A friend requested I build a shamisen for him. I have build quite a few cigar box guitars, banjos, and ukes, so I’m no stranger to the build process. I am trying to put the specs together for a standard shamisen (if there is a standard) and am looking for info such as scale length, neck width, and string spacing. I would be more inclined to use all nylon strings rather than the silk bottom string, and would welcome suggestions on the string gauges used for a given scale and the three standard tunings.
Thanks for any help you can offer!