Oddball shamisen/striking techniques

Playing/Techniques
#1
  1. I bought a “vintage” shamisen off of ebay because I’m a cheaptard and can’t possibly afford a real shamisen (from what I’ve seen, the cheapest ones go for $800+) for now.

The shamisen I have is entirely made of wood. There’s no skin on the body, and the body is shaped (I suppose would be best described) as a hawaiin flower sillhouette. There are no neo, but instead a wooden…piece (I really don’t know how to describe it) that is attached to the body about four inches from the bottom; this has three holes where the strings can be strung through. Also, at the head of the neck, there’s no arch for the strings, but instead a sort of koma. Lastly, there was a sort of bridge at the last fret that I found absolutely useless. When I would strike, the strings would slide off, along with no proper sound emitting from the strings. In result, I took this bridge off, but it can easily be replaced with a bit of wood glue. There is no koma; the neo replacement is raised about half and inch from the body.

When I play this shamisen, it sounds much more like a guitar - even a ukulele, if I strum it with my fingers!

I’m about 90% sure that this shamisen is a display, and 5% sure that it might possibly be a sort of sanshin. The other 5%? That it really is a shamisen, but some rare type (gotta have high hopes!).

  1. Originally, I wanted to play jiuta, but there doesn’t seem to be much out there to help me. I had ordered a beginner’s book, bachi, and strings from a website in Tokyo who also make and repair shamisens both locally and internationally (I quite like them!). I didn’t them what my shamisen was in fear of being scolded for getting a display. :confused:

Aside from that, I also have a concern when strike the strings. When I strike a single string, then strike it again while it’s still vibrating, there’s a buzzing from the bachi and string as I go for that second (and third, fourth, etc.) strike. Is there I way to prevent that? Or is that probably from the lack of a real shamisen?

Please, don’t scold me for getting a shamisen on ebay. I know that it probably serves me right if I did get a fake one, but I’m not an idiot, just someone with a lack of funds for a real one. (This shamisen only costed me $50) Below is a picture of it. The strange cord-looking thing on the body is just trimming from the edges of the body that had come off. There’s were only four pieces left, so I just took them off. :confused:

#2

I’ve never seen this exact instrument but intuitively if I just saw the photo I would make an educated guess that this is a Vietnamese three stringed thingy. Vietnamese string ensembles include the oddest assortment including a variety of three stringed incarnations.
About the striking problem, my guess is that yes, you may have ended up with something that is not entirely up to standard in terms of making great music but it would help if we could see what you mean on video.

#3

Wow,you got something very,very hmmm…hmmmmm…exotic.

I think its a chinese instrument related to sanxian.

You are 4 generations late with that one,since its sanxian,sanshin,hosozao and then tsugaru.

The buzzing thing is not sawari. It may be purposeful.

I Never heard about this instrument.

Well,next time,you keep the 50 dollars,and then keep more for buying a real shamisen,even a real jiuta.

#4

Kevin is right , it’s a Vietnamese instrument , called Đàn sến
http://www.tatham.vn/images/products/Dansen_large.jpg

Your sound problem might come from the fact that this is a fretted instrument , but yours seems to have broken frets , and so the strings can’t sound the way they are suposed to !

#5

ah maybe you can make something out of it I mean it seems to be in a rather bad shape and was cheap so I would not worry about an “authentic” reconstruction or anything but would feel free to experiment with it to get something playable out of it :slight_smile:

going in a shamisen direction I would consider sandpapering the whole neck to get rid of what remains of the frets as possible and have whatever something as a koma and then as long as strings can be attached to it I guess you’d have something to at least practice shamisen tunes on . . .

#6

Ah cool. Thanks for the info. Greatly helpful!

And yeah, B H, when I bought the instrument, I figured that if it wasn’t at all a shamisen, that since it has the three pegs and strings and the basic general idea of a shamisen, I could at least practice playing in the style.

I’m still not so sure that a koma would be of any use, due to the “neo” of this instrument being raised so high, which in turn raises the strings rather high as well; there’s no slope of the strings for the koma to wedge into.

As for sanding the neck to get rid of the fret remains, I’m not so sure that’s a good idea, due to how deep the markings are (it’d make the neck extremely thin and frail). They don’t seem to pose as a problem, however, so unless you know something I don’t, then I’ll probably leave them as they are.

Thank you guys so much for the help and being understanding. It’s cool that I learned what exactly I have, too. lol Maybe in the future, if money and bills get better, I’ll be able to purchase a real shamisen.

