*sob!* got beautiful new tsugaru but sao was broken :(

Building/Repair
#1

It arrived like this - I saw another thread about a cracked sao, but this one actually has a chip out of it - hubby says he can glue it and it will still be strong - do you guys thinks so too? Do you have any hints as to how to make it so that the damage doesn’t show, and is really strong? He said it was Karin wood.

It really is a beautiful shamisen - looks like new. He included a hard case, koma, yubikake, doukake, bachi (plastic, but still nice) well, everything for a thousand dollars - and everything looks brand new - I couldn’t pass it up.

Anyhow, hope it’s going to be okay. Thanks for any help. :slight_smile:

#2

Hello Lorraine

ouch, that does hurt, doesn’t it.
i feel very sorry for you and the broken sao.
I’m not a craftsman, but imho glueing shoudn’t be a problem.
there are very good wood-glues on the market and the ‘advantage’ here is, that there’s a large surface that can support better cohesion.
If anybody here has a better understanding about wood, i would appreciate it to correct me if i’m wrong.

cheers
Ale

#3

If you want to glue this thing, probably it also needs gluing in a couple of through thin wooden pins to add binding strength.

Or just find a way to make a brand new copy of the damaged part.

#4

That’s what I was thinking, that a couple of small pins would help. The seller was very nice, and also directed me to this website, I think it could apply here as well

http://m.instructables.com/id/How-to-repair-a-broken-guitar-neck-headstock/#step1

I guess if it doesn’t work, I could try to order, or make, a whole new hatomune piece, but then, there goes my savings on this. I’m sure it would cost more than a few hundred dollars, and probably wouldn’t match. I’ll go the glue route first and see what happens. Thanks for the help, you guys! :slight_smile:

#5

If you are unsure about doing the repair, before you attempt to do it yourself, take it to a guitar repair shop, and see if they’ll give you an estimate; it may not be nearly as expensive as you think. Getting an new section of a neck made would probably be a fortune, because of all the time it would take to match the joints, and even then, as you said, the wood won’t match visually.

#6

Thanks Gerry! After reading that repair link up above, I felt better about doing it myself, but luckily, I made it into a Honey-Do, so my Honey has already glued and clamped it. He’s actually a pretty good woodworker with a full shop, but neither of us have experience with anything instrumental but taiko drums, so we were unsure as to how to proceed. (We’ve made and restored a lot of furniture, though.)

We took everyone’s advice here, and, as long as the glue holds, we should be good to go.

Luckily, that particular piece doesn’t get much stress on it - certainly not as much as a guitar headstock for sure!

#7

All fixed and plays like a dream. Sao is nice and solid. It was actually broken in TWO places - right underneath the dou, where the sao is cut and glued right where it comes out into the neck, and at the third joint (that’s the part that I took the photos of).

Hubby just glued and clamped, and left everything for two days. I even took it to Las Vegas with me. :slight_smile: You can’t even tell where the crack was.

#8

Whew! Just saw this post. That would be a frightful sight! Glad your hubby managed to get it back in shape. :slight_smile: Yeah, with wood glue, it should be good as new. :slight_smile:

#9

Thanks Kyle, and thanks to several of your posts in other areas as well that said that wood glue should do the job well. He wanted to get all fancy and I said “let’s just keep it simple. The folks over at Bachido said glue should suffice.” And it did!

Thank you all for the info! XOXO

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