Reinventing The Bachi 1: A call for help!

General
#75

-am a little too hot n sleepy so i hope i make sense-

slices of horn will be solid all the way, only the core of the horn can be hollow or softer and cleaned away.

You shape it with a saw and/or dremel and sandpapers

no you don’t have to wet it, but it helps in sanding to dampen it slightly to reduce the dust, BUT it leaves the surface slightly fibrous and you’d need to dry sand after to smooth it down.

the blade part can be made like i did; cutting out the outside shape and sanding down and cutting from there to get the thinness (a good power sanding is almost essential),

OR you can split the chunks down more than i did and insert it into a wood handle before the final shaping.

OR
you can cut the wood and horn in rectangles, laminate together and then cut out your bachi in one go.

it’s down to your imagination.

horn was so interesting to work with, it’s kinda like plastic, you can cut it very thin and heat bond it together, you can boil it in water to make glue, you can heat it and bend it and allsorts.

#76

Ooo, cool! Amanda, you are like the DIY Queen of All Things Crafty on Bachido, lol. Thank you!

#77

XD why thank you!
I’ve been a historical re-enactor and crafter for a long time, and sometimes it’s nice to just get something to play with, it’s amazing what odd information you can pick up.

#78

It’s not really reinventing the bachi, but I have always wanted to play shamisen with a biwa bachi.

Seems like the flares at the bottom would be more comfortable to hold.

#79

The biwa bachi are gimoungous! But super-cool looking, lol - I sort of wanted to buy one just to have as artwork.

I think it would be crazy hard to sukui with them, as well as get them on the string you need. It seems as biwa players mostly slap and rub the strings with them, rather than getting solo lines out of them. I dont know, has anyone ever tried to play a shamisen with a biwa bachi?

My FAVORITE biwa performance … (I think I have watched this video a hundred times! I love love love it!)

#80

Well if I used a biwa bachi for shamisen I’d custom make one that is smaller and thinner. I just like their shape.

You’re right about them as artwork. They would look cool framed on the wall in a shadow box.

#81

They do look really cool. But considering the fact that the shamisen bachi was adapted from the biwa bachi, I feel like there’s probably a reason shamisen players dropped the hooks/flares at some point. Dunno what it might be, but maybe if you played around with one you’d figure it out.

#82

Actually, you might have something there, Cody. Kyle had said earlier that he had a shrimp shape in mind for the handle - but the biwa shape would be good, because they you’d be able to play both sides and it would look really cool coming out of the end of your hand. (Don’t forget, performing is visual, as well as auditory!)

You’d still need to round off the one edge where your pinky knuckle rests. I dropped the bachi that I had carved the notch in for my pinky, so I had to play the other side (that I hadn’t carved yet), and OY!! That edge there just shreds my pinky knuckle.

But, I’m also kind of sympathetic to Chris, who started all this (WTG!) that I don’t want to mess too much with the traditional bachi shape - just because … well, it’s traditional - and it looks cool. And you can stand it on it’s end and say it’s really cool artwork, lol.

#83

http://i.imgur.com/2ICHgyy.jpg

You guys should think of other ways of customizing bachi you make :stuck_out_tongue:
See the multiple materials? People here in the thread have mentioned they prefer the smoothness of plastic but the comfyness of wood. Why not interchangeable parts at some point? screw on bekkou heads for your bachi~ different grips depending on song or style. Maybe even adding small weights inside the bachi so it feels heavier / lighter as you see fit? Its not an insane thought really there is a pc mouse that has weights in grams you can add into the mouse when you like. :slight_smile:

Material is still interesting almost needs a foam grip possibly for bachi or maybe even a strap for your hand like a Wii-mote ? http://i.imgur.com/R2WN3OA.gif

or possibly a strap like a camcorder?

#84

cana-

yes that is the goal of this venture: to create a much cheaper and quality bachi that new players can buy and customize to make it easier to get used to

#85

also be on the lookout for “Reinventing The Bachi 2”, in stores soon! some updates to post and in need of more community feedback, probably sometime after work.

#86

very true :slight_smile:
Will be very very nice to see all this come into the shops an such.
Maybe even add a way to make them yourself in the bachido book or just online on the website using common household items? (icescraper… etc etc)

#87

as a beginner who went through many different things before i decided on this project, i think the biggest hindrances to shamisen learning are 1) expense and 2) accessibility.

there are tutorials on how to make a bachi in kyles book, but wooden bachi are just… awful. compared to bekkou that is. it would be a much more enjoyable and probably easier to learn on something more flexible than wood, but much cheaper than bekkou.
and good luck finding a household item to replace it. an icescraper is more an insult than an option when it comes to bachi haha

#88

ahh but is it :o?
I saw one with the likeness of my bekkou bachi and i nearly bought it ^^

only thing different was weight… sadly i love weighty bachi so i didnt get one :3

#89

I have posted updates to my horn bachi work on a new thread.

#90

So~ Any news? :slight_smile:

#91

Yes a short update, posted here:

#92

Bonjour !
je poste mes photos de la tenue de mon bachi. la couleur rouge sur les doigts indiquent la force d’appuis sur le bachi.
j’ai beaucoup de difficultés à jouer avec ce bachi en bois. je le trouve trop lourd et trop épais sur l’extremité carrée, ça me fait très mal au petit doigt.
voilà mon témoignage. je souhaiterais trouver un bachi moins épais et moins lourd.
je joue parfois avec une credit-card, moins de bruit et moins de difficultés mais ce n’est pas un bachi !
avec ce que je viens d’écrire, j’espère que quelqu’un pourra trouver un nouveau modèle de bachi pour jouer plus facilement. ^^"

#93


#94

sur la photo “C”, j’indique en rouge la partie trop large et trop épaisse. peut on faire quelque chose ?

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