Hi guys,
Just another update on my project. I made some minor redesigns along they way for aesthetics or function. But I’ve got the dou glued, the entire Sao and tenjin assembled, and now am on the final stages of shaping.
Id also like to advocate for urea hide glue. I wound up having to fix the tenjin joint and a couple of other areas, and the hide glue really saved me from losing any wood. There’s a reason they still use it for guitars, violins and pretty much any instrument.
Whoa, you´re fast! Congrats on finishing the dou! How is it working with Padouk? And yes to hide glue 
I still wonder though, how it is going to hold when putting on the skin…
Hehe well I tend to go ham when I work on things, the only thing slowing me down is waiting on new tools I had to order.
Padauk has definitely been one of the more frustrating woods I ever worked with. It has the tendency to chip on the edges, tear out when planing, and can blunt my sharpest chisels in 2 days. The chipping can be minimized by cutting towards the center of the piece rather than away, but sometimes the grain won’t let you, so you just have to tape up the side and start praying.
That all being said the color, grain pattern and tonal quality of the wood make it worth it so far (the sao really resonates!)
My experience with this hide glue is that the wood will give out before the glue does. It’s not super great at handling impact forces, but resisting constant pressure is what it excels at. All Gibson guitars are made with this on their neck joint which can be under 200lbs of pressure! So it should hold 
Few! That sounds like a ton of work! At least, it´s great that it pays off. Aaaah, the waiting for tools… I am anxiously expecting for my reamer to show up in my mailbox, hopefully next week
Well it’s tricky, but you once you learn to work with the material it goes a little smoother. Also, what kind of reamer did you get? You’ll need one size for the nakago hole (I bought standard reamers for this) and a thin skinny one for the itomaki holes (I have a violin reamer for this)
Any updates? While I’n still waiting on my first Shamisen off eBay, I’m also waiting on Kyle’s book, and do want to make my own eventually.
