I’ve had my eye on shamisen for a while ever since I found out what they were named, and now I want one. But, there are two "issues’ that I have, before I make a move. 1:I 'm left handed. 2: I’m cheap. I did see some rather cheap shamisen on eBay, but with broken skin that I would have no way to repair. Can I even properly play any, being left handed? What do I do? Also, please link affordable options, if you can.
Honestly, I don’t think handedness factors in overmuch in shamisen.
The standard orientation is to finger with your left and strum with your right - no matter what you’re learning to use both hands independently of one another. It’s certainly possible to flip the instrument over, but you’d need to restring (and perhaps reorient the pegs) to keep the thicker string on top to play in a standard fashion.
As for cheap… unless you’re based in Japan and can spend time trolling through flea markets and auctions, the beginner’s shamisen on the store (or a shabo) are going to be your cheapest options short of building one.
To be honest, even on the secondary market, it’s relatively rare to find shamisen in decent working condition for less than the beginner’s shamisen. Unless you know exactly what to hunt for it’s so easy to get burned!
And even with a working knowledge, you still run the risk.
Hello, Dave.id,
another leftie (who started up shamisen recently) here . There is a great article about lefthanders playing shamisen in the Bachido blog section, with some tips: https://community.bachido.com/t/can-left-handers-play-shamisen/2546/1
It helped me a lot, when deciding, whether to start with shamisen, or not. There are also comments from other lefties. It might be helpful for you too, try to check it 
Hello Dave,
As a left handed too, I play on a right-handed shamisen.
It’s not really difficult if you start like this.
Do you play another stringed instrument ?
it is true that, more or less, you could just flip a shamisen over and go for it. The pegs would be opposite than normal but that wouldn’t be the end of the world. The main issue to my mind would be if the shamisen had an adjustable metal sawari installed. In that case you’d need to re-drill and instal on the other side of the fingerboard (sao). If you’re an experienced woodworker not all that difficult, but otherwise, very difficult.
A shamisen without the adjustable sawari though might work fine. In that case, you’d just need to flip the ‘nut’ so that the open part of the lower string is on the opposite side. Easier to do i’d say. I wonder if you got in touch with Kyle and asked if the manufacturers of the less expensive instruments might make one for left handed on a custom order might garner something.