Skin for the shamisen

Building/Repair
#1

I got across this synthetic skin on Mercado Livre(a brazillian online market, like ebay):

I don’t know if it’s good to use on a shamisen. The site is totally in portuguese, but here’s the description in english:

Animal Print Snake Yellow Synthetic Fabric 50cm X 140cm

PU Synthetic Fabric

Model: Synthetic Fabric
print: snake
Color: Yellow / Black
Substrate: Cotton Twill
Surface: 100% Polyurethane
Length: 50cm
Width: 140cm
Thickness: 0.40mm

The description also says that the fabric is not elastic. Would it affect on the resonation. Thanks in advance!!!

#2

I am unfamiliar with this specific material, but I would not have high hopes. I suspect it would end up sounding very poor.

#3

That material will rip the moment you get any reasonable tension on it. It has a sparse cotton frame, that is only there to keep the PU (which is quite weak itself, worse yet at 0.4mm) somewhat stabilized.

And without considerable tension, well, to be honest, without extreme tension, you won’t get it sounding anything like a Shamisen.

Definitely not recommended.

1 Like
#4

So would this skin usable? It’s a goat skin disc, made for percussion instruments(atabaque, pandeiro).

#6

There has been some people that built a Shamisen with goat skin.
You will suffer on aesthetics, of course, but depending on the tanning, and how thin it is, you may get a reasonable sound out of it.

I, personally, don’t like unbleached skins on Shamisen.
It looks great on a Djembe or Atabaque, but not nice on a Shamisen.
Just my opinion.

#7

I use 1 mm goat skin (https://www.amazon.de/gp/product/B07N7Z9JCH/ref=ppx_yo_dt_b_search_asin_title?ie=UTF8&psc=1).
It was really soft and fexible after wathering. Easy to stretch over edges. In my case the aesthetics fit to the sound… like a Banjo.
Mabey bleach or leather paint can help with the pattern?

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