Got a little work done before I had to head off to work
http://lh6.googleusercontent.com/-237xGq1Nq4c/UFlmzxqZceI/AAAAAAAAAVI/Js1JPOCUR5c/s512/WP_000076.jpg
oh wow 
Gah!! So jelly!!
How are you going with the hardness of the wood? I hear it can be difficult to chisel.
My brother is looking at making a couple of white oak shamisen with purpleheart itomaki (one for me and one to sell). Hes going to do some sourcing to see what he can find, But I’ve yet to see a white shamisen and I think it could be incredibly pretty
Has anyone seen a whit shamisen?
I hallucinated a white Shamisen once.
No seriously. I know it sounds like I’m trying to be funny
But that actually happened to me while I was in an intense state of visionary hallucinagenisis.
I won’t bother giving any details as to what was causing that state but yeah I have seen one. It appeared before me in hyperspace. I don’t think I’ve actually seen one here in three dimensional consensus reality yet.
Oh wow weird… I was thinking white for my first tsugaru shamisen… or a white stripe down the middle of the sao
It might be worth making one then, a silver/white shamisen would be the envy of all shamisen players!
OOOH, perhaps he could spilt the sao an put a stripe of purpleheart through it!!!
Mind you, I’m jelly of your full purpleheart one… Just be careful to use proper respirators though as it’s a toxic wood if inhaled and make sure you use a UV resistant finish (the more exposure to sunlight, the faster it will fade to a brown). Good luck, It will look AMAZING when properly oiled
@Robert - The purple heart isn’t necessarily hard to chisel it just dulls the tools really quick but if you keep them sharp it shouldn’t be hard just a little more time consuming, other than the chisel I use a Farrier Rasp (aka. Horshoe Rasp - That’s what it was called at Orschlen’s )
For a white shamisen you could use Canary Wood for a Shamisen it’d be a yellow but if you bleach it, it should turn it whitish… I have enough purple heart wood I could make a white Sao and have a strip running down it but I need more time to do my woodworking…I’m barely getting this Shamisen done 
Thanks for the tip I’ll pass it on to my bro!
I got my bekkou bachi in the mail today! Thanks Kyle and Nitta! I love it!
http://lh4.googleusercontent.com/-i9nZFre7mBs/UINRelFqwVI/AAAAAAAAAVU/ucHGKBhteAw/s144/Bachi.jpg
Anyway I’m filing away on the Sao and I have my contour gauge set and I’ve gotten to where I’m worried about filing off to much, anyone have some tips for getting it all filed evenly, I obessivly keep checking it with the gauge. Anyway I’ve never had to file/shape such a long piece and when I have its been done with a router
I had similar difficulty when working with my first sao. Once you get the shape of the sao close with the contour gauge I found that using a technique suggested by Kyle on one of his earlier blogcasts of wrapping a standard pink eraser with a rough grit sandpaper and using that to even out the length of the sao then repeat with finer grit sandpaper gives you the best results. Kyle demos the technique in an early blogcast. Check it out it really helps.
Found the episode! Its episode 5 if anyone else needs the info…Anyway I think that’ll help quite a bit in getting the fine detailing done! I shall continue on obsessively checking it with the gauge for now, knowing once further ahead it gets a lot easier!
I think we should compile tips like that into another section of Bachido. Perhaps in the articles?
“Shamisen Building Tips & Advice”
Something like that.
Thanks for locating the video! I’m sure it will come in handy.
Please remember to upload pics of your progress Chris. I bet your shamisen is going to look awesome!
P.S. don’t worry too much about the sao being perfect. Honestly I just traced out the templates from Kyle’s book and just filed and planed everything out by eye. As long as it looks decent and feels nice in you hand
I’ll try to remember to take some more pics, but I haven’t gotten a whole lot further, when I get the rough shape of the sao done I’m definitely taking a pic.
Alright update time! I haven’t been on the forum for a while, I’ve missed a lot so I gotta go lurk around more.
Anyway over the break I should be getting back to working on my Shamisen I have plenty of free time for the next 2 1/2 weeks since I don’t have school.
For the construction update I have all the pieces cut into blocks and all the outlines done so now it all comes down to cutting, filing and sanding.
I have been practicing on my cheapy Shamisen that I got and even with a plastic skin and all its problems I still love the sound of it (after I put on real Shamisen strings), I don’t think I can’t not like the sound of any Shamisen. (I just wanted to see how many negatives I could fit into that sentence)