New Fiber skin

Store/Sales
#1

Greetings all!
Josh here! Newly active, old member ( )

Just curious about the details regarding the new fiber skin. I’ve got my old “plastic” skin shamisen and basically not enough cash flow to upgrade to a proper shamisen. I don’t ever intend on selling my shamisen, though it is an introductory model without a brilliant sound it is still great for practice and I’d perhaps like to use it to teach some day.

With that in mind, I am always seeking to improve my sound, either via skill and technique or materials and products. So in the spirit of synthetics I am really interested in upgrading my kawa to the new fiber materials. Anyone have any personal experiences with it? I already play with a carbon-fiber bachi btw haha.

On a side note: Kyle, I have the cash you specified on my FB page and I’m just curious as to what would be the next step in getting my duo to the proper individuals responsible for slappin on a new “skin”.

Thanks!

#2

Welcome, welcome back Josh! :smiley: Hopefully you won’t pull a “Penny” (making a short post and then leaving us for several months) and will stick around for a while. :slight_smile:

Actually, the FiberSen was developed about four months ago or so (maybe a bit later than that), so Kevin and I are the only folks in the community who have tried it out. Personally, I think it’s sounds closer to natural dog skin than even calf skin does, as it can be stretched tighter (calf skin sounded much better than the old plastic, but now the new synthetic tops it all). It sounds amazingly good.

Of course, it can’t completely replicate the sound of natural skin yet (though I see that happening in the future). Being synthetic, FiberSen still has a “synthetic” quality, but the experience is very satisfying. The sawari transmits well and you get the nice sharp tone we all enjoy from natural skin.

Kevin, what are your thoughts on the new, super-cool FiberSen?

Ah yes! I will inquire with Masahiro about the address to send it to and such. After it’s done, I’m sure we would all enjoy a Josh Davila video review of the new skin! :slight_smile:

#3

Welcome, welcome back Josh! :smiley: Hopefully you won’t pull a “Penny” (making a short post and then leaving us for several months) and will stick around for a while. :slight_smile:

Thanks Kyle! I’ll do my best NOT to Penny.

I’d love to be more of a helpful informant on more unique shamisen options. Just hit me back whenever you get some more details from the Nitta’s~

Many thanks!

#4

Actually, the FiberSen was developed about four months ago or so (maybe a bit later than that)

Wow , i thought you made a deal with some drumskin makers such as Remo! So the technology is pretty young but, will you sell the skins in the future on the bachido store along with other natural skin, or maybe it is reserved for professional use only by Masahiro’s brand?

#5

I was going to try to attach a Remo skin to a shamisen, but I realized that I needed a way to apply the superglue (which is used for attaching the synthetic skin to the dou) right before applying the skin. The semi-traditional method I use takes too long. I think a contraption which Taichi uses (that stretches the skin first, and then you lift the dou up to it… two separate operations… whereas the traditional method combines the two) Anyway, so I haven’t tried the Remo skin (I still want to though).

The idea for FiberSen happened after I started talking with Taichi san. He told me that legal means for making dog skin is getting harder and harder, so it’s future is uncertain. This made it obvious to me that a good/identical sounding synthetic MUST be made as soon as possible. I relayed my feeling to Masahiro and next thing you know? Bam! FiberSen!

In my mind, this is only the beginning. :slight_smile:

#6

Ho i see , super glue , i wasn’t expecting that :smiley: it sounds like a lot of problems for sure , i don’t see how we could combine the traditional way with that kind of glue , you have about one or two minutes to work the glue before it’s glued strong enough to brake the skin, and the wood. I’ll try to think about some tools to stretch the skin before, and maybe we can use some epoxy glue , you got 5 minutes before it’s dry.

Of course the natural skins sounds the best but, it becomes illegal and i have serious trouble thinking about putting a dead animal on an instrument, 200 years ago there was nothing else , but now we have FiberSen :smiley: !

I really hope the fibersen will have a great life, it seems to sound really good, and you provide us the ability to play shamisen without running to escape peta and green peace !

#7

Oh I totally agree Florian! Now is “Now” and it’s much different than 200 years ago. I am a personal fan of the FiberSen and will endorse it for the rest of my playing career (hopefully that is until the day I die)! I think when the future is uncertain it’s up to us to take it into our own hands! I’m quite proud of Kyle and Masahiro for thinking about this problem and taking action to solve it! Strong work guys!

#8

Yes they are doing a great job, even if it’s only the beginning , the change will come from de people and from the crafters, it will always be easier to pay extra money to stick with natural skins, because that’s what people want, just like ebony on every instruments , the trees are litteraly vanishing in the nature and nobody does nothing and prefer paying the price of gold for a little stick of ebony.

