Hey, everyone. I’m not really comfortable using silk, so does anyone know where I could get the first string made out of something else? I mean no disrespect to bachido.com… I’ve already ordered the other two strings plus some position markers. I just don’t want to use silk. My shamisen came with all nylon strings and I didn’t realize most of them were silk. Thank you, everyone! Have a good day.
Would it be bad to use two middle strings and just get a larger gauge for the first, and maybe a slightly smaller gauge for the others?
Hi Joseph,
Absolutely no worries! I understand what you mean. Actually, people have used fishing line as a substitute and it’s seems quite decent. Of course, it will sound different from silk, but not bad at all. With fishing line, you can get thicknesses to match the regular ito, which will provide a more similar experience to the standard shamisen strings.
Really?? Oh, wow. I never would have tried that on my own. My strings will be fine for a bit, but I will for sure try that when the times comes. I just didn’t want to get stuck without strings later. Thank you, Kyle!
Kyle,
you said : " Actually, people have used fishing line as a substitute and it’s seems quite decent"
can you explain what kind fishing line to use ? how to choose good and appropriate fishing line ? of course, I mean the good diameter.
Hi Joseph,
I tried to substitute “san no ito” with a 0,50mm fishing line and “ni no ito” with a 0,9mm fishing line and they worked fine. As Kyle said, they sound different from silk but not bad at all.
I tried with different fishing lines for “ichi no ito” but I couldn’t find a thicker fishing line to substitute it.
A tip for this “experiment”: The thickness and material are very important. You can replace an ito with a 0,5mm fishing line made in china and also with a 0,4mm Waterdog fishing line and have better or similar results.
A tip for “fashionistas”. There are fishing lines in different colors. But remember what Kyle said, “they sound different”
Good luck with those ito!
I remember seeing some extra-thick fishing line for deep ocean fishing at a tackle shop a few years ago. It looked the same thickness as the ichi no ito, but sadly I didn’t look to see what gauge it was.
I use a harp builder named John kovac, he supplied me with a 3 sets of the nylon strings that are the equ. of the silk strings for $18…