#7

Well you’re welcome Megan !

Do you have any close up pictures of the neck and the frets ? I can’t see a thing from there and would like to know if you can sand or even shave the wood. Maybe it’s not a good idea , but maybe you can do something with the neck.

#8

I don’t know anything special and after writing the previous comment I also thought that getting rid of the frets completely and getting a smooth surface somehow would probably be at least close to impossible . . . ah too bad you did not at least get something with 3 strings that is fretless like a shamisen I guess those frets won’t be anything less than hurdles in the way of getting close to a shamisen playing feel :slight_smile: still a dan sen cool and I would be motivated to experiment with that thing all the more in case it is as in need of some repair as it looks I would maybe even try to get electrics into or onto this thing so anyway good luck and I could imagine that this thing already is or could turn out to be something cool in its own right for sure . . .

#9

Don’t feel useless Anya , no one is useless on this forum !
If you don’t feel comfortable with the work that has to be done on your friend’s Dan Sen , then take it to a professional luthier, the guy will know what has to be done on the instrument!
What has to be repaired on your friend’s Dan Sen ?

About your’s Megan , by looking at the picture , the only thing that worries me is the neck that seems to be twisted , but it might just be an optical illusion , and nothing to worry about sanding the fret , the fretboard seems to be ok , a good chisel and some sand paper will do, if you know what you are doing , if not ,you should also take it to a pro if you can’t repair it yourself . Fretted instruments are a little bit tricky , you need to be very carefull with everything if you want it to be in tune .

#10

I’ve never seen this exact instrument but intuitively if I just saw the photo I would make an educated guess that this is a Vietnamese three stringed thingy. Vietnamese string ensembles include the oddest assortment including a variety of three stringed incarnations.
About the striking problem, my guess is that yes, you may have ended up with something that is not entirely up to standard in terms of making great music but it would help if we could see what you mean on video.

XD lol “thingy” :slight_smile:

darn florian you beat me to it :stuck_out_tongue:
i’ll try an be more active on the forum

#11

yeah this is awkward , i always reply before you do these days :smiley: get back to work cana !

#12

About your’s Megan , by looking at the picture , the only thing that worries me is the neck that seems to be twisted , but it might just be an optical illusion , and nothing to worry about sanding the fret , the fretboard seems to be ok , a good chisel and some sand paper will do, if you know what you are doing , if not ,you should also take it to a pro if you can’t repair it yourself . Fretted instruments are a little bit tricky , you need to be very carefull with everything if you want it to be in tune .

It is just slightly twisted, actually. Not sure why, either - maybe something to do with the type of instrument? It really isn’t a bother, though.

And yeah, it gets out of tune rather quickly, though I think the pegs don’t stay in very well. They’re either tight or loose - never just right. lol

#13

Also, as for a video of what I mean about the strange striking sounds, I don’t have very good microphones, so I don’t think they’ll pick the sounds up. All I can explain it as is, get your shamisen, strike the string, then lightly rest the bachi against the vibrating string. That buzzing noise is what I get when I go to strike the string again. It’s quick (as I’m striking it, not just letting the bachi sit there), but still noticable.

Sorry that I can’t provide a useful video. :frowning:

OH! And someone mentioned varnishing the Dan Sen. Yes, I’ve varnished it already, and it looks much better. I didn’t want to sand the paint off, however, because I quite love the look of antiques. The varnish is protecting the Dan Sen very well, too, and it looks a few shades darker (about as dark as rose wood, but the color of brown, if that makes sense).

#14

yeah this is awkward , i always reply before you do these days :smiley: get back to work cana !

Aye sir! :slight_smile:

#15

Just had a thought about the vibration problem with the strings. What if the vibrations is from the wooden “neo”? Since shamisen have fabric/rope-like neos, it most likely reduces as lot of the vibrations after the strings are plucked.

I can’t see that the frets have much to do with this sound issue, due to the fact that the bridge and “neo” cause the strings to be so high off of the neck and body.

I’m considering on taking off the bridge and shortening it; and, if I’m feeling really brave, I might take off the wodden neo and make (and attach) shamisen style neo. Both parts come off easily (they’re just glued to the instrument), so they can be put back on without a problem. I doubt I’d try making and altering the body to have skins. lol

#16

yeah I would go that way too with this thing instead of trying to authentically restore it as a dan sen . . . I would rather guess there is something wrong with your wooden neo than that a real neo reduces sounding string vibrations but I don’t have shamisen so . . . and a shamisen neo could look cool for sure . . . :slight_smile:

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