Well, I picked up a Shamisen for a decent deal, just to try it out…
It arrived in the mail today, I was quite excited, but that didn’t last very long…
Judging from what I’ve read, it looks like I bought a Gidayu style Shamisen and it needs some help…
I tried tuning the Shamisen, but the strings keep popping out of the Koma.
It looks like I only received the top half of the Koma…
But, what seems odd from everything I’ve read is, this Shamisen has coated steel strings on it.
Is this normal for a Shamisen???
I am hoping I can make this playable…
Can I get parts for this style Shamisen here at Bachido???
Where there’s a will, there’s a way.
However having only half a koma isn’t going to do you too much good. We do have some for sale and can possibly order you you the kind you need.
As far as I know I’ve always seen either silk, nylon, or “tetron” for strings. I’ve never seen steel coated ones; that could also be an interesting issue.
Kyle will have some insights I’m sure.
Hi Grant,
I was looking at my Shamisen and noticed my sao did not match up with my dou, so I rewatched the assembly video you and Kyle made. I got brave and took my Shamisen apart. My sao and my nakago had become unglued and had the sao sitting at a weird angle. I used Elmer’s glue and put it back together. When I put it back together, it still has a slight gap, but it seems to be working now… : )
I have my Shamisen tuned up and think I will learn Kuroishi Yosare Bushi first, I was thinking Rokudan which is first in Kyle’s book but I think I am more of a video person, I will use the video method and refer to the book also.
Wow Grant, you are just on top of this! 
Oooh, I think I know where you got this shamisen. It was on ebay, wasn’t it? There’s a guy selling shamisen made in China/Korea. It’s definitely good for the price… though things could certainly be improved.
The strings should definitely be replaced with shamisen strings. I would guess that the strings currently on there are metal sanxian strings, as the itomaki are also sanxian tuning pegs.
Kudos for your courage to disassemble your shamisen and fix it yourself! 
I hope the Elmers will hold it. If you ever are in the Santa Cruz area and have your shamisen, come on by! It’d be interesting to check out.
Good idea about starting with Kuroishi Yosare. When I was first making the Crash Course, I started with Rokudan, but when beta testing it with my dad as the “student”, we quickly realized that Rokudan is really difficult for a complete beginner.
Hi Kyle,
Okay, you got me… Yes, I did buy this one off of ebay… Maybe not the smartest choice, but I was pretty bummed out when the Shamisen prices shot up at the beginning of the month, so I made a quick semi-thought out decision and bought this one.
It is abit cheaply made, but I have something to learn on, so for a starter Shamisen, I figure it is not to bad of an investment.
I’ll save up my money again and buy a really nice Tsugaru Shamisen next or I still have been thinking about building one…
I was thinking I need to practice on the old wood working skills (Wood Shop was quite a few years ago) is pine an okay wood to practice or is it to soft???
The Elmer’s glue is not holding very well with the strings tuned up…
I think the steel strings on here is a bad design…
I’ll see about ordering some strings, a koma, and a neo next week sometime…
A braver soul than I.
There’s always better glues at least.
As I’ve told Anne (who is just now looking into getting her first Shamisen) in response to how much she should spend, you should always spend as much as you can reasonably afford on an instrument, otherwise you’ll end up regretting it. This can definitely be said about the Shamisen since so many things can go wrong when they are made cheaply.
The best thing you could do for your next one in my opinion is save up for a really nice used instrument.
You should bring it on by to us in Santa Cruz bro!
Hey Marvin,
Oh, please don’t get me wrong. Currently, it’s almost impossible to find a playable shamisen for that price (with all the accessories!), so I think it was a good decision on your part! As they say, you get what you pay for, but it’s definitely not a bad investment at all.
Yeah. I’m bummed about the price of the beginner shamisen going up. In my opinion, it’s unacceptable that a beginner has to shell out that much for a entry level instrument, so we have plans to make accurate tsugaru shamisen made for about the price of those ebay shamisen. The first step is learning CAD… which is proving to be quite a deafening challenge.
Cool to hear you’re going to try making one! That’s good that you now have a shamisen to play on, and also be working on another in the meantime. I would say pine would be a little soft. Maple would be preferable, and cheap too.
I’d recommend titebond III. If the joint is tight, then it will be stronger than before .
Hey Kyle, I’m a CAD draftsman and a joiner by trade, i can CAD up your designs if you want? I’ve been doing it for 7 years so i’m fairly learned in it
by the way travis this is one of the people who bought the gidayu you looked at if yeh didnt catch that
TRAVIS YES YES YES YES
well send me some sketches and dimensions and i’ll see what i can do