Hello, call me Hanae. 
I have lurked on this forum for a little bit. I have been dreaming of owning a shamisen for the last 15 years. I love geigi so I specifically wanted a nosozao shamisen. My mom wanted me to get futozao because she thinks tsugaru style is way cooler than âboring old kouta.â I got my nosozao, lied to her but now she knows and I am practicing jon-garas to appease her.
I have been practicing âshamisenâ for the last few months with what I could find online, and using a plastic ukelele tuned to niagari/sansagari mostly. I also made my own bachis out of whittled cedar (softwood; it wore down LOL) and clothespin + wrapped painterâs tape (which was surprisingly easy on the ito despite making a good sound).
I ordered a nagauta/nosozao shamisen from Murasaki Music for my birthday! There she is! Even though the shipping was actually very fast, it was a long week of waiting dreamily for Shamichan. Yesterday, she arrived!!!
I was so happy to receive shamichan but she is totally not what I expected. After wanting a shamisen for so long, I thought it would feel like meeting an old friend; Honestly, she feels very foreign but she is SOOOO beautiful. I am a little worried about some of the damage, but my bank account is empty so I must improvise with what I have around me. Not much to be found in rural Ohio. 
I donât have money but there is wood working machinery in the garage and my dad is a wood cutter, so we have blocks, logs, stacked wood⊠every kind. I would appreciate any guidance.
The kawa on the back is ripped as described, but shamichan still sounds pretty good. I live in poverty, so ripped skin isnât a big deal. But, would it be ok to try to cover the back? I thought about using painters tape to seal the hole or even just covering the back with a panel of cardboard for now, to prevent further breakdown until I can think about new skins.
Additionally, I think during shipping the local delivery people were a bit rough. People who live in my area are either the salt of the earth or⊠garbage. I suspect the latter type was the delivery person that scuffed Shamichanâs box.
The box arrived with lot of scuffs despite the big âFRAGILEâ stickers that Murasaki-sama placed carefully on the box.
When opened, the koma and bachi were chipped!!! T-T The worst part is that the chips were inside the packaging so I am positive that damage happened during delivery. âŠKarma will handle them. In the meantime, I must help Shamichan.
The chipped Koma came off where I would have placed the San-no-ito; it can no longer hold the string. I canât afford a new koma at the moment, but I have improvised using a clothespin⊠Do you think it will be ok?
Also as for the bachi, one side is still ok. Plus I have the other bachi that I made, and I will continue making bachi out of various materials just for fun. I do have access to many woods and we have a woodworking area in the garage.
I also realized that the itomaki are kind of loose. I shove them in but they slip out easily⊠I read online that I might need to âFile them down from the center?â What does that mean by the center? I donât want to cause undue stress or hurt shamichan!!! Also, I tuned the shamisen correctly to CFC and walked out of the room for a moment; came back to find it in BEB. Out of nowhere, I bump the neck with my finger and ni no itomaki slips out entirely. I am sure holding tuning is a common problem and there must be a common solution. Maybe I have the wrong pegs in the wrong holes. I think I need some guidance. Your wisdom that you can share is appreciated.
Well, thank you for reading! I hope your day is wonderful.