Too much force needed to tune san no ito

Building/Repair
#1

Hello,

I recently got the beginners shamisen and its great! The only issue i’m having so far is that i’m requiring a TON of force needed to get the san no ito to stay in tune.

With the ichi no ito and ni no ito, it takes about the same force as just tuning a guitar, but the san no ito requires me to use like ALL my strength/using a cloth to keep a grip.

I’ve tried restringing it, but the same issue occurs.

I’m sure i’ve probably just done something wrong, but can anyone help remedy this?

Thank you!

#2

Hi Sean!
By saying you need force to keep San no ito in tune, do you mean the itomaki is slipping?
If that’s the issue, you can use some chalk dust or violin rosin to increase the friction between the itomaki and the maruana (peg hole).

And since it seems like you restringed your Shamisen, it’ll take time to completely stretch and stop sending stretching further. This problem is more in the San no ito and then ni no ito and ichi no ito is least. To quicken the stretching you pull on the string with one hand while you turn the itomaki with the other (probably watch a video cuz idk how to explain that step😅)

Hope that helps :smiley:

#3

By too much force, i mean that there is a lot of resistance when turning the san no ito itomaki compared to the others.

I think i have temporarily found a fix for this though. I have started tuning almost to pitch without the itomaki fully in the connecting hole and then placing it in the hole to finish tuning.

I know this probably isn’t ideal, but it is a temporary fix.

#4

Now that I understand there’s more resistance in the itomaki, it’s actually a good thing cuz many people have the problem of slipping itomaki.

And the fix that you found is in fact a very standard practice among the players in order to protect the the itomaki from wearing off quickly!:smiley:

#5

Hey Sean. If you watch some videos of people tuning Shamisen, you will notice there is always one finger hooking against the 糸倉 (Itogura, the square hole in the middle of the Tenjin). The proper technique is to start twisting it while letting the Itomaki slide out of the Zagane a tiny bit, so it turns more easily, then at the very few last degrees of turning, you push the Itomaki inwards the Zagane, using your hooked finger as leverage to apply more force. The proper technique is hard to master, but fully worth it.

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