Quality Synthetic Skins?

General
#1

Question for the experts on here. I have found a nice Shamisen for my son that breaks down into multiple parts for around $100 from a local pawn shop. The skins need to be replaced. Can you point me to a place I can find just the skins themselves and give me an idea of what my costs might be for: 1) A quality Synthetic or 2) Actual animal skins and where I might acquire them? I use to be big in model building so don’t think I would have much difficulty in repairing the unit. The other alternative is that my son’s guitar/bass instructor is also a premium luthier for classical instruments (well known for building his own to the tune of $15K to $30K instruments). I am certain that he would do the skins for me if I asked but this guy is rather high in the guitar-building echelon so it might be a bit outside his specialty. Any guidance appreciated.

Thanks in advance for any guidance

#2

Hey Jay,
In the Bachido store, there is a whole list of skins and associated costs.

If you send Kyle an email, I believe that he’ll organise with Masahiro to get your shamisen reskinned :slight_smile:

http://bachido.com/products/repair-skin

The FiberSen skin is the new synthetic that has a natural feel which is listed on the above page and if you’d like a natural, cheaper alternative, there is calf skin listed on the page below :slight_smile:

http://bachido.com/products/repair-skin-calf

Good luck with the reskinning and I hope your son enjoys playing!

#3

Also you can see this video from Josh Davila, bachido member:

I think it has a very good sound. And it looks resistant.

Reeskining a shamisen seems to me hard to than other things, I don´t know if a guitarrist´s luther can do it. Have you seen Kyle´s book? he explains in a very good manner how to do it. I recomend it, you can see the traditional technice of reeskining a shamisen… And I have no commission!! Xd I never reeskin a shamisen but It looks to me very difficult stuff. In Japan there are luthers than only do the reeskining, and in the word of shamisen, its known that a specialist alwyas will have work… at least in the past :wink:

http://bachido.com/products/shamisen-of-japan

#4

Thank you all for your responses. I had not previously seen the skin sales area in this site so that was helpful. Unfortunately, it appears that the costs for the skin(s) themselves may exclude this as an option so I may have to find lower-priced alternatives here on the east coast of the US.

It looks like this one used some type of “paper” covering rather than natural skins so not certain if that indicates what the quality might be of a mid-70’s model Shamisen.

I did speak with my luthier on him performing the replacement and he said that it would make more sense to buy a ready-to-go unit rather than contract with him for the work so I may be moving towards trying to buy a good used model with skins intact

#5

Welcome to Bachido, Jay! :slight_smile:

I’m interested to see what kind of shamisen you acquired. Could you post some pictures of it? If it’s really good (I.e, made with nice kouki wood, etc), then it might be more worth it (and cheaper) to get reskinned than to buy another used one.

Also, Jessica’s skinning service (with calf skin) would be the most convinient way to get your axe back in action. She does a very good job and the calf skin sounds quite nice on a nagauta shamisen.

#6

Kyle - I didn’t acquire anything yet but It looks like the Pawn store one was a Sanxian(?) because it looked like this one that comes with a case for only $120 (+shipping) http://portland.craigslist.org/mlt/msg/3423795167.html
…instead of a Shamisen so I am thinking it isn’t want my son wants. I also found this one on eBay that looked like a decent price until I realized it was another $50 (so $165 total) for a 3-peice-style one that needs to be reskinned (& doesn’t come with a Bachi) http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Vintage-SHAMISEN-Classic-Stringed-Instrument-6710-/150916426056?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item232351e948

I did see Jessica’s information and would probably pay her to reskin the eBay one if it was a valuable piece but then I am getting up above my $200 (max) target price. My problem with any musical instrument is that I will dig & dig until I find something that is a $1,200 or $1,500 piece for $150 to $300. Since I am not certain how dedicated my son would be, I don’t really want to spend any more than $200 but I would want a quality model that would retain his interest with quality sound. He’s a bit of an audio-file and I am weary that a “cheap” Shamisen would be abandoned quickly due to poor sound quality.

#7

Ah, yes. That makes sense. Sanxian and Sanshin (the Okinawan style, which is like a shorter Sanxian) are probably more common in antique/pawn shops than real shamisen.

You can find some superb deals on nagauta shamisen (which is on the page you linked) on Ebay, but I would steer clear of that particular one you linked. The neck looks warped, because the joints don’t fit together cleanly.

