Hello All
I have bought torn tsugaru shamisen from Yahoo Japan and making preparations for the re-skinning. I am planning to make pre-stretching jig and use mechanical jack to lift dou for skin tensioning. I am planning to use Old Brown Glue As well as 1mm thick goat skin for the job.
Question I have: what is the best way to remove the old skin and glue leftovers? Just water?
Best regards,
Alexey
Some of the suggestions from this thread about removing fujaku residue might apply:
Thanks. This is not exactly the instruction on how to remove old skin but on how to remove old non-slip pads. The suggestion with wet fabric in the end of the thread might work well.
Water to remove rice glue, then vinegar to remove the hide glue that holds the dou together.
Clean off very well, especially the hide glue, and let the dou pieces dry very well.
Reglue the dou with any modern poly glue (Titebond 3 is ideal), or new hide glue if that’s your preference, using two belt clamps and plenty of padding between the clamp and dou, aligning the pieces after half pressure is applied on the clamps.
Use a rubber hammer to do fine tunining alignment of the pieces on all axis, and your finger to test for uneveness. Be quick, because titebond 3 has a 7~10 minutes set time. Clean squeeze out with a wet tissue, and make a glue line on the inside joints for extra strength.
Cheers.