I’m thinking about getting my shamisen reskinned to improve the sound. The current skin (cheap plastic) is in ok shape, but the tone is not that great. I would be getting the FiberSen skin since my climate is all over the place with temperature and humidity. My big question is what is the benefit of getting both sides reskinned instead of just the front? Getting just the font reskinned is much cheaper and the backside is in good shape, but do I lose anything by not getting it replaced? How does the back skin affect the sound? Thanks.
Well, as far as I know the back of the dou is generally muted anyway when you press the shamisen against you while playing, so it is mainly the front that’d be affecting your tone.
I can’t imagine the impact would be noticeable, as some players (few, but some) don’t even skin the back and from what I’ve heard they like the tone.
As long as your “skin” on the back is in good shape I don’t see any need to replace it (other than maybe aesthetic uniformity in how it looks).
Happy bachi-ing!
Don’t forget that the tsugaru technic is the only one where the dou is pressed against the body. On the other aesthetics, the back is not muted… Anyway I guess you play tsugaru, Joel.
I remember my sensei saying that you can’t reskin a dou with plastic kawa. The glue is too difficult to take off, but maybe ask a shop first.
Sounds like an excuse to convince people to buy more expensive types of skin but let us know Danny.
And you brought an interesting point Patrick!
Actually it makes a lot of sense. For one, kawa uses rice glue, and water can take it off. Plastic I’m sure must use a much stronger glue to secure it to the dou. So I would imagine a lot of scraping and chunks staying glued on.
We are saying the same thing but differently. It is possible to do it but it requires more effort so they try to convince people it can’t be done. They win 2 things:
- No need to work too much to remove the glue.
- Selling more expensive skins so they earn more profit from it.
But there is "can’t " and “not wanting to do”. Here was my point.
My local shop confirms what ya’ll are saying. I’d been chatting with the boss-man about Ripple.
Plastic/synthetic skins can be removed and replaced, but it’s much more difficult. You run a much higher risk of damaging the dou during the process.
Mind, my shop never said it was impossible. Just that damage is a concern.
Thanks for the feedback Christopher!
Some interesting things I hadn’t considered before, thanks for the comments. I’ll be asking these questions before sending it off to get reskinned. Either way, it sounds like I’ll be able to get away with just replacing the front. Thanks all.