Whether with skin or needing skin, it’d be safe to expect to pay around $300~$400 in the end.

#8

Thanks for the guidance. I am familiar with neck warping on guitars & basses so (think) I know what to look for (in person) so generally stay away from eBay for those types of items. I’ll keep shopping the local pawn stores and will take photo’s and ask this forum for guidance should I find something. Anyone ever find one of these @ a local Sam Ash, Muscian’s Friend or a Guitar Center ?

#9

http://www.ebay.com/itm/Japanese-Vintage-SHAMISEN-Classic-Stringed-Instrument-with-BACHI-8112-/110980172109?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item19d6ef094d

This looks the best. It is jiuta,suitable for tsugaru style,it is pretty damaged,but is playable,and may be nice for beginners,since it is not so expensive, you will need to spend more with the shipping,and kamigoma,etc. But you will hardly find shamisen cheaper.

I can assure you that shamisen is not cheap,it is more expensive than most guitars here in brazil. A Guitar is like 3000 dollars,but a shamisen, is 4500(with shipping,and fees) so,shamisen won’t be cheaper than 200 dollars so easily.

I found many shamisen that are incredibly cheap on yahoo.aleado.com,but you need to see the offers in Japanese to fully understand.

Hope you son can get it soon!

#10

Jay, to stay within your budget your best bet is to skin it yourself. The calf skins will only cost ~$25. A wood bachi is cheap or you can also make it yourself. I have made several bachi from buffalo horn and actually prefer these to high end bachi. A big part of Bachido is the “do it yourself” attitude because the cost and access to shamisen is limited. Get you son involved with making it too. There is a lot of satisfaction using our homemade stuff.

#11

I found many shamisen that are incredibly cheap on yahoo.aleado.com,but you need to see the offers in Japanese to fully understand.

Thanks for the direction. My son reads Japanese so I’ll point him to that site.

#12

Jay, to stay within your budget your best bet is to skin it yourself. The calf skins will only cost ~$25… A big part of Bachido is the “do it yourself” attitude because the cost and access to shamisen is limited. Get you son involved with making it too. There is a lot of satisfaction using our homemade stuff.

I would love to get him involved in making one but I think that task may be beyond our shared skills. Re-skinning one might be an option but where do you find the calf skins for only $25?

#13

Here is the place Kyle recommends for the calf skin for drums:
http://www.mid-east.com/items.asp?Cc=Calf&iTpStatus=0&Tp=&Bc=

I believe he said you could get by with 14" but his book said 16". The skin thickness could depend on the type of shamisen. Search the blog, there are several discussions on this.

As for the Yahoo Japan auction, there are some comments on this thread:
Generally when you include the handling and shipping charges you have to get something really really cheap to stay under $200. Although it isn’t much better on Ebay since most of the shamisen are being shipped from Japan. It’s generally $40-50 on the slow boat to the US.

#14

Michael - Thanks for the links and the background. Not certain about a japanese address as my son’s instructor is now back here in the US for a bit and not certain when he might be going back to Japan. He may hae friends there though that could receive and relay ship it to us. Now if I can just get him to sift through those listings (in Japanese). I think I’ll make it an “assignment” for his next Japanese instruction session.

#15

Rather than try to piece things together I decided to “bite the bullet” and put a bid in on this antique Nagauta…http://www.ebay.com/itm/Never-used-Full-Size-Portable-Japanese-Shamisen-with-Case-38-Inches-Long-/221158975617?pt=LH_DefaultDomain_0&hash=item337e1a2881&autorefresh=true

#16

Haha I saw this last night and was thinking about bidding on it too! I won’t bid if you want it though. I hope you win! :slight_smile:

#17

Cody - I appreciate the consideration & would like to return the favor by letting you know that I don’t plan on bidding beyond $345 so if you want it, you will know where my top bid is on it.

I’ve bought some other things for my son and the wife is telling me that she hopes someone outbids us. I’d pull my bid but I wouldn’t want anyone to do that to me so I am not planning on doing it on this auction either.

#18

Yeah I don’t think it’s worth much more than that either. When I saw it last night it was around $100. Besides, I still need to finish my homemade shamisen first.

Just keep a lookout. I’m sure you will find a good deal on one.

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