Ok
So I had a shamifriend ask me which string I broke most often.
He has been playing about a year, and says that while he expected to break san-no-ito (thin string) the most, he has actually never broken it. But rather broken ni-no-ito (middle string) several times.
I was interested to hear this, as he plays Tsugaru style as well.
So I thought I would toss the question out there and see what everyone has to say (^-^).
Cheers
My strings have all lasted since November 
I can’t say I play enough though 
I know they sound worse now than they did in November for sure but getting a crisp tone is not the important part for me at my current skill level.
I’d say I break the ichi no ito and san no ito about the same frequency. Maybe every… 6 months… or more? I don’t play for very long periods at a time, so that might be why they last so long.
Grant, on the other hand, plays even less and he’s broken like 5 san no ito in a year! Maybe he has the “Midas Touch”, as we say. 
When I played gidayu I broke the san no ito at least once every two weeks. With tsugaru I don’t know if I have broken one yet, but I definitely see the wear and tear on the san no ito more than anywhere else. I’m surprised to hear about the ni no ito breaking so much.
Yeah well i’ve broken 2 Sa no ito and 2 Ni no ito and 0 ichi no ito
and well yeah they broken because i didn’t remove koma or loosen the strings after every session, but now that i have loosen the strings and removed koma i haven’t broken any strings in a long time… maybe 2-4 months even and i try to play atleast once a week ( normally 2-3 days a week about 10-45 min periods)
One time many many years (like almost over a decade )ago while doing studio recording for a singer I broke three san no itos within the time frame of about one hour. The song was called Miasma and is by singer/songwriter Danyl Johnson. The Shamisen part we came up with required me to alternate a very fast pattern from ichi to san no ito. This was during a time when I was just starting to toy with the idea of branching out away from Tsugaru Shamisen`s tradition so I had not yet developed the concept that Tsugaru techniques will not work for some Rock/modern styles. Today I can play the song properly with techniques I have developed over the years so I guess you can say that was a part of my training/develpoment.
Its funny. My ni no ito can break after like two practice sessions… But after switching to tetron they can last for awhile…
Hey it’s Steve Jung !
Hey let me know if you need any extra strings or other supplies soon.
I am going to the hirosaki shamisen tournaments next week and am probably getting
A few things to send to mike penny so let me know and I can just throw them in for you.
Do you think you can get me another yubikake T-T the one i have is starting to rip. Thank you so much. I hope I get to play with you one day. Both you and Mike inspire me.
I’ve been trying to find more and more time to practice. Can’t wait till school is over. During the summer I’m planning to commit myself to the shamisen and practice every day.
Oh and Good Luck at the tournament
No prob on the yubikake.
Grant and I are actually going there for the first year ever
As witnesses instead of participants. Will be posting reports here on the bachido
Site In about a week after the tournaments are over .
I wish I could go and see the tournament… It would be a great experience to see tsugaru shamisen players in all different levels perform.
oh and sorry if I’m hijacking the thread XD
lol ok I guess since I started this thread I should have jumped on earlier
but I have actually broken the ni-no-ito the most as well…
which has been a big shock to me (especially considering how I play, and who I play with lol) I would have expected to go through a whole handful of san-no-ito by now (o.0)…
My first ni-no-ito lasted about 8 months, and the next 2 (which for some reason would NOT stay in tune for more than 5 minutes) lasted less than 3-weeks each…
Going on a year soon since I last changed my san-no-ito!
And my ichi-no-ito is still doing fine, but I will more than likely change it up before my performance in July~
Wow, very interesting! Are you guys practicing Akita Nikata Bushi a lot or what? That’s very interesting. I think I’ve only broken one or two ni-no-ito in the past 6 years, but break ichi no ito more frequently.
Sweet!! See how long you can ride that san no ito! Definitely would be a good idea to change all your strings the day before your performance in July (unless you want to live dangerously… which I’ve done sometimes )
Ichi no ito once in a blue moon (but I usually rotate the string around or stretch it out when I notice the area near the koma wearing out.
Ni no ito rarely, maybe every few months.
San no ito all the damn time ( I am using tetron ones, by the way).
I’ve noticed it has a lot to do with the koma you are using. If the notches in it aren’t ground down the right way, or if it’s not the right height, the strings will move around or pop out of the notches slightly and start to wear out prematurely. The bachi can also play a big factor since it chips slightly as you play and creates sharp uneven edges that can break the strings or knick them. You can avoid that issue by carefully sanding down the backside of the broken corner of your bachi (but I don’t recommend trying it unless you’ve been taught).
My advice is to look at your strings every day before you start practice and if they look like they becoming worn our ready to break, untie them from the NEO knot, and stretch them along a little further so you’ve got a new part of the string sitting on the koma.
I think I’ve about bankrupted Kyle on how many san no ito I’ve had to steal from him. Hehe
Wow~ pretty good idea there on stretching it out~
Don’t know why, but that thought never even crossed my mind lol
(probably because I live in Japan, and there is a shamisen shop less than 3 minutes walk from my house lol)
lol and in answer to your question Kyle, I have spent a lot of time on Akita Bushi, as well as an original song by the younger brother lately.
I think its the original song thats killing the string.
(that and the fact that I use a silk ni-no-ito)
Grant: The way Grant plays doesn’t look too different from the way I play, so why Grant always breaks san no ito still confounds me. I’m inclined to think it’s his superpower.
Since you mention it, pick up a few packs of san no ito for me, brah.
Norm: Aah… the silk ni no ito would explain it, I think. Do you use silk for the warmer sound?
Gerry once told me that one guy at the tsugaru shamisen taikai would use silk san no ito(!) when competing. Perhaps for the warmer tone? No doubt it would only last for one or two songs.
Gerry: If you see this, did I get that story right?
Dude, I’m super fierce. There’s no way around it.
I could wish for a better superpower though, that’s for certain.
I have broke the Ni-No-Ito once and the san-no-ito about 30 times (they were silk tho), lol.
However, that was months ago and I havnt broken a single string since.
I found that they were breaking when I wasnt actually playing them, they were popping in the case. So now I loosen them and it hasn’t happened since.
I’ve yet to notice one breaking in the case. I’ve never had to loosen them. However when I have had silk strings, they’d break within one song every time.
I always take the bridge off, but I’m sure you’re always doing that too.
The one thing I will suggest is to make sure you pay attention to the wear on the strings right where you place the bridge. Little notches will develop in the san no ito and as long as you pay attention to them you can stretch the string out and lengthen the life of the san no ito.
great advice, I always try to leave lots of strings threaded through the itomaki so if it breaks near the bridge there is enough string left to use it again, didn’t realise that when I was using silk nagauta style san-no-itos, I think in one week I went through one a day!