heat it as you will likely damage things. If it is stubborn then just use a thin knife or razor to cut the glue underneath first. By the way, it should not be glued on top, only on the itogura side.
Once it is off you should be able to trim/file it down to move it over to the other side. It won’t be a perfect mirror example but the large overhang on the side is for looks anyway.
They generally use a rice glue or something similar for shamisen construction. This allows them to easily take things apart without damaging the wood.
This is true for the kawa, however I’m fairly certain that they used a different lacquer or pitch based glue for all the wood bits. I’m not sure how well rice would stick to a smooth piece of brass.
Thanks Michael. With all these tips if I do not succeed is that I’m really bad!!!
Thanks Cody. Your msg just arrived as I was posting the answer to Michael, so I didn’t thank you soon enough. I’ll try next week and let you know.
All is ok. The brass was easy to cut and paste again. Thanks everybody.
Great! 