Masahiro and Kyle are doing a hard job for hard change, it will take time to change what people think about synthetic skins , it will take time for the crafters too , to think that they can sell instruments with it, changing their way of crafting as well, changing the tools, changing the price . But just like what Martin did with the X brace on guitar, it cost a lot to develop something new , but sometimes it worth it , now the X brace is standard in almost every folk guitar, even if it took 60/70 years , does not matter, drum kits use to have natural skin as well , now if you try to put natural skin on a drummer set you will have a bad time with the drummer :smiley: !

Anyway i talk too much, and i’m late for work, does not matter, i just hope there will be coffee when i come, but i’m really excited by this new fiber skin , if it was on banjos i would say “well ok another new synthetic skin , cool” but this is on an instruments that does not evolve very quick, and it’s exciting , can you imagine how cool it was when the luthiers first introduced the metal fingerboard on the Sarod ? :smiley: And now there are some people trying to make a little change on this instrument , for its own sake. Let’s hope i get my coffee :smiley: have a nice day everyone !

#9

I think fiber skin its a good way for not to use dog or cat skin. I don´t know how they get this skin, but I suppouse they don´t sit down waiting till the cat or dog dies… :frowning:

#10

I’m officially planning to ship my dou to be fitted with the new fiber skin by the end of this month. All things going well I’ll try to make a nice review video of improvement. Hopefully you can all expect the video perhaps before the end of October. I am excited to be a part of this new generation of pioneers.

#11

This is excellent news! I’m definitely looking forward to hearing–and hearing more about–this FibreSen.

#12

My dou is in the mail. The postal lady said it’ll ship out in the next day. Woot!

#13

Can´t wait to see your video!

#14

Hey Josh! Masahiro just wrote, saying that he has received your dou! :slight_smile:

Awesomeness pending…
Wait, what am I saying? Awesomeness has already started! :smiley:

#15

Ladies and gents’ the wait is over!

Its back! And with a new shiny dou kake! More review to come on a later time this week. It haven’t had a proper chance to play it yet and its past midnight. Please hang in there a little longer!

Thanks again to Kyle and Masahiro and of course everyone else who help develop this new material!

#16

That’s a nice looking dou Josh! I can’t wait hear your review!

#17

Masahiro showed us a shamisen with a synthetic skin during our Sapporo visit on 15 October. I had the impression that it was a new product (i.e. FiberSen).

Communicating fine details was a bit of a challenge; my daughter and son-in-law were performing an admirable translation service. I assumed the shamisen was one belonging to the Nitta family, but perhaps it was Josh’s – the timing would be reasonable.

The skin looked and sounded good, at least as far as my limited experience could discern. It didn’t feel “plasticky”, and had a texture which i recall feeling somewhat cloth-like. The finished result was certainly better than my own attempts at calf-skinning, although that probably says more about the skinner than the skin.

If it was the older plastic skin that I saw, then the FiberSen should be great. In any case, Masahiro said the synthetic product was worth using, and presumably he would know!

I’m looking forward to the user review.

#18

Ooh la la! Awesome news, Josh! Mighty fine doukake as well! :slight_smile:
And thanks to you as well! Fibersen is very new, so your participation in using it and making a review will help get the word out there. :slight_smile:

Masahiro did have a Fibersen Shamisen when I was there (before Josh sent his dou), so I think it was the family’s instrument.

Yeah! It reminded me of cloth too. I’m sure the producer is keeping the process a secret, but I wonder how it’s made.

Before FiberSen was developed, calf skin sounded closer to a dog skin than regular plastic. But since this new synthetic material can be stretched even tighter, I believe it’s now the closest thing to the real deal.

#19

Right now I’ve got my shamisen skinned with calf skin, and I live in Japan, so re-skinning would be no big deal. My question is, if I don’t like the synthetic skin, how hard is it to take off to exchange for natural skin? If the fibersen skin is attached with superglue, I have a feeling the wood would be damaged when it is removed. Anyone have experience with this?

Then again, I could probably arrange to go back over to Nitta-san’s house and have another go on his shamisen before I decide. :slight_smile:

#20

Geez, way to be rude to father Olson. :stuck_out_tongue_winking_eye:

I’ve removed the normal plastic skin (which is affixed with superglue) to replace with natural (calf) skin before, and the wood was fine. It just needs a little extra sanding, but doesn’t damage the dou.

Oh yeah, it would definitely be worthwhile it to try his FiberSen shamisen again first. He’d be delighted to show you if you’re interested in having it done. :slight_smile:

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