Newly made Jatoba Shamisen

Building/Repair
#1

Hi all
Well, I’ve finished my shamisen and if you’d like to have a look, you can find some
photos (and a couple of short videos) at https://picasaweb.google.com/117119522897987973736/JatobaShamisen

On the instrument I used Jatoba for the wood, a kind of rosewood for the itomaki Old Brown Hide glue (which is hide glue mixed urea to keep it in a liquid state) to glue the calfskin hide to the dou. I also left the skin edges rough and uneven as I often like to do on the instruments I make. The other thing that I did was to put a layer of glue over the edges to have that bit of translucency. I’m not too too sure if I would do that again. Might though.

I bought my strings and sawari from Bachido. And found a nice old bekkou on ebay. I’d like to thank Kyle for making a truly fantastic book. Very clear and inspiring! I’m having a blast exploring the sounds that this instrument makes. I love it.
Cheers to all!
Cath

1 Like
#2

“wolf whistles” holy cow that’s AMAZING
congrats!

#3

That shamisen looks great! I really like your fancy designs on the tenjin and itomaki.

#4

thanks you guys!

#5

Wow! Awesome! That is the coolest neo I have ever seen too!

#6

Holy crap that’s beautiful.

#7

wow thats amazing! Awesome job!!!

#8

Thanks so much for more nice comments! I really appreciate it. Also, the bekkou I mention is a bekkou bachi and for the neo i used some rather nice accessory climbing cord from a local climbing shop.
Cheers!

#9

Really beautiful and original! When will we hear it?

#10

Well, you know what I’ll say. :stuck_out_tongue: Very beautiful work!! With this creation, you’ve won me over to Jatoba! (I bought a sample of it before the bloodwood, thinking to make the latest shamisen from it, but didn’t think it’d be dark enough for my taste :-S) The tenjin especially! :slight_smile:

Nitta san also took a look as well :slight_smile: -

すげー！！！！。。。。
(Sugoi!!! [well, ‘suge-’ but same thing])

ほんとにすごいね！
(Truly is sugoi ne!)

三味線の丸みのデザインが新しい！
(The round design of her shamisen is new!)

うん！かっこいいです！！
(Yeah! Cool!!)

Do you mind if I post the outdoor picture of you with your shamisen on the front page slideshow? :slight_smile:

#11

Yes, Kyle, of course i don’t mind at all if you use that snowy photo. How interesting about the bloodwood. Bloodwood was my first choice but the local wood shop in Calgary said that they were having trouble getting any bloodwood in a decent enough quality. I’ve use that wood on a number of instruments and love it. Very dense and hard and also so beautiful!

The woman i talked to at the shop said that was seeing that a number of instrument makers were using Jatoba these days so I went with her suggestion. It also was not too expensive. Not that much more than oak or maple it seemed.

I will try to get a audio bit together soon. The nice thing here at the Banff Centre is that they have great concert halls with top notch recording ability. I’m going to try and make up a shamisen song soon and get myself into one of the concerts in the next couple of weeks.

As an aside, the banff centre is a great place to do residencies for artists of all sorts.
Cheers!

#12

Also, Kyle thanks for passing on the comments from Nitta san!

#13

Amazing! Its really beautiful !

#14

Unique and beautiful. Well done! It looks totally bad-ass.

#15

As a 50 year woodworker, I can say that this is one of the most beautiful instruments that I have ever seen. I would be interested in a photo of your shop, just to know what type of tools and equipment that you have available. Great Job!!

#16

Dear William
Well you just pretty much made my day and I have say that I was already going very well!
Thank you so much for your kind words.
I actually don’t have a studio as such and in fact am seriously considering setting up one in the north of Thailand.
I’m currently travelling around northern Thailand on motorbike, camping etc to look for possible places that I’d like to set up shop. I’ve found some beautiful spots already and next week I’ll be in the chiang Mai area looking at wood suppliers.
I have a web page that focuses on my instruments at:


There are some photos from the shop that I have been using for building (which is the amazing piano workshop at The Banff Centre) I’m afraid that there isn’t more photos of the shop but I may be back in the fall and if so will certainly take some for you. It truly is amazing and I’m sure you would appreciate from your long woodworking experience.

I also have some photos of two new shamisens that I made last fall as well as some of the coras and other instruments I’ve made.
Anyway, a long response to a lovely message. Thanks again and all the best. Cath
Also , please excuse mistakes and such. I’m writing this on my phone that I never use as a phone. It is a horrid thing to attempt. Cheers! C

#17

Every time I come on this website, I get the urge to learn to woodwork. But then I remember how lazy I am. :confused:

That shamisen is absolutely gorgeous! Good work!

#18

Very very impressive !

You have golden hands !

#19

I love everything, but I especially love your koma. These are all just beautiful, Catherine.

I’m inspired to do some woodworking as well, but again, as Evan said,I remember that I’m super lazy as well, haha. I’ll just admire your beautiful work, then.

#20

I’m definitely inspired to do some woodwork. Though, I lack the tools and a teacher. I’ll start searching for both. Thank you Catherine, Kyle, and Nitta-san for inspiring me to do so many things!

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