Anyone have any suggestions or ideas for woods other than the ones in Kyle Abbotts’ book?
Now, if this isn’t my most favourite possible topic, I don’t know what would be!
I’ve used Jatoba and that worked out really well. I’ve used Bloodwood on a lot of other instruments and really love it, the colour is gorgeous and it is very dense, but when I started to make shamisen it was difficult to get good quality bloodwood where I was (Canada, S. Alberta), and so shifted to Jatoba, which is generally from Brazil, I believe.
I’m in Thailand right now and am presently working on two shamisen using a thai wood called Mai Daeng. it is really lovely, a little chippy to work with but seems to take on a really beautiful shine. I’ve recently found a source for a wood called Mai Bradu. It is recycled wood and I made two koras with it and now have a piece that I will try a shamisen with. When unfinished, the Mai Bradu is a sort of medium brown but when it is shined up, oiled and finely sanded takes on a gorgeous very dark reddish tone. All these woods have a pretty dense janka hardness. A little less than Kouki, I think, but in the range.
Checking the janka hardness is where i start when thinking of using a wood.
If I was still in Canada I might consider a local wood such as maple but it is much softer than what I’ve been using and so not sure if it would be suitable. Kyle! What do you think?
Worth a try though and, damn, a sao and dou made from birdseye maple would be really beautiful if would work.
If I was still there, I would for sure give it a try.
Here is a photo of the mai bradu, the oiled part is on the left. I think that it will make a really beautiful shamisen: 
here is a photo of a dou in mai daeng: 
and here is some jatoba: 
Cheers!
Thank you Catherine , nice work , I was wondering about Hard Maple also.
I just had a quick look and
sugar maple clocks in at 1450 on the janka scale
black cherry 950
oak 1300
white ash 1320
jatoba 2350
kouki (red sandalwood) 2940
mai bradu somewhere between 2360-2600
mai daeng around 2600
with some of the woods over here i’ve found different numbers in different places, such as with the bradu.
feeling pretty geeky at the moment!! 
wonder if the maple would hold up for the neck or if it would warp?
well, you know, guitars have maple necks and are under even more pressure from the strings than a shamisen i would think.
My thoughts are that it wouldn’t warp. Would love to hear from others on this though. western bowed instruments have a maple neck too generally i think. But then on this instruments the neck isn’t really very long compared to the body.
There was a Bachido discussion a while ago that had something to do with wood density and if I remember correctly there were thoughts about sound and wood density. The fender start with its maple neck was compare to the les paul which is really heavy and has a very different sound. Mind you. it also has a very different pick-up set up. so… i dunno, i guess.
It’s possible maybe that a lighter wood might absorb sound vibration more than a dense wood, but then it can well be argued, as Kyle mentions in his book, that it’s the skin stretched on the dou that makes the most difference in sound quality/type.
I had a very interesting chat with a Thai friend here that knows a lot about local woods and who I ask often of his opinion. I mentioned a wood that I found on the side of the road on the way to the village that I live in. A massive tree had fallen across the road and it had been all cut up by the time i saw it. I grabbed a good sized branch, cut it into pieces and split it with the thought of maybe making pegs (itomaki) from it. It’s really light coloured and I thought it might make a nice contrast to the mai daeng instruments that I am making. My friend said that is wasn’t really good for much as it is quite soft. I said that i tried sinking my teeth into it and it seemed pretty hard to me.
No no, it’s as soft as teak, he said. At that point I started laughing and told him that teak is about as hard as maple, which is the hardest wood that is local to Canada.
On another tack, I think that there is also this thing to do with status and woods, especially endangered woods. That’s tricky stuff to my mind. I think that sometimes that it is just bullcrap piled onto a plate of ego. Sometimes.
Re: the maple… I’d say, give it a go! and let us all know how it works out.
Maple is used on violin necks back and sides because its hardwearing and holds its shape. Along the grain it can be softer but cut across the grain its very ridgid. Violin bridges are cut across the grain to take 30lb of weight from the strings. The density can hold up the vibrations so the front of a violin is pine which is soft and linear. I think my guitar neck is sepele?wood which is very beautiful. Not sure how helpful that is.
good points from all - if the 3 pc. neck is stronger , I think I will practice making the joints on a softer wood and then move on to hard maple
Good idea Timothy. Look forward to hearing how it all goes.