I suspect I’m missing something because I’m reading about the steps as opposed to actually shaping wood, but isn’t the placement of the tenjin top template less critical since the next step after carving the wood is to re-trace the tenjin side template?
I had the same problem as titobcn86, I would like to know how anyone else went about that step (Once again, thank you to Catherine!). Also, I would like to know if the tenjin of the tsugaru shamisen is more curved than what is in the book?
Too bad I have to leave for now (different time zone). I´ll be following!
1 Like
Yes, but it has to be retraced having cut the area inside the discontinous line so you can then file the curve… I think that this is what you are misunderstanding…
I thought it might help posting how it came out (still in progress though 
). I followed the templates but I still think that the tenjin should be more curved. Or is it just me?
1 Like
Looks nice!! I’m still progressing too
I really think that it is curved enough…what I think is about the dimension of the upper part…in my case it seems too small compared with the tenjin that I can see on the internet…yours seems bigger than mine!
2 Likes
Thanks! Whoa, you already got past my favorite part which was getting the shape from the block of wood! Btw, it looks same to me:
And here are the measures I ended up with - the top part (kou) is 68mm and measuring from the same spot on top to the bottom of the tenjin, 195mm. About the curve… I wish some kind tsugaru owner would just trace down the side of their shamisen and send it to me so that I can sleep better 
Anyway, nice work! Can´t wait to see more!
1 Like
Nice idea to glue 2 pcs of wood together to make symmetric wood pattern! Looks amazing!
Hey Stefanie!
I don’t know if you could sleep well…but here I send you my picture. The measure that you are showing is the same in my case, around 68 mm from the top part.
So it is proved that there is an optical illusion about the pictures
Hi there! Nice work! Good to know that it came out the same.
Haha, yes, I could sleep even though I am not giving up on the tenjin´s curve just yet!
Hello,.
I had the same doubts when I was trying to do a tenjin and I also initially thought it had to be longer.
But I suppose that the frontal view of tenjin is an orthogonal projection and so it’s as you can see it if you are watching at it from the front. Infact it has not the same length of the side views.
This is my opinion. It could be not correct.
If it’s so I think that in the book it’s better to have a template that everyone could cut and glue on the wood.
Hello Francesco!
You mean like this, right? The top template would fit before the block is shaped but using it after rounding, the top template is short. I am with you on having an extra top tenjin template, unless, of course, we are using it totally wrong 
1 Like
Exactly Stefanie,
it’s clear I used it in the wrong way, after having shaped the tenjin, and so it looked shorter than the piece of wood.
But it was more … intuitive to use it in that way but obviously I did not follow with care the instuctions.
Oh no, I did not mean to say you used it wrong! I followed the book and it clearly says to round the block first (side templates) and then cut out the shape of the tenjin (using the top template). And that´s how we started this thread because all of us ended up with a “shorter” top template
Personally, I think doing it the other way around would mean much more work and a hard time to match the side templates + rounding an exact shape could also result in many tearouts. I can see the top template in the book as a guide to set up the side templates on the block but then… We are left with our own imagination.
Are you making your first shamisen?
Here is a really nice idea how to cut from orthogonal views
First couple minutes give the idea
1 Like
Yes Stefanie,
I was trying to build one in my spere time thinking to save money, even If I spent almost the amount of a used shamisen in tools 
But now I stopped since I bought a used one in an online auction from Japan
1 Like
Same here with the building and the tools!
Congratulations on getting a used shamisen! I am constantly eyeing the ones on Yahoo!Auction but am not sure which proxy to trust to buy one. So for now, I am just watching and slooowly building.
Hello! I sent you a private message but in case you don’t see it I’ll ask here too. Are you from Barcelona?
Hey! Yes, I’m from Barcelona. Im gonna send you a private message too.