Shamisen, Request for advice

General
#1

Hi guys! I´m Ale from Argentina (sorry for my inglish I´m doing my best).
I´m trying to buy a shamisen to beging to play and complement my study of shakuhachi.

First I want to buy The Beginer’s Shamisen of this page, but the Import policy and taxes of Argentina are a madnees. So import first the shamisen and then the accessories would be a very lot of wasted money.

Then I found this shamisen in Katoh´s shop
http://shop.shamisen-katoh.com/?pid=55565846

What do you think? it’s a good option?

I will travel Japan in one or two year but I wanted to have something to start practicing.

Thanks for the help and excuse me if I´m posting this in the wrong place of the forum.

#2

Really, any shamisen will get you going. They aren’t really as sensitive as, for example, guitars, where a bad guitar can discourage a person from learning at all. There are some guitars which are just hard to play! There’s really not much to shamisens in terms of playability (compared with guitars).

That being said, I have played shamisens of all prices and have found that the quality of the sound of the instrument is proportional to the price. If you pay more money (in general), you will get a better sounding instrument.

I bought a cheap nagauta and, while I’m ready to get a better instrument, I happily play it daily and at live shows. Best $200 I ever spent.

#3

Remember also, that the type of shamisen makes a difference in terms of musical stylings. I have a nagauta. While I can play tugaru lke tunes on it, it isn’t a tugaru so I’m limited. It get to be like faux-tugaru.

Are you looking to play tugaru specifically?

#4

Pete, thanks for your experience! I have not decided yet, both styles have amazings things. But I want to chose tsugaru instrument because of the length, the swari mechanism and the strength of the skin.

#5

My advice is not to worry about the price so much as deciding which style you are most interested in playing.

I definitely wish that I would have known that when I bought one. Not complaining, I’ll be happy to own many kinds of shamisens when I can.

As for skin, I live in Kenya. Nairobi is fairly cool, but I can’t take it out to the coast or to the west with this skin (this is the tropics). If I buy a tugaru in Japan, I will most likely get synthetic skin. Not sure what it’s like where you are. Reskinning in Kenya is not an option.

#6

Hey Ale,

Welcome to Bachido!

tldr; Most synthetic leather doesn’t sound great. Pick the instrument that makes the sound you like, not because of the accessories.

That’s a karin shamisen with single piece neck. The skin is a synthetic leather (likely not Fibersen, definitely not Ripple). It sports an azuma sawari and the total length is 101cm. I can’t suss out if it’s built in Japan or otherwise.

It comes with most necessary accessories.

It’s a very standard, entry level shamisen (with the added bonus of an azuma sawari).

As for my opinion of it…

It’s hard to tell without playing it.

I’ve handled cheaper shamisen that sounded great, but the synthetic skin makes me hesitant. I’m sure it’s fine to play and practice on, but it will likely sound different from what you expect.

As well, although dog skinned tsugaru shamisen skins are thicker (and thereby more durable) I’m not sure if synthetic leather follows the same logic.

I’ll add just one or two more things:

1 Sawari mechanicsms, such azuma or en, show up in almost every kind of shamisen. I actually have a hauta shamisen (a kind of hosozao) in the other room with one. So don’t let that force you into a tsugaru.

2 Differences in length are mostly due to the size of the body. The bigger body tends to mean a louder sound and slightly different sonic character; but the most important thing is how you play!

#7

Problema resuelto!

I found a shamisen right here in my country, it´s an old tsugaru made of Koki wood :slight_smile: . I don´t know if it is a good shamisen, but it was cheap and its in condition to be played. In a few week he comes to buenos aire. I will complete this article then. Thanks for the help!

#8

Kouki is finest wood for the neck … :slight_smile:

#9

Sounds like a lucky find indeed if it’s in a good playable shape! Have you thought of accessories like the fake-bekkou bachi for example?

#10

I hope with all my soul it wilI be playable like the owner promise. Import anything in Argentina is very dificult and espensive so I think I wil be happy with the wood bachi that came with the shmi. If it brake build another if It brake another. I´m have no idea how to obtain extra strings. I´m completly lost in this aspect.

#11

Ale Ale,

I hope it works out for you. I’ve had only one poor experience buying second hand stuff; and even then, it was pretty playable (just less great that I had hoped).

I wouldn’t worry too much about the bachi, but be careful with the koma. They are sometimes fragile.

I wish I could give you advice on strings; aside from ordering off of bachido and paying a lot… hmm.

The biggest difficulty will be sourcing a suitable replacement for the thick, ichi-no-ito. Hmm…

Virginia Chong has mentioned using certain kinds of fishing line as replacements. Maybe you could look into that?

#12

Hi chris! Thanks for the experience, I have read about fishing line. It´s so crazy, but now is the only option. I´m gona write Virginia to ask what fish strings she use. Thanks for the data!

#13

Ale! todo bien? Saludos desde Chile! Me dedico a la lutheria desde hace años, y ya llevo varios shamisen construidos. Recientemente me hice de un nagauta original, para comparar medidas con el tsugaru y demases. Si gustas me contactas, no hay problema, un gusto poder ayudarte en lo que sea posible.
te dejo mi contacto: fugalibrana@gmail.com

Un saludo cordial!

Atte.

Rod

#14

Que bueno Rod! Estas cerca de Santiago?
Me interesa echarle una ojeada a tu trabajo, me da mucha curiosidad. Dale te tomo la palabra, el shamisen que compre es usado y si tengo que meterle mano me va a servir de mucha ayuda tus consejos. Mas si son en español… el ingles realmente no es mi fuerte. Saludos. Ale

#15

Best day ever!!!

I´ve in my luky hands the most beatifoul Vintage Kouki Shamisen in the entire world. It was hard to find it but I got it. Thanks guys for your experience and tips!!

Time to play all night long!!!

A rockear!!

#16

Post pictures!

#17

Hey Ale! Como va ese shamisen? podrias subir algunas fotos eh?
Saludos che! :smiley:

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