Shamisen/gotan hybrid

Building/Repair
#1

I recently finished a gotan for the Musical Instrument Makers Forum (www.mimf.com) annual $100 challenge. This is an event they hold to inspire us builders to see how creative we can be with a limited budget. I found a used copy of Kyles book on Amazon and used it as a reference along with other research on the net into the shamisen and gotan, as well as some of my own ideas.

You can find the discussion and photos of the build at http://www.mimf.com/phpbb/viewtopic.php?f=27&t=702

It was built as a birthday/graduation gift for my daughter’s Japanese girlfriend and is now back home in Japan with her.

#2

Nice work! It looked really unique, in the good way!

#3

Thanks Karl, It was a fun project and I’m probably going to try making a proper shamisen in the future (after/when I finish all the other projects and repairs I have to do). I noticed I misspelled gottan, my bad.

#4

Awesome job, David! The woods you chose are very aesthetically pleasing. Real eye candy. :slight_smile: Love the bachi and azuma sawari as well!

Will you make a recording of it as some point?

Welcome to Bachido. :slight_smile:

Kyle

#5

Thanks Kyle! I will try to get in touch with the new owner and see if she can make a recording. It was given as a combination birthday/college graduation gift from my daughter to her Japanese girlfriend and is now back in Japan with her. As for the sound, I was concerned that the top would be too thick (.110", a little thicker than an acoustic guitar) but it was quite pleasing. Not too brite or brittle and louder than I thought it would be.

It was fun backyard engineering the azuma sawari. I think the bachi might be a little stiff having never seen or felt one (I only play finger style) but I just went for it.

As for the wood, it was all from Home Depot. Sometimes they get some good pieces but it’s all hit or miss.

Thank you for your book and web site too, it was extremely helpful and some time in the future I do plan on building a more proper shamisen.

Dave

#6

wow awesome work and great looking I will also look around a bit on that milf I mean mimf site . . .

#7

So bad ass!
The wood and the overall completed project is beautiful. I really wish we could hear a little bit of it!
I gotta step up my game! Eep!

#8

B H and Grant thank you for your comments! I’m still workin on getting a sound clip.

#9

Yeah, your azuma sawari looks very nice. Even using a spring and everything! :slight_smile: Yeah, the bachi may be a little stiff. Generally, I believe oak is used, and the tip is thin so it can provide a little flex. Still, being the Gottan don’t typically use bachi anyway (I think), it’s all good. :slight_smile:

I’m glad the book and website helped in your making! You should definitely be proud of your handiwork! :slight_smile:

#10

Very Nice work, David!
The gottan is a pretty obscure instrument, even in Japan, so it’s interesting to see it pop up here.
I was surprised to read that they usually attach the neck like a guitar. I have only seen gottan in pictures, and have never seen inside of one, but I assumed they were built the same way as shamisen, with the neck extending through the body.
The grain of the wood on the spike of this gottan, for instance seems to match that of the neck, which suggests that it is all one piece:
http://blogs.yahoo.co.jp/gottan34/MYBLOG/yblog.html
For all I know, though, this particular gottan could be an anomaly. Do you have a source that describes how the neck is generally attached to the body?

#11

Gerry, They probably are neck through. I found that comment about the neck attachment on a different site that I didn’t bookmark. I’ll look for it again. I assumed they were all like that but I am probably wrong (not the first time). I only had one picture to use and it didn’t show the spike end, wish I had seen the photos you sited. In the end it worked out well even using the drawer pull to attach the neo.

As for why I built a gottan, I was looking for something not too complicated to build for the challenge that would give me some new building experiences and that I could make as inexpensively as possible. Also my daughter had asked if I could make something for her friend Yuki’s graduation/birthday. She is from Kyoto and was a music major, so I checked out sites about stringed instruments from around the world and thought a Japanese instrument looked do-able. A little more research and I found this site. Then I found a used copy of Kyle’s book on Amazon and I was off.

Kyle, the azuma sawari took a little tinkering to get the buzz right, with out causing the string to go sharp. I’ve made a few sitar bridges for electric guitars (similar to the Danelectro electric sitar) so I kinda knew what I had to do to get a good buzz (no pun intended).
The bachi I made did have a bit of flex at the tips. The slice of myrtle I used was only 1/16" thick and I sanded the playing edge down to about the thickness of a heavy guitar pick.

© 2020 Kyle Abbott