Dear Kyle,
I am a newcomer to your site and a guitar, mandolin and bozouki player. I saw a Mike Penny video clueing me in that you have a set of plans for making your own shamisen. I am very interested and wanted to know more about that. I was hoping you could let me know what, in general is required in terms of time, materials cost, and tools. Thank you so much for your time and effort. I look forward to hearing from you soon!
Joel Mankey
Hi Joel,
Welcome to Bachido! 
That’s awesome you play several instruments. It will certainly help you with learning shamisen.
Yeah. My book, Shamisen of Japan, offers step-by-step instruction for making your own shamisen.
Cost really varies depending on quality of materials. It costs about $80 or less to make a shamisen with cheap hard-rock maple and calf skin. The price goes up when you get into fancier woods.
Only basic hand tools are necessary. It can be made with simple saws, chisels and files.
It took me 3 months to make my first shamisen, when I had basically zero woodworking skill.
Cheers!
Kyle
Thanks Kyle!
I’m in! I’m gonna be digging in this year. My goal is to have it done by the summer, but realistically It’ll be more like, by the end of the year. I’ll keep you updated on the forums. Off to order the book right now~!
Joel