So I have a quite powerful instrument now . . .
http://freecarvers.com/bh/monsters.jpg
After first installing a passive system it was Darren Wright of Bachido praising the many advantages of a preamp who inspired me to go another step . . . 
If you wanna know how this came about I detailed the process somewhat in a post at Monster :) – BH . . .
Looks like you’re building a wooden PC. 
Sure is gonna be a pain to change the 9V battery after you have it skinned.
Ha! I actually thought about this when I installed the candy box battery housing yesterday Since the Mugen has a screw on solid plastic plate underside I guess it would not be shameful for me to possibly try to do something similar sometime . . . or just leave it open anyway with the boost in morale from this working pickup I definitely first want to skin the topside with something better than table cloth there is no way I see me getting this right in a professional way but possibly I could skin it good enough so that at least the pickups would catch some cool percussive sound when I hit the topside or so . . . guess if one wanted to electrify a to be regular skinned shamisen similar to the way I did one could drill an additional small hole for a cable to come out and fixate a battery outside the dou or drill an additional big hole to sink in a battery housing like on acoustic guitars that are sold with an installed active pickup system . . .
http://freecarvers.com/bh/eff.jpg
Update . . . damn I picked this up for 25 euros today and only at home realized that it would be quite nice to have a second guitar cable for this . . . a little overworked i am or was until an hour ago as already just the thought of two days off ahead has a very relaxing effect
what can I say I may have found my calling
http://freecarvers.com/bh/lol1.jpg
awesome really LOL (keeping in mind that I hardly played at all in between ongoing slight trouble with an index finger joint and hardly hearing myself play anyway as for the earlier state of the instrument) please check out a sound sample taken from the very first 10 minutes I played this system with all switches on so to speak . . .
(DO NOT LISTEN WITH HEADPHONES OR KEEP VOLUME VERY LOW since I intentionally went for feedback noise effects near the end of the clip)
http://freecarvers.com/bh/LOL1.3gpp
(2 minutes / 2 MB)
Oh man! B H ! You are Awesome!!!
Oh man, there is so much vacation in that dou! Damn BH, that is a mean sounding electric shamisen! (in a good way!) I’m very happy that you’ve taken the opportunity to experiment with that shamisen. It went to the right person!
I sense this is all in preparation for a very epic duet between Mr. Kmetz and yourself in the future!
Sure . . .
also I find it funny that one can get such a sound from a silk string
So apart from doing the soldering yourself or tipping a professional for that the cost of a passive system that can already drive an amp can be about 5 euros (0.45 piezo disc + 1.25 jack + 3.50 for a 10 meter roll of cable of course i used 6 discs (while cool that is not necessary I can say from experience) and a 10 euro deluxe jack) or + 9 euros for a preamp module and some change for battery clip and a switch still not more than about 15 euros for an even active system so should I ever build another compact improvised stick with strings it will come with a powered jack for sure . . .
I think pocket mini amps start at about 25 euros and I paid the same for this effects pedal without the latter I got no serious distortion but that was the same with an electric guitar as for that about 35 euros marshall mini amp i bought a longer while ago . . .
anyway great and more motivating now that I hear myself playing (at all at least I mean) also the clean sound is cool so yeah I might even dig out shamisen of japan by kyle thank you abbott soon and will bachi on now . . .
Shamisen Gottan Hybrid I guess . . . So I replaced the earlier table cloth skin with a thin larch wood sheet and also have a koma made from quality bamboo chopstick that is directly on the ‘skin’ for the first time . . . acoustic volume jumped surprisingly far up to clearly audible levels so I can now also hear myself playing in acoustic mode . . .
guess I’ll keep and play this at least until a string or the thin wooden skin breaks . . . of course now that I know it’s worth also acoustically to seriously cover the top even with something other than skin I might open that pandoras box of crafting things once more sometime to use another solid material for top skin and to give everything a cleaner look . . .
http://freecarvers.com/bh/DSC_1185.jpg
at least concept wise I guess the backside is a final but for the topside this clear plastic I can buy locally and easily cut with scissors is too soft to support a koma . . . found some great double sided clear somewhat jelly like tape is strong but no mess to remove wich is perfect for the backside just in case of and for potential internal repairs or updates . . .
although sometime I hope to buy a complete tsugaru shamisen this improvised practice and some fun thingy will always have a special place in my heart