The Zagane at the top hole of my Beginner’s Shamisen has come off and become stuck to the top Itomaki. How do I get it loose, how should I reattach it and how do I prevent this from happening in the future?
gently tap the zagane down evenly around the perimeter, and reseat it with some wood glue? at least, thats what i would try.
I must say that tapping risks damaging the exposed rign of the Zagane, making it look bad (dinged/dented, etc).
The best way to do that is to take pliers (preferably a big one that has an oval shaped claw hole), gently pince the zagane by the part that stays inside the wood (not by the rim, as you don’t want to damage the part that stays exposed), and twist slowly but surely until you can wiggle it off. You may need to slowly increase pressure with the pliers, but don’t press too strongly.
With light to medium pressure you are safe, as the Itomaki wood inside the Zagane will not allow you to deform it with the pressure from the pliers. Just be sure to alleviate the pressure from the pliers as you start to be able to twist the Itomaki and push it out.
Then, take something with a sharp edge that can fit entirely inside the hole in the Tenjin, and scrape off the old glue. You can also use a small piece of rolled sandpaper, but that is not ideal, because you can end up eating away some of the wood, whereas you want to only scrape off the old glue. With an xacto knife, also remove the old glue from the Zagane.
That being done, the best glue to make sure it stays is CA glue (superglue). But get a “gel type” superglue, as it has slower setting times, allowing you 10 or more seconds to tap the zagane flush, and it won’t drip or run down all around your tenjin wood. You can also use hide glue, but most people won’t have it at hand.
Before starting, check the angle of the Zagane against the hole. If this is the middle Itomaki (#2), that’s the easy one. If it’s #1 or #3, you need to observe the zagane and the hole, and align it correctly, as you will notice the Zagane is skewed to one side. Take your time here, and try to seat the zagane without glue to get the proper angle. If necessary, mark the correct orientation with a slim strip of painter’s tape.
Make sure you have something rubbery and heavy to tap (lightly hammering) the Zagane into the hole. A rubber coated handle of a screwdriver works well if you don’t have a rubber hammer. If you don’t have that, then take a regular screwdriver handle, or something similar, and wrap it around with duct tape, with at least 10 full layers to give it a good cushion.
The regluing sequence is:
- apply some scotch tape to the tenjin external surface, and cut out the hole plus 1mm around it, so there will not be too much tape, or any, remaining under the Zagane lip after you seat it. You can instead apply a thin coat of baby oil (or even olive oil) to the wood around the hole to avoid CA glue sticking to it, but you must be very carefuld to not let oil into the hole.
- using a toothpick or something similar, apply CA glue to the zagane part that goes into the wood. You don’t need to apply glue on the inner part of the rim, as glue will be squeezed in that direction when you inser it anyway.
- Make sure you have it aligned properly, and holding the Zagane by the lip, insert it into the hole.
- Tap the Zagane until it is flush. Make sure to use protection glasses, as you don’t want to cause a splashed drop of glue to hit you.
- Apply CA glue accelerator to the area, or let it cure for at least one hour (gel type CA glue may take a long time to cure).
- Using a xacto knife, cut around the zagane, into the scotch tape, and lift it, removing the tape and any squeeze out glue there. Also cut the excess squeezed out glue from the inner part of the tenjin hole.
- If you didn’t use CA glue accelerator, wait a couple of extra hours before applying force with the Itomaki.
Please let me know if you have any questions about the process.
I ended up buying a desk vice in place of plies and I managed to get the Itomaki off the gripped Zagane. I just finished gluing it back to the neck with epoxy resin instead. Will reply after I give it a day at least to set. Thanks for all your help all!
Sorry, was too busy to follow up, the glue has worked and I can play as normal. I think from now on I will try not to press any of the itomaki into the neck too hard when tuning. Thanks to all for the advice!