Need repair help

Building/Repair
#1

So a few months ago I dropped my playing because of a crack that appeared in the neck of my Beginners Shamisen. I don’t really know how it got there but my attempt to seal the gap didn’t work completely, leaving the slightest bend in the neck that has caused the strings to be higher and the notes to be off.

Some Pictures:

The bend is very slight, but it gets worse as the strings are tightened and it still shifts the notes slightly.

My repair attempt was to use a wood glue and a lot of tight clamps:

Any advice for how I could repair or replace this would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks,
Michael

#2

HI Michael
the thing that popped into my mind as I was reading what you wrote was that maybe the split isn’t glued sufficiently and as such isn’t holding fully and continues to open still when strung up. One of the photos shows a fair gap still in the split. I wonder. Would it be possible to re-open the crack as much as seems reasonable clean out all the old glue and gunk and then glue and clamp it again? If it was me, I’d just pull the thing apart as far as it would go and continue from there. But that might be too extreme a task!
Of course, it is often very difficult to open a glued joint (or whatever) but maybe it is open enough to do something more.
good luck!!!
Cheers
Cath

1 Like
#3

Hi Michael,

Ouch! Sorry to see that! May I ask, is the weather very hot and dry in North Carolina these days? Shamisen are prone to cracking in hot temperatures. Last year, one of my cracked at all the joints when the weather struck 100+ degrees, and another shamisen cracked a few weeks ago when it hit record high temperatures (in Santa Cruz). I glued the cracks of both shamisen and they were good as new. Is that Gorilla Glue you put in yours? Contrary to their ads, it actually isn’t very strong. For yours, I would recommend Titebond wood glue if the wood can be clamped completely flush again. If there’s any gaps, 30-minute epoxy would work best.

I should mention that this isn’t the fault of the Beginner’s Shamisen per se. Cracking joints have occurred to my high-end shamisen as well.

Good luck, and keep us posted! :slight_smile:
Kyle

#4

3 months ago the weather was nice, no extreme temperatures. I tried to glue it with wood glue while clamped overnight. If I can’t repair it, is there a possibility of me buying a replacement part just for what is broken?

1 Like
#5

Hmm… that’s curious. Unfortunately, there are no replacement parts for shamisen sao (as each one is made individually), but you can send the sao to me. I can give it a shot.

Do you ever dismantle the shamisen? There’s a chance the top and middle parts (kamizao and nakazao) would have to be bonded together. It would completely fix the sao, but the neck couldn’t be taken apart.

I’m going to ask my partner now (who deals with the Beginner Shamisen) and see if he has any ideas.

#6

Hey Kyle & Michael
Would it work to completely open up that split, glue it back and then re-shape the neck so that it is following it’s natural line if it is no longer level post glueing?

#7

@Kyle I probably wouldn’t ever need to dismantle the shamisen, but unless the gap is completely eliminated the neck would still be bent.

@Catherine I was thinking about washing the wood glue if that’s possible, but otherwise I think reopening the gap will just cause more damage because the bond is very strong.

#8

Hi Michael, I heard from my partner, we’re of the same conclusion that the best repair would be to completely glue the two parts together.

I’d be happy to do it for you, if you’d like. Let me know. :slight_smile:

#9

It would be great if you could do it, do you have my email?

#10

Great! Yeah, I’ll send you a message now. :slight_smile:

#11

Last year, one of my cracked at all the joints when the weather struck 100+ degrees, and another shamisen cracked a few weeks ago when it hit record high temperatures (in Santa Cruz).

Oh man, I live about 30 minutes away from Santa Cruz (near Gilroy) and I’m away for next year studying. I really hope I don’t return home to find splits in my shamisen from the heat wave recently. T^T I heard it reached 100+ in my home town.

#12

Yikes, fingers crossed!

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